MajorChris

Outstanding Firsthand Account

Revisado: 02-03-25

Written by Francis Gary Powers, Operation Overflight is essentially a 344-page, or 14-hour and 26-minute, primary source document detailing one of the Cold War’s most infamous US failures and the resulting fallout between the United States and the USSR. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this book!

The story is well known so I won’t get into it, but the first-hand details presented by Powers are what I found super interesting – for instance: his invitation and induction into the world of aviation espionage; the first time he laid eyes on and flew the U-2; the aircraft’s awkward cockpit, avionics, photographic equipment, and the U-2’s peculiar very high altitude performance envelope; Powers’ extraordinary high altitude flightsuit designed for missions at the edge of space – where a flightsuit failure during an emergency cockpit depressurization meant immediate death (as the pilot’s blood would instantly boil), U-2 pilots’ uncommon aeromedical preflight routine, Powers’ shoot down, his resistance under Soviet interrogation, and his treatment upon US repatriation.

Operation Overflight is an exceptional read and essential for Cold War and aviation buffs – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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Hannah has a Knack for Nailing It!

Revisado: 01-02-25

As a man and Marine Corps veteran who rarely reads fiction or a woman historical author, this is my second Kristin Hannah book (the first being Four Winds). I have to say, that she does an excellent job writing about the military. The service is a different world, and each branch has its own unique culture; for example, the Marine Corps, being amphibious and under the Department of the Navy, has a “language”, customs, and courtesies it shares only with the Navy. For example, Marines always remove their “cover” (hat) when inside. They pass through a “hatch” (door), hang their cover on the “bulkhead” (wall), and look outside through a “porthole” (window). A soldier in the Army remains covered and salutes inside – Marines never do. As a servicemember, failure to heed the local service’s customs and courtesies is done at your own peril because, at the least, it makes you look unprofessional and, at worst, makes you look disrespectful and results in a public ass-chewing. An author only looks unprofessional. Hannah rarely gets it wrong; this historical novel is right on the “miliary” money – accurate, realistic, visceral, believable, and most importantly, entertaining!

LAST: I sincerely hope my review helped you. Thanks for reading and have a great day!

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Not JUST possible, but...

Revisado: 11-22-24

... the much more likely outcome and fate of the three men, at least two of whom were certified geniuses, who escaped from Alcatraz, a prison thought so secure that the federal government saw fit to confine the worst of the worst kidnappers, robbers, rapists, and murderers, less than two miles from and well within sight of downtown San Francisco. As told by one of the escape’s relatives. Outstanding; highly recommend.

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Dan Hampton Rocks!

Revisado: 08-02-24

“Lords of the Sky” was my introduction to Dan Hampton. But now, as I write this review, I’m immersed in my sixth consecutive Dan Hampton book, “Disappearing Act.” I inhaled “The Flight,” “The Hunter Killers,” “Operation Vengeance,” and “Chasing the Demon” – one after the other – all in a row!

Hampton’s “Lords” span a wide range of aviators—from daring World War I fighter pilots without parachutes, sometimes dueling with pistols, hand grenades and even attempting to bring down their enemies with grappling-hooks, to Russian female aces, mercenary aviators, to F-4G and F-16 Wild Weasel pilots over Iraq, to today’s (err…yesterday’s :-( legacy) Hornet drivers.

When reading Dan Hampton, you’re not a passive observer—you’re in the fighter pilot’s cockpit. You “feel” the flimsiness of the 80-horsepower, canvas-covered World War I monoplane, its simple wired controls, the cold-soaked oily steel and wooden charging handles of the two 30-caliber machine guns mounted right in front of you, above the remarkably barren “instrument” panel. The open cockpit’s freezing drizzle and oil-tinged propeller blast becomes palpable.

Hampton’s meticulous attention to detail is captivating. His groundbreaking research – which includes pilots’ personal letters, logbooks, maps, personal interviews, and government documents and reports not just from the U.S. and our allies, but also from the archives of our former enemies – allows Hampton to incorporate the actual words and thoughts of individuals. But there’s more to his books than mere cover stories; Hampton skillfully connects his subjects to the broader global events of the period. These details, along with his vivid, tactile descriptions, resonate deeply. I feel smarter after each read. Hampton’s nonfiction history reads like a fast-paced novel.

Whenever possible, I review both the e-book and audiobook. Over 30% of the e-book is dedicated to “extras” not available to the audiobook listener including several aircraft drawings, 12 high quality maps, two excellent appendixes: Anatomy of a Dogfight and Anatomy of a Surface Attack in which Hampton breaks down the intricacies for the lay fighter pilot, photographs of the original 1931 Eyewitness Account of the Death of the Red Baron by Major A. E. Beavis of the Australian Staff Corps, highly detailed End Notes and Bibliography, and footnotes. Narrator John Prude does an excellent job having the perfect voice for this book.

