The Odyssey of Sergeant Jack Brennan


Book Description

Tragic, poignant, and at times funny and hopeful, this graphic novel brilliantly conveys the profound challenges that many of today’s veterans face upon returning to civilian life, even as it tells “the oldest war story of all time.” Jack Brennan is a Marine Corps sergeant whose infantry squad has been cleared to return home from a grueling deployment to Afghanistan. A few years prior, Sergeant Brennan lost one of his closest friends—a young combat veteran—to suicide and has vowed to do everything in his power to keep his Marines from a similar fate. On their last night in-country, Brennan, who has long kept a tattered copy of the Odyssey with him on deployment, shares his version of Homer’s classic with his fellow soldiers to help prepare them for the transition back home. Brennan plunges into a rich retelling of Odysseus’s long journey home from the battlefield at Troy, during which Odysseus and his men confront numerous obstacles—from the lure of a psychedelic lotus plant to ghoulish shades in the Land of the Dead to the seductive songs of the deadly Sirens—as they try to make it back to Greece. Along the way, Brennan and his fellow Marines map the struggles faced by Odysseus and his men onto their own—isolation, addiction, guilt, depression, and loss. Through his retelling, Brennan reminds his squad that the gulf separating the battlefield from the home front is deep, wide, and sometimes hard to cross—that it is possible to travel all the way home and, like the characters in the Odyssey, still feel lost at sea.




Soldier for Life


Book Description

The foundation of the book and my life were instilled by the good order and discipline of the U.S. Army. An institution which mandates camaraderie and diversity within the ranks, despite the trials and tribulations of the greater society. We are shaped as a diversified force which will put aside differences for the greater good.The lesson learned from my service as an American Soldier shaped my development as I matured from adolescence to manhood. Consequently, this education provided the resolve to handle the trials and tribulations of war at an early age and the transformative impact it made.




Birmingham Broadcasting


Book Description

Birmingham, Alabama, has enjoyed a long and distinguished broadcasting history. The citys first radio station aired in 1922, and television arrived in 1949. Both media produced personalities who became household names in the city. Audiences came to know Joe Rumore, Tommy Charles, Country Boy Eddy, Cousin Cliff Holman, Rosemary, Pat Gray, Tom York, and many others as if they were members of their own families. Even the commercials became as memorable as the news, entertainment, talk, and childrens shows they interrupted. Birmingham, Alabama, has enjoyed a long and distinguished broadcasting history. The citys first radio station aired in 1922, and television arrived in 1949. Both media produced personalities who became household names in the city. Audiences came to know Joe Rumore, Tommy Charles, Country Boy Eddy, Cousin Cliff Holman, Rosemary, Pat Gray, Tom York, and many others as if they were members of their own families. Even the commercials became as memorable as the news, entertainment, talk, and childrens shows they interrupted.




Shooter


Book Description

The phenomenal New York Times bestseller Shooter captures a professional sniper's life, both on the battlefield--where he has racked up more than 60 confirmed kills--and off. Jack Coughlin is the Marine Corps' top-ranked sniper, the man who personally brings America's military muscle to the enemy's front door. In twenty years of active service, he has accumulated one of the most impressive records in the Corps, ranging through many of the world's hot spots. During Operation Iraqi Freedom alone, he recorded at least thirty-six kills, thirteen of them in a single twenty-four-hour period. In Shooter, Coughlin has written a highly personal story about his deadly craft, taking readers deep inside an invisible society that is off-limits to outsiders. This is not a heroic battlefield memoir, but the careful study of an exceptional man as he carries forward one of the deadliest legacies in the U.S. military.




Deathtripping


Book Description

An illustrated history, account and critique of he Cinema of Transgression', providing a long-overdue and comprehensice documentation of this essential, modern sociological and cultural movement. With a brief history of underground film, and studies of seminal influences including Warhol, Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, George and Mike Kuchar and John Waters and interviews with Richard Kern and Nick Zedd, this is an extensive illustrated film guide with synopses and critiques of key works of transgressive cinema and related films.'




