Military Veteran

Tank Rider is the riveting memoir of Evgeni Bessonov telling of his years of service at the vanguard of the Red Army and daily encounters with the German foe. He brings large-scale battles to life, recounts the sniping and skirmishing that tried and tested soldiers on both sides, and narrates the overwhelming tragedy and horror of apocalyptic warfare on the Eastern Front. So much of the Soviet experience of World War II remains untold, but this memoir provides an important glimpse into some of the most decisive moments of this overlooked history.

He's a little bent but not broken. She's trying to start her life in her new home while doing her best to ignore her handsome neighbor with a major attitude. In the process of fixing up an old house, they both may also be able to fix and find what's been missing from their lives.

In the summer of 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts organized a series of writing workshops, led by prominent authors, to encourage U.S. troops and their families to record their experiences and reflections on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The result is this extraordinary volume of first-hand letters, poems, journals, memoirs, and e-mails from the men and women directly involved in battle and their families back home.

On rare occasions in American history, Congress enacts a measure so astute, so far-reaching, so revolutionary, it enters the language as a metaphor. The Marshall Plan comes to mind, as does the Civil Rights Act. But perhaps none resonates in the American imagination like the G.I. Bill.

At a time when the United States debates how deeply to involve itself in Iraq and Syria, Lieutenant Colonel Michael Zacchea, USMC (Ret.), holds a unique vantage point on our still-ongoing war. Deployed to Iraq in March 2004, his team's mission was to build, train, and lead in combat the first Iraqi army battalion trained by the US military. Zacchea tells a deeply personal and powerful story while shedding light on the dangerous pitfalls of training foreign troops to fight murderous insurgents.

Entre 1979 y 1989 un millón de tropas soviéticas combatieron en una guerra devastadora en Afganistán que provocó más de 50.000 bajas y acabó con la juventud y la humanidad de varias decenas de miles de soldados más. Los muertos soviéticos volvían a casa en ataúdes de zinc sellados mientras el estado no reconocía ni la mera existencia del conflicto. Svetlana Alexievich expone la verdad de la guerra afgano-soviética: la belleza del país y los abusos del ejército, las muertes y las mutilaciones, la profusión de productos occidentales, las vidas destrozadas de los veteranos.

America's highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, was awarded to 440 deserving members of the "Greatest Generation" that served in World War II. But in 1943, before the war was even over, Allied leaders realized they needed another kind of award to recognize a different kind of World War II hero - animal heroes. Founded in 1943, the prestigious PDSA Dickin Medal is the highest award an animal can achieve for gallantry and bravery in the field of military conflict. It was given to 55 animals who served valiantly alongside the members of the Greatest Generation.

As the war in Iraq continues, the idea of being a soldier in wartime is of interest to many Americans. Why Marines Fight by James Brady is a ruthlessly candid book told in the words of U.S. Marines themselves, who answer provocative questions about what drives them to fight so competently and ferociously.

Following the success of Jarhead, Anthony Swofford assumed he had exorcised his military demons - but as every veteran knows, that isn't exactly how it works. In these searing, courageous pages, Swofford struggles to make sense of what his military service meant, and to decide - after nearly ending it - what his life can and should become. Consumed by drugs, booze, fast cars, and the wrong women, Swofford almost lost everything and everyone that mattered to him.

East Berlin, 1985. A city of shadows behind the Berlin Wall where a single misstep can be fatal. Into this perilous world steps Jackson MacKenzie, a former CIA asset and decorated U.S. Army officer turned fugitive, drawn out of hiding for one last covert mission. His target: a traitorous double agent carrying secrets that could shatter the Cold War balance of power. Under deep cover and with no one to trust, Jackson navigates a deadly maze of spies and checkpoints. The Stasi are closing in, Soviet operatives lurk in every alley, and even the CIA handlers pulling the strings remain ...