In summary, all of Dan Hampton’s books are outstanding and highly recommended!

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It's for books like that I save 5-Stars!

Revisado: 06-12-24

Young Air Force OV-10 pilot, 1st Lt. Tom Yarborough served as an airborne special operations forward air controller, or FAC, callsign “Covey,” in the skies above Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. And while his diary served as the foundation for his memoir, Yarborough also meticulously researched and crosschecked people, places, dates, and times to corroborate his account of one year serving with MAC V-SOG (special operations). THERE ARE NO SPOILERS HERE.

Whenever possible, I review both the audiobook and the e-book. The audiobook is 15 hours 14 minutes long (see below for my narration review). The e-book contains one black-and-white map and over 20 black-and-white photos of people and aircraft named in the book. To read or listen? I mostly listened; I’d listen to the 5 min “sample” on Audible, and if you think you can tolerate the narrator for over 15 hrs, I’d listen (and look up the pictures online).

Air Force and Marine Corps FACs coordinate and control airborne assets in support of friendly troops in contact with the enemy – this is known as close air support, or CAS. FACs are in contact with both the troops on the ground and the supporting aircraft. As such, FACs “own” the battlespace and are directly responsible for the safety of not just their own aircraft, but all the other aircraft and ground personnel that they’re “working.” Depending on the mission FACs will prioritize the on-hand aircraft based on their type, ordinance, and fuel state (in minutes); he will then assign each aircraft a specific altitude and the safest place to hold until they, or their ordinance, are needed. At some point the FAC will brief the arriving aircrews of the tactical situation, a “9-line,” which includes what and where the target is, the run-in and egress headings, how you’ll mark the target (usually a white phosphorus rocket), etc. Most importantly however, the FAC needed to convey and be 100% certain that the attacking aircraft knows where the friendly forces are before uttering the almighty words, “cleared hot.” Because, after the FAC issues that clearance, the FAC, not the aircraft delivering the ordinance, “owns those bombs!” Meaning you, the FAC, not the guys that pickled the bombs, are the one who will be standing tall if those bombs kill Americans (in reality, everyone involved will be standing tall). Often a solo pilot will be the acting FAC, other times an infantry officer or a specially trained “Covey Rider” may be aboard to point out targets and help work friendly troops on the ground. Regardless, to control so many moving parts, well, and fly the plane sometimes at treetop height is one of the most difficult and dangerous missions a pilot can draw – add hostile fire to the equation and this makes for pretty sporty duty and definitely not for the below-average bear!

Yarborough took FAC’ing to Another level when he joined Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group, MACV-SOG’s Prairie Fire, the top-secret operation conducting clandestine missions along the NVA’s superhighway to South Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, where it wandered into the “neutral” countries of Laos and Cambodia. Strike Teams, a mix of 5-7 Green Berets and Indigenous Vietnamese volunteers inserted by helicopter for 3-14 days to conduct reconnaissance, set booby-traps, record wiretaps, insert listening, enemy odor and seismic detection devices, execute kidnappings, and carry out targeted assassinations. Insertion and extraction were always a risky endeavor, but if a team was discovered by the NVA or Vietcong, a massive firefight ensued followed by a desperate call for an immediate helicopter extraction covered by fixed wing fighter-bombers, attack helicopters, and helicopter gunships. It was during these fast-paced and highly confusing battles between rapidly shifting and intermixing of friendly and enemy troops that Yarborough earned his paycheck. He coordinated the smorgasbord of aircraft and munitions on hand to suppress enemy troops and air defenses to execute the SOG Strike Team’s helicopter extraction. Covey should have the most “situational awareness,” or understanding of the big picture of the unfolding battle on the ground; and for this reason, Covey owns the airspace. The author flew hundreds of combat FAC sorties, Covey, in support of Prairie Fire’s special operators, often logging 10 or more hours a day and returning with an aircraft shot full of holes.

