‘Soldier’ by Philip Ziegler
He gives transcripts of interviews with WW1 veterans.
glibego on
Storm of Steel is the gold standard.
LaoBa on
Quartered Safe Out Here by George McDonald Fraser, about his experiences as a soldier on the WW2 Burma front.
Fit-Owl-3338 on
All quiet on the western front, with the old breed
Bechimo on
Band of Brothers by Ambrose.
Follows one group of paratroopers from training to Dday all thru Europe till VEday.
Great book, even better miniseries.
Stock_Market_1930 on
With the Old Breed by EB Sledge is the best I’ve read. And yes, if you need to be pedantic, he was a marine 🙂
Artistic-Frosting-88 on
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, who is a Vietnam vet.
Ireallyamthisshallow on
I would go for poetry rather than a book – Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon probably topping it. Something like *Dulce etc decorum est* ranks among the top.
I’m also partial to Rupert Brooke.
Civil_Wait1181 on
the things they carried
Dhugaill on
What it is like to go to War by Karl Marlantes
In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war. Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings–from Homer to The Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey
10 Comments
‘Soldier’ by Philip Ziegler
He gives transcripts of interviews with WW1 veterans.
Storm of Steel is the gold standard.
Quartered Safe Out Here by George McDonald Fraser, about his experiences as a soldier on the WW2 Burma front.
All quiet on the western front, with the old breed
Band of Brothers by Ambrose.
Follows one group of paratroopers from training to Dday all thru Europe till VEday.
Great book, even better miniseries.
With the Old Breed by EB Sledge is the best I’ve read. And yes, if you need to be pedantic, he was a marine 🙂
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, who is a Vietnam vet.
I would go for poetry rather than a book – Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon probably topping it. Something like *Dulce etc decorum est* ranks among the top.
I’m also partial to Rupert Brooke.
the things they carried
What it is like to go to War by Karl Marlantes
In 1968, at the age of twenty-three, Karl Marlantes was dropped into the highland jungle of Vietnam, an inexperienced lieutenant in command of a platoon of forty Marines who would live or die by his decisions. Marlantes survived, but like many of his brothers in arms, he has spent the last forty years dealing with his war experience. In What It Is Like to Go to War, Marlantes takes a deeply personal and candid look at what it is like to experience the ordeal of combat, critically examining how we might better prepare our soldiers for war. Marlantes weaves riveting accounts of his combat experiences with thoughtful analysis, self-examination, and his readings–from Homer to The Mahabharata to Jung. He makes it clear just how poorly prepared our nineteen-year-old warriors are for the psychological and spiritual aspects of the journey