Take a dab of M.A.S.H., a dash of Catch 22, blend it with a pinch of Happy Days, and you have the flavor of Red Boots Rebel. For those who lived through the Vietnam era, this book provides an entirely new and unexpected perspective. While the destination feels familiar, the often-times humorous journey about a serious topic is worth the ride. If we couldn't laugh, we still might go insane. You can't make this stuff up. This well-written book documents the author’s changing attitude toward the war in Vietnam while working in a top secret facility in the South China Sea. It testifies to ...

After Casey Marie McCleary, Specialist 4th class finally heard the rumble of the bus coming down the road towards her. She stood and put the strap of her handbag on her shoulder, then squatted and in a very lady like manner easily lifted the 60-pound duffel and slung it over her shoulder by one strap. She was headed for Korea.Casey’s life had changed dramatically several years earlier when her mother had died, then again when her oldest sister Ryan had gotten pregnant and moved to Zapata TX. But the change when she’d landed in Newark had been more abrupt. It had been her first time on a...

When the United States declared war against Spain in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry - dubbed by an adoring public as "the Rough Riders." It was his recruitment and leadership of this unorthodox military unit that made "Teddy" a household name - and eventually president. The Rough Riders is Roosevelt's firsthand account of his adventures.

After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, First Sergeant Daniel Hendrex was dispatched along with his unit, Dragon Company, to Husaybah, a small town bordering Syria in the Sunni-dominated Al Anbar province of Iraq. It was at this checkpoint, amidst relentless attacks, that Daniel and his men found the most effective ally of the war effort in the most unlikely of sources.

For 24 years, I've brought American veterans from all over the United States to high schools in Oregon to share their military experiences during times of war with the students. Over the years, as I became friends with many of these veterans, they began to open up and share with me. Many veterans refused to talk for years, but reached out to me as they grew older and realized they wanted their stories remembered. Even their spouses and children had never heard many of these shared stories.

Twenty years of America’s Global War on Terror produced little tangible success while exacting enormous harm. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States sustained tens of thousands of casualties, expended trillions of dollars, and inflicted massive suffering on the very populations that we sought to “liberate.” Now the inclination to forget it all and move on is palpable. But there is much to be learned from the immense debacle. And those who served and fought in these wars are best positioned to teach us.

Author Susan Cochran's third book in the Lake Tahoe series brings humor, heart, and steamy heat back to Lake Tahoe. Is it too late to rediscover the spark that was never fully extinguished? Luke Grant is a man with a badge every woman notices. Except for one. She was everything that was right in his world, then she disappeared from his life. Multiple tours in Afghanistan couldn't erase the memory of her. Years later, she returned and for Luke, time stood still. Can he forgive her for the past and claim her as his again? Dr. Blair O'Rourke ran away to follow her dream and her drive cost her ...

In his two decades as a reporter, author Eric Poole racked up more than 30 regional and national awards while interviewing presidents and other luminaries. Here Poole recounts the experiences of a band of US soldiers in Vietnam, including the heroics of Leslie Sabo, Jr., who died saving his comrades and finally received his Medal of Honor some 42 years after his act of breathtaking courage.

EPISODE 33: In 2014, a man escapes from the hospital morgue presumed dead. Starved, he lines up at a nearby Salvation Army street kitchen, having no idea who he is, or that he wears a military field uniform. They offer him a bed and a painter’s job at the new shelter, until people find out that someone is hunting the shy, homeless veteran. (Standalone version.) Available also in print, as part of the STARCALL Anthology, Vol.4, illustrated by the author. The eBook is not illustrated to save on file size (1mb vs. 300mb).

Alex is lonely and bored, lost at a pool party where he knows nobody. But along comes a server with an interesting history in the Navy...and a lovely pocketwatch he'd like Alex to see. Maybe the solution to Alex's indecisiveness isn't to take himself to gay pool parties in the hopes of meeting the perfect man...but to let the perfect man turn Alex into the perfect cabin boy. Join our hero on his journey of gentle hypnotic submission at the hands of a kind and passionate captain of the high seas.