Marines

Big Mother 40: "A great read on Navy helicopter rescue operations in the Vietnam era. A very well-written, exciting, fast moving book about the life of two Navy lieutenants. A Navy Helicopter pilot and a Navy Seal and their teams performing their duties in extremely hazardous conditions. Although fiction, Marc's knowledge of Navy Helicopter and Navy SEAl operations and the planning it takes to complete these types of missions is evident throughout the book. His understanding of the overall concept of joint and naval operations and the specifics of both Special Forces and helicopter missions during the Vietnam era makes this a very believable scenario. I personally know that Marc lived the life of a Navy rescue helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War."
Ken L. Fisher Rear Admiral USN (retired) Naval Aviator and fighter pilot

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1611792312

The U.S. Navy entered the Vietnam War prepared to fight either a conventional, or God forbid, a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In the mid-sixties, as the Vietnam war escalated, the U.S. found itself without significant aviation capability to support special operations or combat search and rescue (CSAR). To support SEAL operations in the Mekong Delta, the Navy created a Helicopter Combat Attack Squadron that was eventually split into four squadrons tasked with combat search and rescue and special operations missions. Its call sign was the Sea Devils, but over time, the matte-black Sea King helicopters became known as the "Big Mothers." BIG MOTHER 4O is about the life of a Navy helicopter pilot, a Navy Seal, and their teams performing under extremely hazardous combat conditions and includes the women they loved.

Title: A Call to Arms
Author: William Hammond
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1612511449

A Call To Arms is the fourth volume in the award-winning Cutler Family Chronicles series. The backdrop of this novel is the First Barbary War, fought in the years between 1801 and 1805. Included are such real-life characters as Capt. Edward Preble, Lt. Stephen Decatur, Lt. Richard Somers, Prince Hamet of Tripoli, and army captain William Eaton. Also included are the cast of fictional characters that define the Chronicles. The action is set primarily in the Mediterranean and in North Africa.

Title: Chosin File
Author: Dale A. Dye
Genre: Fiction
Reviewer: Joyce M. Gilmour

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0985338806

Nuclear saber-rattling in North Korea has created international palpitations and some unlikely partnerships in an effort to keep communist loose cannons from causing a war that no one wants and everyone fears. The CIA calls on clandestine contacts in neighboring China to run a dark—and wholly unauthorized—reconnaissance mission over North Korea from a top-secret drone base along the Yalu River. All is well and under international radar until Gunner Shake Davis’ best friend goes missing on a mission near the infamous Chosin Reservoir to check on a tip that the North Koreans are up to something sinister around the infamous Chosin Reservoir. That brings Marine Gunner Shake Davis out of retirement once again to locate his buddy on a risky trek through the snow-blown mountains surrounding the Korean War battle site where an earlier generation of Marines fought a classic withdrawal that became an iconic chapter in military history. While Shake is on his risky mission, the North Korean Supreme Leader suddenly dies and the entire world goes on high alert to see what might happen next in Pyongyang. That puts serious pressure on Shake and his South Korean allies who have discovered—and must deter—a potentially world-shattering North Korean weapon that threatens the very fabric of modern computer-based societies. It’s a high-stakes game and the clock is ticking as an international team of technical experts and military special operators launch a desperate search that culminates in a deadly confrontation in the Korea Straits in the midst of a howling storm.

Title: Mead's Trek
Author: Tom Gauthier
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: John Monteith

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0984663800

Marine Corps Major Amos Mead, a lawyer by education and a Special Agent for the FBI by trade, is recruited as an agent in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in early 1943. His latest mission: Assess the level of cooperation among the factions conducting the war against the Empire of Japan in the Asian Theater of Operations. Known only to a few, additional orders direct Major Mead to seek out a powerful Asian leader and investigate the possibility of the Vice President of the United States being involved in secret negotiations with Vietnamese Communists for a post-war alliance.

En route to his assignment, unexpected life-threatening events befall Mead's team. The mission then takes on a new urgency—one of survival. Mead and his team are forced onto a trek in an enemy infested jungle that will test the limits of their mental toughness and physical endurance.