Military Memoirs

>>33396381
Dunno. I tried reading 'Kill Bin Laden' by "Dalton Fury", and to be honest I couldn't make it more than 50 pages. I just couldn't go any further because it's nothing but this guy sucking himself off for being Delta. I get the feeling the author was the Delta's "that guy" of the unit. The writing is also terrible- very repetitive vocab and it jumps around and doesn't establish things well. Shame, I'd have loved to hear about the Tora Bora operation in a well told manner.

Not really a memoir but Relentless Strike is an amazing book about the history of JSOC.

>An Accidental Soldier's Account
>Marines and an AAV in the cover

On Topic, check out Helmet for My Pillow and With the Old Breed

Damn good accounts of the Pacific War, Island of the Damned and You'll be Soree is good too

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Written in a very simple style, he racked up all the medals for combat valor.

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If anyone wants an older take on the war memoir, I'd suggest the memoirs of Johann Shiltberger in his travels as a slave under various oriental kings. The book itself has issues with the names of locations, as well as some instances where Schiltberger misjudged the approximate times when he served under different rulers, but I don't know a better source for middle eastern conflicts around the early renaissance era.

>>33396381
Yeah, if you don't like pointless bitching stay away from One Soldier's War, the 2nd Chechen war one. Also avoid House to House, because it's more of a ghost-written action movie book about the Fallujah war. Fireforce was okay, about the Rhodesian bush war. Otto Carius's Tigers in the Mud was pretty good, but a little dry. Same with Ernst Junger's Storm of Steel. Must be a German thing.

For some reason, my favorite would probably be in fiction, like Starship Troopers or Unintended Consequences. For some odd reason, they strike a chord with me more than the actual accounts, despite wanting to have more realism.

Well, anyway, that's my list. Anyone else got a good recommendation?

Tiger Tracks for tankcore

>>33396598
Read 'The Forever War'. It's basically the anti-Starship Troopers, and the entire thing is a metaphor for a Vietnam veteran becoming disconnected with civilian society.

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Its pretty good
Doesnt come off douchey as youd think a SEAL from texas would be.

>>33396625
That's actually at the top of my list. Fleets separated by spacetime while command knows the extent of their technological evolution. Never heard about the Vietnam aspect, but I intend to get that one once I finish off my current batch of books.


Also completely unrelated to /k/, but Kitchen Confidential is a good romp. Also kind of want to get some comic books, because those are easier to pick up and put down without worrying about mental continuity (i.e. can read them for a good nightcap after I've been drinking)

House to house: Fucking awesome.

One soldier's war: Great, but depressing. One fucked up little story after another in a grand parade of gut-punches to the soul

>>33396675
>Never heard about the Vietnam aspect, but I intend to get that one once I finish off my current batch of books.

The author is a Vietnam vet, and if you go into the book knowing that it adds another layer.

Non-fiction: 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West is pretty good.

>>33396598
>>33396693

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Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

It's a Memoir of his time fighting for the POUM against Francoist and to a lesser degree against the Stalinists.

>>33396697
>1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

I like that time period, but pretty much all I've read on that were history/reference books. Also enjoy a good Bernard Cromwell (Limey, but did a nice historical fiction of Agincourt and Waterloo --as well as the Sharpe series which I haven't read). Between the two, where would you rate that?

>>33396899
It's a history book and it focuses on the running conflict over the course of several hundred years more than a specific person. But it's very readable. The author explains what's happening and adds interesting details but never gets too bogged down on anything that feels like a slog.

>>33396657
chris pls go

>>33396972
jesse pls go

>>33396381

Panzer Commander by Hans Von Luck
Foot Soldier by Roscoe C. Blunt

Two of the best WWII memoirs out there.

>>33397036

Just realized you said >modern

My bad.

>>33397036
>Foot Soldier by Roscoe C. Blunt

Sounds interesting, care to spare an anecdote?

Can't believe no one's recommended Platoon Leader by Col James McDonough yet. He was an infantry LT during vietnam, and he gives some of the best descriptions of small unit combat and leadership I've read. It's also great for a glimpse in the everyday life of Vietnam infantryman. and the dude was a total badass to boot.

>>33397036
>Hans von Luck
excellent stuff

"Kaboom embracing the suck in a savage little war" is one that I started reading awhile ago and had to put down unfortunately. It was really good from what I recall and people seem to like it.

>>33396381
Check out Iron Pigs by Trent Farce, its about the 2nd LAR Bn in the Hemland Province 2009. I think its pretty interesting but I'm a bit bias because it was written by a good friend of mine and is has a lot of my buds in it.

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>>33396381
This book is extremely good for those with an interest in technical detail.

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Just finished this, it's really good. Dude was a real badass and went from special forces to MACV-SOG and ended up in the CIA. He even tracked UBL before he became an international terrorist. Dude was really fucking /k/.


Fished One Soldiers War which is about Chechnya, pretty fucked up what they had to go through.
Just started Fireforce and I really like it so far, not necessarily modern but close enough.

"Letters of a combat rifleman" I believe the title is, have the book but no with me rn, forgot the authors name.

Basically memoirs of a US ww2 sniper. Dude was /k/ as fuck. Sorta recall it being something like this:

>ran a gun range before the war
>liked guns
>wanted to be a sniper, became one by literally finding a scoped m1903 while in Europe
>would spend his free time looting fucking everything
>destroy the loot he couldn't carry because if he can't have it no one can
>write to his wife about fucking her brains out and how he will tap that ass hard when he gets back
>talks about all the incompetence and bullshit the army has/ surrounding it and how best to change it.

