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I've actually had time to finish reading several books recently that folks here may be interested in.

For several months I had been planning on getting Cutthroats. This is a memoir by Robert Dick, a Tanker in the Pacific in WWII. I first ran across Mr Dick over in the then new G104 discussion group where the Sherman addicts hang out. He was an immediate hit over there with his reminisces and questions about Sherman details that many of us take for granted but the users back then didn't seem to worry about. Cutthroats (The books name comes from his tanks name) follows his adventures from a prewar National Guard infantryman through training on M3 (Diesel) Stuarts and eventually to combat on Leyte and Okinawa. The book is very well written and a pleasure to read. Sadly Robert Dick passed away just before Christmas.

Praying For Slack is a memoir from a Marine tanker in Vietnam
Another well written book, there are so few 'tank' books to come out of this era, lots of Aircav and LRRP 'I was there' books but few Armored Cav or tank books. Doug - When are you going to write yours? And y'all who held beack the Communist hoardes in Europe - how about Watching The Fence or We Were the Speed Bump An Armored Cav Trooper looks at the Cold War in Europe?

Of course I had to take a break from my 'serious' reading to read the latest Clive Cussler- 'Dirk Pitt' book as well as the latest W.E.B. Griffin book The Hunters in his 'Presidential Agent' series. Both were typical of the 'Literary popcorn' (It has no actual literary content but once you start you can't put it down) Cussler wasn't as good as his better ones but Griffin was exactly what you expect if you like his books.

I also picked up the Iraq Study Group Report. After I read it I came away with 'no S#$t you had to establish a government commision to tell me that?' Like many undergraduate college term papers I found it long on generalities and short on any real insight. But I recommend everyone reading it. (The same as I recommended everyone reading the old U.S. Army/GPO book on 'German Antiguerrilla Operations in the Balkins' before they wanted to get mired down in that quagmire in the '90s. Funny thing that one is probably applicable in Iraq also)

Just before the Holidays I read an excellent Naval History book. Shattered Sword is a new look at the Battle of Midway with an emphasis on the Japanese carrier operations. This book is no lightweight but is a very good read and the first fresh look at Midway in years. The sections on how the Japanese 'worked' their flight decks is excellent and reveals the flaw of historians who assume that the 'other side' operates with the same methods you do.

- bsmart

I also picked up the Iraq Study Group Report. After I read it I came away with 'no S#$t you had to establish a government commision to tell me that?' Like many undergraduate college term papers I found it long on generalities and short on any real insight. But I recommend everyone reading it. (The same as I recommended everyone reading the old U.S. Army/GPO book on 'German Antiguerrilla Operations in the Balkins' before they wanted to get mired down in that quagmire in the '90s. Funny thing that one is probably applicable in Iraq also).

Ditto on the Balkins book. It teaches a lot of enduring lessons for operating on someone else's country.

There is a new US joint counterinsurgency manual out, Dec 06. Some of my colleagues have downloaded it. One guy said it has been downloaded over 350,000 times from Federation of American Scientists (?) Global Security dot org (?).