Narrator, Sean Runnette’s patrician, matter-of-fact voice sounds like that of an older man. He does lend a deserved element of sophistication to the book as it was written by the much older, and more mature, retired Colonel turned Professor Tom Yarborough. But his voice is too mellow and does not convey the urgency of the high-speed, high-stress lethal environment in which the young pilot operated in Vietnam. John Pruden, the narrator of Lords of the Sky by Dan Hampton, or the like would’ve been a better choice. But this is not a hit on Yarborough nor Runnette as (to my knowledge) Yarborough had no say in the selection of a narrator and Runnette’s voice is what it is and plenty appropriate for other topics – no – it’s a hit on the producer(s) responsible for the audiobook. Nonetheless, for these reasons, I’ve rated the narration 4-Stars.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I am a Marine Corps FAC and Yarborough’s memoir seems true to life yet humble, not bragging nor unnecessarily self-deprecating. He's highly concerned with integrity, getting the story as correct as possible, as if he would rather die than carelessly disgrace. His, obviously, primary source, memoir is additionally superbly researched and now updated with documents finally, after 30+ years, unclassified by the Pentagon. Yarborough has bolstered and cross-checked his memory against previously unavailable historical data. His unwavering dedication to the mission, courage, and coolness under the greatest of stressors, no doubt saved the lives of hundreds of his fellow Americans and, just as important, the SOG Indigenous Vietnamese warriors is nothing short of remarkable! So, with a dearth of SOG books out there, no library on the topic is complete without John Stryker Myers’s highly acclaimed and self-narrated memoir of his time as a Strike Team leader Across the Fence, and Tom Yarborough’s absolutely outstanding account of his tour of duty as a Prairie Fire Covey in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

I can’t recommend this book more!

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Unsettling for Sure!

Revisado: 04-18-24

Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, in that order, are the principal cyber (and otherwise) “Bad Actors” on the global net. Of course, there are many more, but these countries – especially Russia – put the heft of state resources behind their homegrown hackers when it suits their needs and turn a blind eye to their own hacker’s multibillion-dollar ransomware targeting of US companies and infrastructure when it doesn’t meet their needs. Then there’s China’s criminal quest for US corporation’s intellectual property, North Korea’s infamous and embarrassing hack of Sony Pictures, and some interesting hacking into Iran’s nuclear weapons technology. From your phone to your car, to our water supply, and nuclear weapons – the ability to hack into virtually anything is what I found so unsettling.

All in all, I found this series fascinating. The last episode includes some of the sources for the series, which may make for further reading, and ways to keep from getting hacked yourself. (Incidentally, the producer and narrator, Jim Clemente, does several outstanding Audible Originals including Call Me God – about the DC sniper in the early 2000s.)

LAST: I sincerely hope my review helped you! If so, please let me know by clicking “Helpful” below. Thanks and have a great day!

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Hilarious – Totally off script – Genius!

Revisado: 04-03-24

Yes, genius! Not Einsteinian genius for sure, but genius nonetheless. Adam's a dying breed – a celebrity with common sense, insightful wit, and working-class wisdom. He's got that rare ability to take any situation, break it down, then sum it right back up again into some clever and irrefutable blue-collar soliloquy that anyone with half a brain can understand. Corolla is a master storyteller! He's written several books, but this one covers his well below-par childhood during the 1970s and 80s in North Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley (an LA suburb – not wonderful then, terrible now), his hippie, uptight, white-guilt-ridden mom, her boyfriends, his friends, his many different "homes", jobs, and all kinds of cash strapped, pre-Internet, pre-social media, and pre-cell phone juvenile nuttiness. Read, and often tangentially digressed, by Adam himself, as only he can do. If you don’t laugh out loud there’s something wrong with you!

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My Backyard History Lesson

Revisado: 03-05-24

This book was a real eye-opener! You’d think that as a California native, I would’ve known more, but like a lot of the reviews, the “Dustbowl” was an event I’d heard about in junior high history class, but I was wholly unfamiliar with what a total disaster it really was!

I have also heard folks referred to as “Okies,” mostly by themselves, but it doesn’t carry on as a derogatory term – for them, that they still have kin in “Oklahoma” is a point of pride.

I have several friends, no doubt relatives of Midwestern Dustbowl migrants who decided to stay in California, who are now prosperous raisin and citrus farmers in the San Joaquin Central Valley – Fresno, Merced, Stockton. Others are horsemen in the high desert around Apple Valley, and of course, some are ranchers around Bakersfield. Every self-professed Okie that I know is still in the agricultural business, just as their forbearers were. I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.

But I was completely unaware of the dire circumstances in the Midwest that forced those people west; nor was I aware of their California reception, the extent of their exploitation, or the depth of their despair. Likewise, I’d heard of “Hooverville’s” and “Hoover flags” but I thought they were solely products of the Great Depression and back east in New York and New Jersey, not here in California.

It was also disturbing to see the prejudice against, and treatment of, dust storm natural disaster victims and fellow Americans. Even more disturbing was the wholesale exploitation by some farmers. One good earthquake and the shoe could have very easily been on the other foot!

Usually, I review both the actual book or e-book and the audiobook. However in this case, the audiobook is so well done and the narrator so exquisite and captivating, I never felt the need or desire to actually read, vice listen to, The Four Winds. As a bonus, at the end of the audiobook, Kristin Hannah and Julia Whelan are interviewed by the audiobook producer. It’s very interesting to hear how Hannah prepares to write a book of historical fiction and to hear how Whelan approaches her role as narrator. All in all, a well-deserved five stars!