>>33396972
Chirs is go and stay go forever now, lol

The Eastern Front: Leon Degrelle
EPIC: The Story of The Waffen SS: Leon Degrelle
Blood Red Snow: Gunther K
Obedient Unto Death: Werner Kindler
We Will Not Go to Tuapse: Kaisergruber

Currently reading Bitter Harvest by Smithy.

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Pic related is my favorite ever
Then Sniper on the Eastern Front was great too, very similar book but shorter
>>33398938
loved that book, and it jumping between wartime and post war in the camp and him learning the repercussions of having technically been in a part of the ss, and watching his friends be linked to the worst dredges of the ss

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Personal favourite, I believe this has been translated to English, its about a Norwegian volunteer on the eastern front that didn't really care about the ideology

>>33399708
>forgotten soldier
currently reading but was warned that it's probably bullshit, things about the units he served in and the timeline don't make 100% historical sense but anything was possible given the chaotic situation. supposedly it captures the feeling of the eastern front well though. any thoughts?

>>33396598
whats wrong with house to house?

>>33400208
>any thoughts?
He's outright said that he's just remembering to the best of his abilities. It's possible a few things may not be in perfect chronological order etc.
And if they would have said he was in china, he would have believed them after traveling so many hours eastward.
Doesn't change the fact that it's the best read ever. I'd still read it if I outright knew it was fiction.

>>33400208
I would take every memoir written after the fact from memory with a massive grain of salt with regards to time, places, people, and units. The point of these memoirs is to tell the reader what kind of shit the author went through and how they felt about it, not to be an accurate researched, and cited scholarly work.

>>33400715
>with a massive grain of salt
well of course but after he got called on it being nonsense he backpedaled pretty hard saying he never intended it to be taken literally as history essentially. if i went through that shit at 16 i'd probably have fucked up or embellished some of the details, intentionally or not, 20 years later as well. i just wanted a /k/ommandos thoughts on the content of the book, despite any misgivings from historians it's been a decent read thus far.

I'm currently readig my grandpa's memoirs, he was in the French army during WW2 and after.
I've just gotten to the part where he's sent to Niger right after WW2. He's riding camels in the middle of the Sahara desert and hunting antilopes with his Berthier. Fucking colonial empires man, that was the shit.

I'll have to translate some parts for you guys someday.

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>>33400208
Never read it, only know that the guy got flaked by the Grossdeutschland veterans association. But everyone that read it says that is a good read that emulates the feeling of the fight on the eastern front. I imagine that is probably, even if kind of inverted in a manner, in the same lines of the Franz Kurowski books: you know that there are some/alot of made up bullshit, but you ignore it because is well written.

I would recommend, "Tigers in the Mud" by Otto Carius, "Infantry Attacks" that is Rommel memoirs of his service in the WW1, written in the 30's, and "Survivors of Stalingrad" edited by Reinhold Busch, which is a collection of various short memoirs of german soldiers that survived the battle.

Someone know if pic related is any good? I was thinking in buy it.

100 miles of bad road.

A tanker in Vietnam or something like that. It was good but it's been a while.

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>>33399530
Charles Davis is the author, check it out guys

>>33400904
His biggest critic from the Grossdeutschland Veterand Association had recanted his claims of fraud after talking with Sajer. I don't doubt the story either, but I think a lot of the critics are calling him on minute details that, as a 17-19 year old in the army, he probably wouldn't have paid the least attention to, or even been in a position to know in the first place.

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I've had pic related on my nightstand for a while, heard it's great but I've never cracked it. Also heard >>33397823 is good (author is Matthew Gallagher who blogged about the Iraq war until his superiors told him to shut up).

If you don't mind journalists being war tourists, "Dispatches" by Michael Herr is considered a classic. People seem to shit on it these days for being melodramatic but I really enjoyed his writing. For a more recent war there's "The Taliban Shuffle" by Kim Barker. Despite lacking a penis she's brutally honest and her writing is top notch.

I read this one a while back, and enjoyed it. Cargo plane pilot's missions over Vietnam, including landing spooks at some of the mosy desolate and dangerous air strips in the theatre.

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>>33404362
Forgot pic

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Probably fiction sadly, but still an amazing read

>>33402896
READ IT. It's a classic for a reason. Such a great read

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My absolute favorite book.

>>33402377
Is it a book?

>>33400253
Not OP but I remember not liking h2h as much as I was hoping to

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Great read on fascinating topic

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Fucking legend. No melodrama here.
Think he wrote a total of 3 books on his fighting in the Congo. Also one on his failed coup in the seychelles but that's mostly about being in prison desu.

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>>33396841
Holy shit this was my favorite for years both before and after I enlisted

>>33406161
Why is it so good? Good action?

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>>33406460

Not really, but he's a very honest writer, and easy to identify with.

The book deals heavily with his disillusionment regarding communism; he signed up with a small marxist militia because he felt that it was a war worth fighting and they were the easiest to get into. This made all the difference, because when the soviet backed communist militias started purging and outlawing all their opponents, he ended up having to flee the country with the secret police after him. A lot of his thinking from this time (and even small details such as the shitty cigarettes they had) ended up being reflected in '1984'.

Maybe none of that answered the question, but basically his description of war and his feelings of it were things I identified with strongly.

>>33396381
>author does nothing but constantly bitch and whine

Noservice detected. Welcome to the real military faggot.

>>33402896
Chickenhawk is one if my alltime favorite books. Author is a great storyteller, and goes into a lot of interesting technical detail. Fascinating ending too; I would have loved to seen a sequel book about his post-war exploits.