We Were in the First Waves of Steel Amtracs Who Landed on Iwo Jima


Book Description

This book is based on my personal experiences. I have always felt that what I did was just my job and what was required of me to do as a Marine following orders. It became apparent to me when I visited the island of Okinawa for a month in 1997. I was honored by Marines, young and old, who were stationed there at the time. They wanted to hear of my experiences, to meet me and shake my hand. I started writing this book late in my life and I am not a professional writer. For a long time after Iwo Jima, I found it hard to talk about my experiences. I was able to do some talks at private clubs and at the Marine Corps Training Center in Okinawa and from these talks; I was encouraged to write this book. What really made me decide to try and write was after my talk at the Marine Crops Training Center in Okinawa. There was a group of Marines waiting for me and one of the Marines stepped up and asked, Sir, we would like to ask you some questions. I said sure. He then asked Is our training anywhere near the real thing? That caught me for a second. I said yes, your body had been conditioned to be strong and is ready to handle any kind of unknown rough terrain and still have the strength to take out any enemy gun position; youre going to need it. But the mind could never be fully ready. It cant be. It has to happen fi rst. Youve been told what to expect, but it is diff erent when you see it for real right in front of your own eyes. You have to swallow hard and just keep going. Youre training has given you a healthy mind and this will get you through. That question made me realize these young men need to be told what its like out there. I owe it to the men and the Corps. I have come to realize that these personal experiences are also a very important time and a piece of history that will go with me if I fail to share them here. Memories and sights that only a few have experienced and all should have the opportunity to learn about if they so choose. This book is not intended to be abrasive, insultive, discriminatory, or grotesque in nature as is more to capture and recollect the vivid memoirs of a Marine who fought on the front lines in the battle of Iwo Jima. To defend the freedoms and this great Country for which I have never taken for granted.




Monstrous Regiment


Book Description

"Wickedly satirical . . . nothing short of brilliant.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Another ingenious entry in Sir Terry Pratchett’s internationally bestselling Discworld fantasy series about the art of war and the brave women who wage it. War has come to Discworld. The homes and businesses throughout the duchy of Borogravia limp along, doing the best they can without their men, sent to fight their age-old enemy. Polly has taken over the lion’s share of responsibility for the running of her family’s humble inn, The Duchess. Her beloved brother Paul marched off to war almost a year ago, but it has been more than two months since his last letter home, and the news from the front is bad: the fighting has reached the border, supplies are dwindling, and the brave Borogravians are losing precious ground. So the resourceful Polly cuts off her hair and joins the army as a young man named Oliver. As Polly closely guards her secret, she notices that her fellow recruits seem to be guarding secrets of their own. A novel that explores the inanity of war, the ins and outs of sexual politics, and why often the best man for the job is a woman, Monstrous Regiment is vintage Pratchett in top form. The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Monstrous Regiment is a standalone.




