Navy

Title: War on the Rivers A Swift Boat Sailor's Chronicle of the Battle for the Mekong Delta
Author: Weymouth Symmes
Genre: Military, Navy
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1575101092

This book is a memoir of a four year enlistment in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, from service aboard the USS Ticonderoga as she engaged in the air war over North Vietnam, to service aboard U.S. Navy Swift boats in the Mekong Delta. Although the focus of the book is on the war on the rivers, the book also considers the consequences for the warrior upon the return home.

Title: Strike from the Sea: U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft from Skyraider to Super Hornet, 1948-Present
Author: Tommy H. Thompson
Genre: Military, Navy
Reviewer: Hodge Wood

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1580071325

Strike from the Sea: U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft from Skyraider to Super Hornet 1948-Present celebrates carrier-based air-to-ground attack aircraft which first came into operation during the Korean War, reached maturity during Vietnam, and are deployed today throughout the world. Well-known author and naval aviation authority Tommy Thomason not only explores such legendary Navy aircraft as the A4D Skyhawk, A3J Vigilante, and A-6 Intruder, but also the critical role of the aircraft carrier itself, for without these massive nuclear-powered floating airfields, U.S. Navy attack aircraft would have no sea-borne bases from which to operate.
Armament from gravity bombs to today's GPS-guided smart weapons are covered in great detail, and this book also explains that while many different types of airplanes were required for flying attack missions in the past, only one aircraft - the advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet - is needed to carry out these same missions in an even more complex and hostile combat environment today.

Title: Proximity: A Novel of the Navy's Elite Bomb Squad
Author: Stephen Phillips
Genre: Fiction, Military, Navy
Reviewer: Rob Ballister

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1425751563

EOD-"It's a lot like brain surgery, except if we screw up the patient detonates....Oh yeah, and we do it underwater."
- A Navy EOD Technician

The Sailors of the United States Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community "perform under pressure" in the hazardous job of bomb disposal, often deep beneath the sea...alone.

An EOD Technician must have the brains of an engineer, the hands of a surgeon, and the courage of a martyr. In the U.S. Navy, carrier flight operations only occur under the watchful eye of EOD Techs ready to respond to ordnance accidents. U.S. Marines assault enemy beachheads only after EOD Techs clear the littoral seas and landing zones of mines. The U.S. Secret Service even relies on military bomb squads to protect the President and visiting foreign dignitaries. Perhaps the best testimony of their value is that when the Navy needs to place a limpet mine under an enemy ship it tasks the Navy SEALs, but to respond to such an attack - the Navy summons EOD.

Proximity highlights the exciting work of one EOD detachment as they become enmeshed in the efforts of a terrorist coalition operating both in Europe and the United States. Lieutenant "Jazz" Jascinski and the men of Detachment Four become the key to helping the FBI apprehend these terrorists - until their unique skills place them under suspicion. To protect themselves, the Techs must race to find the culprits before they become the next victims...

Title: Constant Bearing - Decreasing Range: A Makeover for Sailor Sam
Author: Skip Vogel
Genre: Fiction, Literary, Navy
Reviewer: Rob Ballister

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1419651455

Skip Vogel's CONSTANT BEARING - DECREASING RANGE: The Collision of Public Policy and National Defense is a compelling character-driven story of intrigue, tragedy, honor, and humor within the U.S. Navy as it was undermined by the questionable efforts of American politicians and social engineers as they attempted to integrate low aptitude personnel and criminals into our naval forces, and the unfortunate consequences that resulted from these policies.