I'm currently reading:
- "Shooting Ghosts" by J. Brennan and Finbarr O'Reilly. ISBN: 97803995562549 2017, Brennan is a USMC Sgt. (ret'd) and O'Reilly a Canadian photo-journalist whose paths cross in Afghanistan. Both were badly affected by what they saw and did in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Both became casualties with unseen wounds and suffered with the same effects of PTSD.
The book addresses the attitude of soldiers who have long lost sight of the stated geo-political objective and now just fight to stay alive and get home. In the case of the photog, he saw too much he was powerless to control, being a silent witness to unspeakable things he could not forget.
- "Unlikely Soldiers" by Jonathan F. Vance. ISBN 978-0-00-200735-1 2008. It's the story of two Canadians agents that were parachuted into France to work in the French underground during WWII. Forget everything you thought you knew about this clandestine war and the people who fought it. Up to now, I was under the impression of the thoroughness and efficiency of the British spy agencies, but this account reveals gaping flaws and fundamental errors you wouldn't think possible. The German Abwehr, SD and Gestapo were more than a match for their best efforts and managed to successfully infiltrate and manipulate the cell networks throughout France.
Oddly, the most successful cells were those of the French communists who were paranoid of foreigners of any stripe and distrustful of the British in particular who they thought were lax in their security. Turns out they were right.
- "Shooting Ghosts" by J. Brennan and Finbarr O'Reilly. ISBN: 97803995562549 2017, Brennan is a USMC Sgt. (ret'd) and O'Reilly a Canadian photo-journalist whose paths cross in Afghanistan. Both were badly affected by what they saw and did in Iraq, Afghanistan and Africa. Both became casualties with unseen wounds and suffered with the same effects of PTSD.
The book addresses the attitude of soldiers who have long lost sight of the stated geo-political objective and now just fight to stay alive and get home. In the case of the photog, he saw too much he was powerless to control, being a silent witness to unspeakable things he could not forget.
- "Unlikely Soldiers" by Jonathan F. Vance. ISBN 978-0-00-200735-1 2008. It's the story of two Canadians agents that were parachuted into France to work in the French underground during WWII. Forget everything you thought you knew about this clandestine war and the people who fought it. Up to now, I was under the impression of the thoroughness and efficiency of the British spy agencies, but this account reveals gaping flaws and fundamental errors you wouldn't think possible. The German Abwehr, SD and Gestapo were more than a match for their best efforts and managed to successfully infiltrate and manipulate the cell networks throughout France.
Oddly, the most successful cells were those of the French communists who were paranoid of foreigners of any stripe and distrustful of the British in particular who they thought were lax in their security. Turns out they were right.
