Military

Title: A Sea Story
Author: Joseph Pignataro
Genre: History
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): B007W9F4A8

The U.S. Navy was among the first responders on 9/11. Entrusted with the
iconic Ground Zero flag, the Roosevelt battlegroup took to the seas searching
out those responsible, and to bring justice to a nation in mourning.

1145 September 2001, the U.S.S. Leyte Gulf deployed within hours of the
attack on the W.T.C. with orders to shoot down and destroy any "birds not
squawking" over New York City. We were entrusted with the Ground Zero flag
raised by the NYFD. We flew that flag with pride and determination from our
mast on our important mission. After two days we were then redirected to the
gulf and given orders to destroy the Taliban with the Tomahawk missiles
onboard. During transit, we were told by our Captain that the Taliban would
be waiting for us in the narrow Suez canal. So narrow in fact, only a single
ship can go through at any one time. If the first and last ship were to be
hit by surface to air missiles, there would be no way out. The aircraft
carrier U.S.S Roosevelt, would be trapped in the middle and defenseless.
There they were, waiting for us on horseback atop the sandy Suez
dunes...following us. Just a bunch of scared kids manning the ships 50 cal
guns, wondering what was to happen next.

One late night in the gulf, Bush declared war. It was our task to launch the
first Tomahawk missiles and kick off the war on terror. We were cut off from
the outside world. Email and any other means of communication had been banned
for security reasons. Television reports of Anthrax gripping the country with
fear and WW3 rumors scuttling through the ships decks. A six man boarding
party manned up to routinely search an unresponding suspect Iraqi
tanker...what was found would change our lives forever.

This is our sea story.

Title; Battle for Baqubah - Killing Our Way Out
Author: Robert Colella
Genre: History
Reviewer: Ron Camarda

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1469791080

The Battle for Baqubah: Killing Our Way Out is a firsthand account-and sometimes a minute-by-minute tale-of a raw, in-your-face street fight with Al Qaeda militants over a fifteen-month span in the volatile Diyala Province of Iraq. This story is presented through the eyes of a first sergeant serving with B Company 1-12 Cavalry (Bonecrushers), 1st Cavalry Division, out of Fort Hood, Texas.

The author takes the reader into the midst of the conflict in and around Baqubah-Iraq's "City of Death"-a campaign that lasted most of 2007. The author and his fellow Bonecrushers watched as the city went from sectarian fighting amongst the Shiite and Sunnis, to an all-out jihad against the undermanned and dangerously dispersed US forces within Baqubah and the outlying areas.

Title: Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr.: Vietnam War Hero
Author: Anne Chancey Dalton
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1594210780

T-O-R-T-U-R-E. As the television camera focused on his face, Commander Jeremiah Denton, a Prisoner of War, blinked this word in Morse Code over and over. He sent a message to the world from North Vietnam, while answering a reporter's questions. After the war, Rear Admiral Denton received the Navy Cross-not for this message-but for his answer to the reporter's question: "What do you think about your government's actions?" Knowing he would be tortured more,Denton said, "...whatever the position of my government, I agree with it. I support it. I will support it as long as I live!" Years later, he continued this vow by becoming a congressman from Alabamain the United States Senate.

Title: Baptism of Fire
Author: Michael Winston
Genre: Historical Fiction
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1475166249

This first volume in the Sgt. Smith World War II trilogy follows a squad of First Infantry Division soldiers to the rugged Tunisian desert of North Africa in their first experience of the war. As members of the “Big Red One,” the most famous Division in the American Army, they do battle with the most famous units in the German Army: Rommel’s Africa Corps, as well as the 10th and 21st Panzer Divisions. This is a vivid and unvarnished odyssey into the foxholes of World War II, a gritty look at a war we should never forget, and dedicated to all those brave men and women who through their courage and sacrifice fought to free the world from a cloud of evil.

Title: Red Sky at Morning
Author: Steve Wilson
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Reviewer: Elizabeth Beard

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1618080350

When Marine Lieutenant Michael Neill is ordered to the former Soviet Union, his assignment is to verify nuclear disarmament. But before his mission begins, an American reconnaissance plane is attacked by a Russian fighter, and a Navy pilot is killed. After the incident, Neill’s mission changes.

Willis Avery, the President’s National Security Advisor, wants Lieutenant Neill to investigate Russian stealth technology, in addition to his original assignment. Photographic evidence—and the lack of radar images of the attacking aircraft—lead the American intelligence community to conclude that something new has been developed in the skies over Russia.

Avery believes that Neill’s friendship with a high-ranking officer in the Ukrainian Air Force is the key to establishing Red Sky at Morning—the existence of new aviation technology that could upset the balance of power between East and West. However, ultra-nationalist forces are at work. After arriving in Eastern Europe, Neill quickly uncovers a conspiracy of terrorism secretly instigated by the Kremlin. Government leaders in Moscow will stop at nothing to rebuild the Soviet Union as they try to force the breakaway republics back into the fold.

Neill discovers that the terrorism has extended to the weapons facility he is charged with inspecting. Communist agents have gone far beyond their original orders, and it’s a race against time as the Marine—with the help of a beautiful Ukrainian journalist—tries to stop them—and come up with a plan to bring down the corrupt govenment officials in Moscow.