R. Denton

Disappointing, but not bad

Revisado: 07-17-22

This book is 180 degrees from Generation Kill. It's hard to explain, but other than some family and early life, the rest seems sort of distant. Could just be the results of personal experience on the author, but at times seemed like others had applied some heavy editing. There are some instances of actual combat, but they are mostly vague, while there is a lot of detail on guard time. There is absolutely no barracks language in the book which is hard to believe since it covers boot camp, infantry school and combat deployment, so I suspect heavy editing by someone. It's not a bad book, it just seems like other people trying to fashion a book out of notes and interviews while not knowing what sort of book they are making. Still, I respect this young man's effort and dedication. Semper Fi.

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Mostly excerpts from other books

Revisado: 04-08-22

If you have already read "Thunderbolt" or "Fighter Pilot-Robin Olds" then you have read half of this book already. The author says he conducted multiple interviews with the subjects, which may be accurate, but nothing new that is not in these other books in more detail.
On the other hand, if you have not read the above mentioned books, this will be a good collection of memories from some of the best.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Predictable story with horrible pronunciation

Revisado: 01-13-22

Really tired and tiring dialog for all the characters. When I heard the ship name "Hue City" as well as Aegis being horribly mis-pronounced I knew it was going to be a challenge. I listened to a couple more chapters and just could not stand any more. Returned the book.

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Good collection, great bargain well worth a credit

Revisado: 08-13-21

Some of the books are better than others, but all are at least pretty good and well worth one credit for all nine books. The one negative is that the titles are not clearly separated so you can easily go to a particular book. To find the break between books, look for the very short, les than one minute, chapters. These are usually the break points. To make it even easier, here are the chapter break numbers I found, in order, 12, 34, 56, 79, 124, 141, 157, and 177.

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Uninspired reading of just adequate writing

Revisado: 04-22-20

The writing in this is not very dramatic, even though it does include some pretty dramatic events. What's worse is that the reading is really uninspired and labored. There is no change in pitch or pace regardless of what happens, and what does happen is mostly told from a distant academic voice. I don't think I have ever heard war and warrior stories related as if they were corporate financial reports. I jumped ahead in the book several times to see if it got better, but it just kept plodding along.

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Not Perry's best, not even close to his top 10

Revisado: 01-20-20

This reminds me of those books written by someone else trying to carry on for a deceased writer like Tom Clancy or Robert Ludlum. I've read most of Perry's work and liked some better than others, but at least they all had a story and some interesting characters, both good and bad. This one has the beginnings of a good story, but then just plods along with no real surprises and nothing really memorable. The main character is just barely 3D, but all the rest are flat. Not worth spending a credit.

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Should be a movie or comic book

Revisado: 12-11-19

Techno-Thriller lite. The cybertech and its weaponization is interesting, but it's about the only part that really is. The characters are very 2D at best. The narrator really made this all even worse by having essentially only one voice and one tone/inflection regardless of what was happening. Sort of feels like this is a 'book' version of a screenplay from a generic thriller film. It's a good thing it was not any longer, as I was running out of patience for something to actually happen. It compares with Tom Clancy the same way Coors Light compares with beer.
Don't waste a credit, this will be in the discount listings before long.

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Very disappointing, juvenile viewpoint & narrator

Revisado: 09-08-19

I had high hopes for this book, but am very disappointed. With some serious editing and rewriting, plus an adult narrator, it could be much better. The narrator sounds like a petulant 12-year-old, whether doing simple maintenance chores or in the midst of a hot extraction. The sadder thing is that this is also the way the story is written. It's like junior high anguish about getting picked by the cool kids for their team. You do get a fair amount of information about the whole selection and training process to ultimately be a crew chief for an MH-47G in SOAR, but too much of the story is the author's desperate need for acceptance. I'm sure this plays a part in the decision of some to push to become one of the elite in various military areas, but in Burnett's case it seems to be the only thing. Another aspect of this book that really grates is injecting "redacted" by a synthetic voice into several portions of operations as they are being related by the author. Plenty of others who participated in all manner of highly classified operations and planning have manged to use either fictional names or call signs or other methods to avoid having this gimmicky distraction in the story. It's probably not so bad in print, but in audio it is really annoying and just screams: "I got to know and do top secret stuff."
I'll give the author a bit of a break knowing he was writing most of this while recovering from extended alcohol abuse, PTSD and the vacuum of no longer being a part of something that defined his life and self-worth for several years. I really think whoever did the editing/publishing on this did Burnett a major disservice in not working with him to make this much better, and much less juvenile. This work is certainly not the way to honor those who served with him and especially not those who gave it all.

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Interesting experiences, but needs organization

Revisado: 08-05-19

Like some other "collected experiences" war stories, this has a lot of information from various folks that fought in this lengthy conflict, but it could really use a good editor and organizer. It may work okay in print, but in audio it just seems to jump around a lot and you never really know who is speaking for sure and whether it is a new skirmish or more of the same from another person. The narrator was very slow and solemn, which makes the 12 hours seem like 20+. Clearly there is good stuff here, but this edition is not really ready.

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Good updating of Red Storm Rising

Revisado: 08-03-19

Overall, this really seemed like an updated revision of Red Storm Rising. I'm not belittling the book by comparing to Red Storm Rising, as this team did a very good job. I feel certain we can thank LtCol. Rawlings for the accurate and detailed coverage of all things military, from militia skirmishes to regimental engagements, as well as all the weapons, vehicles, comm. etc. There is no way Greaney could have done it, as his past works have shown he can barely manage a simple alley brawl. The narrator could have been better for this, but he was not awful. It took a while to get used to him, but after an hour or so I was able to focus on the story and characters instead of the reading voice.
Celer, Silens, Mortalis.

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