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A member of Light Attack Squadron 212 s «Rampant Raiders,» A-4 pilot Stephen R. Gray writes about his experiences flying combat sorties from the deck of an aircraft carrier during one of the most intense periods of aerial combat in U.S. history. From the perspective of a junior naval aviator, Gray reveals the lessons he learned first at the Naval Aviation Training Command and then in actual combat flying the Skyhawk from USS Bon Homme Richard in Vietnam.Training strengthens commitment, Gray points out, allowing ordinary men like him to fly dangerous missions. Readers will discover how circumstances created heroe–heroes who managed to overcome their personal fears for a greater cause–and how, despite the lack of public support for the war, the men remained committed to one another. The book addresses how men react to service during contentious political times to offer lessons relevant today.
"The Three Musketeers of the Army Air Forces"
While scores of books have been published about the atomic bombings that helped end World War II, little has been written about the personal lives and relationship of the three men that led the raid. Paul Tibbets, Tom Ferebee, and Ted “Dutch” Van Kirk exemplified what Life Magazine meant when in 1942 it called the B-17 pilot, bombardier, and navigator “the three musketeers of the Army Air Forces.” A former navigator-bombardier and pilot himself, Harder brings a fresh perspective to an otherwise well-known narrative. He provides a rare insider’s look at exactly who these three fellows were, how they were trained, what they meant to each other, and finally how everything coalesced into the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks.
Laughter in the Shadows
This memoir of a CIA operations officer captures the spirit of the early years of the Agency, a period sometimes described as its 'finest hours.' Using the alias 'St. Martin,' Stuart Methven served in the CIA from the 1950s through the 1970s. The book opens by describing the author's training in the clandestine arts and subsequent assignment to Asia in a country he calls 'Bushido.' There he is involved in numerous operations, including one that takes him under the ocean, and earns his case officer's 'brevet.' A nation-building program in 'Cham' follows, which begins well enough and includes his gaining a tribal leader's confidence by parachuting badly needed supplies to his mountain village. It ends abruptly, however, with a coup d'etat and civil war that forces Methven's evacuation, the first of several during his career.His next assignment is in South Vietnam working to counter another budding insurgency. Methven spends four years in the mountain and delta provinces of Vietnam before being given a sabbatical for graduate work in international studies back in the states. After completing his studies, he returns to Southeast Asia as a deputy station chief with a focus on a large Soviet mission in Samudra and the recruitment of Soviet military officers. Promoted to station chief, his final assignment is in central Africa, where his station becomes center stage for a large covert operation that eventually involves the Soviets and Cubans. Glimpses of the CIA from the inside are rare, and Methven's recollections of his experiences during a formative period in the Agency's history will be of particular value to those with an interest in the CIA and international affairs and in spy stories.
Dr. Space
Written by veteran aerospace journalist Bob Ward, who spent years investigating his subject, this biography presents a revealing but even-handed portrait of the father of modern rocketry. As he chronicles Wernher von Braun's life, Ward explodes many myths and misconceptions about the controversial genius who was a hero to some, a villain to others. The picture of von Braun that emerges is of a brilliant scientist with limitless curiosity and a drive to achieve his goals at almost any price from, developing the world's first ballistic missile used against the Allies in World War II to helping launch the first U.S. satellite that hurled Americans into space and the Saturn V super-booster that powered them to the moon. Along the way readers are introduced to the human side of this charismatic visionary who brought the United States into the Space Age.
War Footing
America has been at war for years, but until now, it's not been clear with whom. We have been fighting without being clear for what. We have been waging war without using the full resources we need to win. With the publication of «War Footing», Frank Gaffney and his colleagues make it clear not only whom the enemy is and how high the stakes are, but also how we can prevail. Their book explains that we are engaged in nothing less than a War for the Free World – a fight to the death with Islamofascists who adhere to a political ideology bent on our destruction. It then offers ten specific steps that Americans, as individuals and as communities, can take to ensure our way of life and the safety and well-being of our children. These steps include specific recommendations about how to know the enemy, support our troops, provide for our energy security, stop investing in terror, equip the country for war at home, counter an EMP attack, secure our borders and interior against illegal immigration, wage political warfare, launch regional initiatives, and wield effective diplomacy. This definitive, highly readable «owner's manual» for the War for the Free World has been written by one of the most prominent national security experts of our time, Frank J. Gaffney, and his extraordinary team of respected experts. Among them are R. James Woolsey, Victor Davis Hanson, Generals Tom McInerney, USAF (Ret.) and Paul Vallely, USA (Ret.); Alex Alexiev, Andrew McCarthy, Claudia Rosett, Michael Rubin, Daniel Goure, Caroline Glick, Michael Waller, and many others.