The Adventures of Jack Lark


Book Description

The first three Victorian military adventures featuring hero Jack Lark, now available together in ebook.If you love Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, Matthew Harffy and Patrick O'Brian, you won't want to miss Paul Fraser Collard's action-packed series. INTRODUCING ROGUISH HERO JACK LARK: SOLDIER, LEADER, IMPOSTER. 'Brilliant' BERNARD CORNWELL 'Once again, Paul Fraser Collard proves he is a true master of action adventure' MATTHEW HARFFY 'Like all the best vintages Jack Lark has aged to perfection. Scarred, battered and bloody, his story continues to enthral' ANTHONY RICHES _________ THE SCARLET THIEF Crimean Peninsula, 1854. The men of the King's Royal Fusiliers are in terrible trouble. Young officer Jack Lark has to act immediately and decisively. His life and the success of the campaign depend on it. But does he have the mettle, the officer qualities that are the life blood of the British Army? From a poor background in London's East End, Lark has risen through the ranks by stealth and guile and now he faces the ultimate test... THE MAHARAJAH'S GENERAL Bombay, 1856. Jack Lark barely survived the Battle of the Alma. In hospital, wounded, and with his stolen life left lying on the battlefield, he grasps a chance to prove himself a leader once more. Poor Captain Danbury is dead, but Jack will travel to his new regiment in India, under his name. Exposed as a fraud, he's rescued by the chaplain's beautiful daughter, who has her own reasons to escape. They seek desperate refuge with the Maharajah of Sawadh, the charismatic leader whom the British Army must subdue. And, in return for his safety, Jack finds he must train the very army the British may soon have to fight... THE DEVIL'S ASSASSIN Bombay, 1857. Jack Lark is living precariously as an officer when his heroic but fraudulent past is discovered by the Devil - Major Ballard, the army's intelligence officer. Ballard is gathering a web of information to defend the British Empire, and he needs a man like Jack on his side. Not far away, in Persia, the Shah is moving against British territory and, with the Russians whispering in his ear, seeks to conquer the crucial city of Herat. As the British march to war, Jack learns that secrets crucial to the campaign's success are leaking into their enemies' hands. Ballard has brought him to the battlefield to end a spy's deceit. But who is the traitor? _________ READERS LOVE THE JACK LARK SERIES: 'Jack Lark is one of my favourite literary creations' 5* Reader Review 'Up there with the best of the genre' 5* Reader Review 'Collard's development of Lark is brilliant' 5* Reader Review 'This truly is edge of the seat writing' 5* Reader Review 'A breathless, memorable read and I recommend it completely' 5* Reader Review 'SO good. Redcoats, gunpowder, and the horror of battle. Anyone who read Sharpe should devour this . . . A masterclass of grit and determination' 5* Reader Review 'WOW. This is a very fast paced story that I found incredibly difficult to put down . . . If you like Victorian novels especially military ones, this series is definitely for you' 5* Reader Review




Shock Factor


Book Description

From the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Shooter comes jack Coughlin's riveting narrative of how snipers have changed the course of America's war on al Qaida in the Middle East and Africa. Retired Marine sniper Jack Coughlin (Shooter) and John Bruning pull back the curtain of secrecy to take an insider's look at the dark and misunderstood world of America's sniper force. Long considered the redheaded stepchildren of the infantry, snipers have been loathed by their fellow warriors, called "ten cent killers" by our media, and portrayed as unbalanced psychopaths by Hollywood. Coughlin and Bruning explore the lives and careers of some of America's most effective snipers during key missions, moments and campaigns in the War on Terror. Part page-turning thriller, part deeply human drama, Shock Factor takes you from the streets of the modern day "Stalingrad" of Ramadi to the skyscrapers of Baghdad as America's one-shot warriors fight desperate battles against all odds, find themselves at the heart of tense international incidents, stalk key enemy leaders, and discover horrific human rights abuses perpetrated by our own allies. Based on extensive interviews with snipers currently on active duty, Shock Factor's gripping accounts of harrowing combat, buried truths and secrets revealed could only be told by snipers to a trusted member of their own elite and cloistered brotherhood.




The Jack Lark Library


Book Description

Available together for the first time, The Jack Lark Library by Paul Fraser Collard is complete Jack Lark backstory. **Includes brand-new, never-before-seen prequel: RASCAL** A must-read for fans of Bernard Cornwell and Simon Scarrow. 'An appealing and formidable hero' Sunday Express on The Last Legionnaire 'Enthralling' - The Times on The Lone Warrior 'Brilliant' - Bernard Cornwell on The Scarlet Thief From gin palace pot boy to a young Private who wears his red coat with pride, The Jack Lark Library reveals the early years of Jack Lark: Soldier, Leader, Imposter. RASCAL: Jack finds himself witness to the execution of Mistress Manning, murderess in the notorious 'Bermondsey Horror' case. ROGUE: When an unlikely ally draws Jack from the East End alleys into the bright lights of a masked ball, he gets a glimpse of another life... RECRUIT:Forced to leave London, Jack is now a young recruit, determined to make his way as a Redcoat. REDCOAT:Jack relishes the camaraderie of barracks life, but four years of harsh discipline hasn't blunted his desire to be more than just a Redcoat...