PS: Go ahead and look up some pictures of the “Dustbowl” and if you’re like me, your jaw will drop!

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Nonfiction 1984

Revisado: 03-02-24

Tunnel 29 is the timely and thought-provoking true story of exceedingly courageous West German young men who dug a tunnel under the Berlin Wall, from West to East Germany, in 1962, to help ordinary East Germans escape to the West. Tunnel 29 was first released in October 2019 as a 10-part podcast, the book and audiobook were published about two years later in August 2021. The book and ebook (but, not the audiobook) contain several pages of mostly B&W photos. The 9:32 audiobook is narrated by the author, Helena Merriman, a BBC journalist who spent years researching, interviewing the actual participants, and diving deep into the prolific and turbulent sea of Stasi (the East Germany secret police) files (made public in 1989, after the wall came down and the Stasi headquarters in Berlin was broken into by enraged citizens). And while narration should usually be left to professionals, Merriman does a great job and detracts not a bit but rather enhances the audiobook.

The book is not only a stirring account of the tunnelers' steadfast commitment and courage, but also a vivid portrait of life under the East German dictatorship, where the Stasi monitored and controlled every aspect of society through spies, surveillance, propaganda, and brutal repression to create a climate of fear and paranoia among East (and even many West) German citizens. Merriman sheds light on the crucial role of Western media, the surprising penetration of Stasi spies into West German institutions, and she exposes the ugly facts of friends spying on friends, brothers spying on brothers, children spying on their parents and siblings, and neighbors spying on neighbors. The slightest hint of dissent would bring the full weight of the state – the Stasi – down upon the unfortunate person. Where they could expect days of interrogation, extreme sleep deprivation, and forced confessions, followed by a kangaroo trial and years of incarceration, all or part of which could be spent in solitary confinement.

Not surprisingly, censorship is practiced by varying degrees in most places around the world – including the United States of America. This is far from just a thing of the past. In fact, on the very day that I began writing this review, I opened The New York Times to find Russia cracking down on dissent, independent media, and freedom of speech.

Tunnel 29 should first be studied in every middle or high school; then, if possible, followed by a field trip somewhere like the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where there stands, 12 feet tall, an actual graffiti-covered slab of the Berlin Wall. This book is also a timely warning of the dangers of censorship, propaganda, cancel culture, and political correctness that permeates our society. In any form, censorship erodes our rights and liberties, and our freedom of speech. Every American must stand together ready to challenge any person or organization bent on stifling the Bill of Rights and free speech.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”
– Voltaire


Tunnel 29 is an outstanding example of superb research, historiography, and storytelling. It is a book that will educate and move you – and perhaps inspire you to selfless courage should the opportunity ever present itself. I highly recommend it!

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O'Brien + Cranston = Vietnam Masterpiece

Revisado: 12-23-23

In an almost stream of consciousness, The Things They Carried chronicles O’Brien’s memories as he returns to Vietnam in 1994 – “now a 43-year-old writer.” His disparate, antithetical, sometimes rambling, and raw storytelling style is totally unique and thoroughly engaging. His thoughts, his writing (almost as if he jots down the first thing that pops into his head) the things he left in, and the things he left out kept me hooked – it’s not just the same old A to Z storyline (which is normally fine. It’s just not the way O’Brien does it, at least in this book).

In 1968, PFC O’Brien and his clan were grunts, part of an infantry battalion in Vietnam. And as grunts, everything they needed, they carried. WEIGHT mattered! There were some things, like a helmet, boots, and flak jacket that every soldier carried; there were things they might be assigned to carry, like a radio, or the M-60 machine gun, perhaps extra ammo, and four or five mortar rounds (ugh!); there were also personal things like chewing gum, a deck of cards, maybe pictures of a girl back home, that they wanted to carry; and then there were the things – HEAVY things – things they did not want, nor were ordered, to carry. Nonetheless, at war and at home, carry these things they did – and that’s what this book is about.

Of Breaking Bad fame, Brian Cranston’s narration is simply outstanding! In fact, I don’t think it could have been done better. Normally I’ll listen to the audiobook and read the e-book. Not this time! After listening for about two seconds, I no longer wanted to READ, I only wanted to LISTEN.

(Oh, almost forgot - there’s a 30-minute bonus at the end, one of O’Brien’s New York Times articles, that he reads – it’s good, and it’s cool to hear O’Brien’s real, gravelly, nicotine-stained voice – but I’m glad he went with Cranston for the main act 😊)

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