Target Hiroshima
For better or worse, Navy captain William S. «Deak» Parsons made the atomic bomb happen. As ordnance chief and associate director at Los Alamos, Parsons turned the scientists' nuclear creation into a practical weapon. As weaponeer, he completed the assembly of «Little Boy» during the flight to Hiroshima. As bomb commander, he approved the release of the bomb that forever changed the world. Yet over the past fifty years only fragments of his story have appeared, in part because of his own self-effacement and the nation's demand for secrecy. Based on recently declassified Manhattan Project documents, including Parsons' logs and other untapped sources, the book offers an unvarnished account of this unsung hero and his involvement in some of the greatest scientific advances of the twentieth century.
Passport Not Required
Before America entered World War II, twenty-two U.S. citizens went to England and volunteered with the Royal Navy. Commissioned between September 1939 and November 1941, they fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and on a variety of fronts. While the history of Americans serving in the Royal Air Force is well known, the story of these naval volunteers has not been previously told. Most trained at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, but since foreign military service was against U.S. law, their names were never made public. Now, after years of research, their identities and the details of their contributions can be made known.
China's Future Nuclear Submarine Force
One of the key concerns of naval strategists and planners today is the nature of the Chinese geostrategic challenge. Conceding that no one can know for certain China s intentions in terms of future conflict, the editors of this hot-topic book argue that the trajectory of Chinese nuclear propulsion for submarines may be one of the best single indicators of China s ambitions of global military power. Nuclear submarines, with their unparalleled survivability, remain ideal platforms for persistent operations in far-flung sea areas and offer an efficient means for China to project power.This collection of essays presents the latest thinking of leading experts on the emergence of a modern nuclear submarine fleet in China. Each contribution is packed with authoritative data and cogent analysis. The book has been compiled by four professors and analysts at the U.S. Naval War College who are co-founders of the college s recently established China Maritime Studies Institute.Given the opaque nature of China s undersea warfare development, readers will benefit from this penetrating investigation that considers the potential impact of even the most revolutionary changes in Chinese nuclear submarine capabilities. The editors believe that to ignore such possibilities would be the height of strategic folly and represent inexcusable negligence in terms of U.S. national defense.Anyone who is interested in the future of the U.S. Navy and the defense of the United States will find this book to be essential reading.
Erich Raeder
From 1928 to 1943, Erich Raeder led the German navy during the last turbulent years of the Weimar Republic, the rise of Hitler, and through World War II, yet until now there has not been a full-length biography written about him. This study draws on archival resources and the rich scholarship of German naval history over the past five decades to review the evolution of Raeder's concept of naval strategy and his attempts to achieve the political and military means necessary to attain the navy's global naval ambitions. While previous histories have viewed Raeder as a product of the Wilhelmian era and heir to Admiral von Tirpitz's sea power ideology, this work clearly demonstrates the navy's affinity with Hitler's fascism. Author Keith Bird refutes Raeder's own argument that his navy was non-political and independent and shows him to be a political activist and the architect of German naval policy. For the first time, Raeder's strict leadership of the navy after 1928 and his relationship to Hitler and the National Socialist state is placed in the context of Raeder's formative years as an Imperial naval officer, his First World War combat experience, and his critical role in the survival and development of the post-war Reichsmarine. The author traces the impact of Hitler's influence on both the pace and nature of naval rearmament 1933-1939 and the conduct of the Kriegsmarine in war as well as Raeder's furtive attempts to influence Germany's strategic thinking in favor of a maritime strategy. Blinded by his need to justify the navy's existence and achieve his vision of world power, Raeder was ultimately defeated by the contradictions in his own policies as well as Hitler's and the realities of Germany's resources and military necessities.
The Citizen's Guide to the U. S. Navy
Most Americans know little about their Navy and learning about it can be daunting. But this informative yet highly accessible guide explains the sometimes strange ways of the U.S. Navy in terms civilians can understand. It addresses such things as the many titles military people have, the alphanumeric designations used to identify military personnel, the organization of the Navy and its many missions, the origin and practice of such things as saluting, flag etiquette, and side boys. Also included are an overview of the Navy's colorful history, a primer on Navy ships and aircraft, a guide to «reading» a uniform, and the demystification of the phonetic alphabet and military time. Designed as a quick read for those who want the full story, this handbook can also be used as a handy reference full of essential facts.