John Bruning is a distinguished author whose extensive body of non-fiction work delves into compelling narratives. His writing is characterized by meticulous research and a keen eye for detail, bringing to life significant historical events and the individuals involved. Bruning has a proven ability to connect with readers through vivid storytelling and insightful analysis, making complex subjects accessible and engaging. His contributions to literature are marked by a dedication to uncovering and presenting impactful stories with clarity and depth.
At twenty-four years of age, U.S. Army Ranger Sean Parnell was named commander of a forty-man elite infantry platoon, the 10th Mountain Division—a unit that came to be known as the Outlaws. Tasked with rooting out Pakistan-based insurgents from a valley in the Hindu Kush, Parnell assumed they would be facing a ragtag bunch of civilians until, in May 2006, a routine patrol turned into a brutal ambush. Through sixteen months of combat, the platoon became Parnell's family. The cost of battle was high for these men. Not all of them made it home, but for those who did, it was the love and faith they found in one another that ultimately kept them alive.
A remarkable, untold WWII story: INDESTRUCTIBLE is an against-all-odds tale of
a renegade pilot consumed by his personal mission to rescue his family in time
of war--and who happened to change its very course along the way.
The story revolves around a young and accomplished full colonel in the US Army Air Forces, who, after surviving multiple perilous combat tours, mysteriously vanishes during a courier mission in adverse weather conditions. This disappearance occurs just a month after World War II's conclusion and shortly before he was set to return home to his family. The narrative explores themes of loss, the unpredictability of war, and the impact of conflict on personal lives.
On a warm Saturday night in July 1973 in Bethesda Maryland, a gunman stepped out from behind a tree and fired five point-blank shots into Joe Alon, an unassuming Israeli Air Force pilot and family man. Alon's sixteen-year-old neighbor, Fred Burton, was deeply shocked by this crime that rocked his sleepy suburban neighborhood. As it turned out, Alon wasn't just a pilot—he was a high-ranking military official and with intelligence ties. The assassin was never found and the case was closed. In 2007, Fred Burton—who had since become a State Department counterterrorism special agent—reopened the case. Here, in Chasing Shadows, Burton spins a gripping tale of the secret agents, double dealings, terrorists and heroes he encounters he chases leads around the globe in an effort to solve this decades-old murder. From swirling dogfights over Egypt and Hanoi to gun battles on the streets of Beirut, this action-packed thriller looks in the dark heart of the Cold War to show power is uses, misused, and sold to the most convenient bidder.
The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq
288 pages
11 hours of reading
Finding Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, had long been the U.S. military's top priority -- trumping even the search for Osama bin Laden. No brutality was spared in trying to squeeze intelligence from Zarqawi's suspected associates. But these "force on force" techniques yielded exactly nothing, and, in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the military rushed a new breed of interrogator to Iraq.Matthew Alexander, a former criminal investigator and head of a handpicked interrogation team, gives us the first inside look at the U.S. military's attempt at more civilized interrogation techniques -- and their astounding success. The intelligence coup that enabled the June 7, 2006, air strike onZarqawi's rural safe house was the result of several keenly strategized interrogations, none of which involved torture or even "control" tactics.Matthew and his team decided instead to get to know their opponents. Who were these monsters? Who were they working for? What were they trying to protect? Every day the "'gators" matched wits with a rogues' gallery of suspects brought in by Special Forces ("door kickers"): egomaniacs, bloodthirsty adolescents, opportunistic stereo repairmen, Sunni clerics horrified by the sectarian bloodbath, Al Qaeda fanatics, and good people in the wrong place at the wrong time. With most prisoners, negotiation was possible and psychological manipulation stunningly effective. But Matthew's commitment to cracking the case with these methods sometimes isolated his superiors and put his own career at risk.This account is an unputdownable thriller -- more of a psychological suspense story than a war memoir. And indeed, the story reaches far past the current conflict in Iraq with a reminder that we don't have to become our enemy to defeat him. Matthew Alexander and his ilk, subtle enough and flexible enough to adapt to the challenges of modern, asymmetrical warfare, have proved to be our best weapons against terrorists all over the world.
The pivotal true story of the first fifty-three days of the standoff between
Imperial Japanese and a handful of Marine aviators defending the Americans dug
in at Guadalcanal, from the New York Times bestselling author of
Indestructible and Race of Aces.
Kapitán Sean Parnell v barvitém líčení hrdinských akcí legendární 10. horské divize americké armády v horách Afghánistánu se čtenářem sdílí akcí a emocemi nabitý pravdivý příběh triumfu, tragédií a výjimečných pout, jaká mohou vzniknout pouze v bitvě. Sean Parnell se stal velitelem čtyřicetičlenné čety elitních vojáků – jednotky, která vstoupí do dějin jako „Psanci“ – v roce 2006, ve svých čtyřiadvaceti letech, a dostal za úkol vyčistit jedno horské údolí ve východním Afghánistánu od povstalců pronikajících z Pákistánu. Vojáci rychle zjistili, že proti nim stojí nepřítel tak dobře zorganizovaný a vyzbrojený, že budou potřebovat všechny své síly a schopnosti, aby přežili následujících šestnáct měsíců neustálých bojů, a autor výstižně a podrobně zachycuje každodenní život vojáků v nebezpečném prostředí.
