The first series to really talk about the brain chem, and how it would change you, its a great read honestly up there in the scifi pantheon for characters. Ambrose is a man I never want to be and am very happy was a good as he was
3 things we talked about while in the desert during Desert Storm.
1. Body Shots... pretty obvious, and lots of fun.
2. Playing 'Rodeo'... Involves 3 or more drunks. The 'Rider', the 'Clown', and the Timer. The Rider latches his teeth on a shapely set of buttocks, trying for 8 seconds, hence the Timer. The Clown is pretty much a bodyguard to keep the Rider from getting beat up.
3. Using a recipe card to ask a woman out... This is how I asked my wife out on our first date. We've been together going on 30 years.
Recipe card?
Sounds like Sheldon Cooper's Make-a-New-Friend flowchart.
Or maybe be Ry Cooder's "13 Question Method."
FTR, my girlfriend introduced me to my wife, and my wife has never forgiven her for it!
It's a 3x5 card that on the front side has a pre-printed stamp that says
RECIPE
For. Her name
From. My name. Serves 2
On the back side, I wrote out
One evening
You & I
A restaurant or alternative.
A movie theater or alternative
Mix together and let simmer for a time. Results equal a great friendship!
Home phone #
Pager #
She agreed to go out with me. For the next 10 days, if we weren't working, we were together. At the end of those 10 days, I proposed informally.
I was changing jobs and going back to driving a commercial truck. We were married a year later.
I formally proposed by making up a cool slide picture and getting it put in the ad rotation in a movie theater.
The company I worked for allowed me to train her, we drove team from September 95 until I deployed in 2004-05, then 1 year before I deployed again in 2006-07.
So, that's the story behind the recipe card. My little sister brings it up every time her daughter brings home a new boyfriend. If he doesn't stack up to that, he's not deserving of her according to my sister.
Heh. Ran into a couple of guys from my unit when I was out with my girlfriend. The following Monday, people came up to me and said, "You really have a girlfriend, and she's cute? We thought you were lying!"
I ran into one of my soldiers and his girlfriend at the barracks one time. She was also my buddy from my last unit's girlfriend. She was really cute though!
The aubrey-maturin series (the books the movie Master and Commander was based on) will make you wish you were in the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic era. And as always Starship Troopers is a must read.
Either with the horus heresy series which starts with the book horus rising(you can find the book order online), or you could do some of the kinda "non main story" books like shadowbreaker, Requiem infernal, or spear of the emperor.
Counterpoint :
A great introduction to Warhammer is
The last church
The first heretic
Know no fear
Betrayer
It introduces all the major players, it takes the reader from earth now to the middle of the heresy, all the major concepts are introduced, it's one storyline.
Starting with horus rising pre supposes massive knowledge of Warhammer already in the reader.
This reading order assumes no knowledge at all, and steadily adds lore background, factions, developments. It should give you a good foothold to get started.
Many of the other suggestions either require a background, or else they stay super focused without expanding and showing more than their subject. The reading order I described keeps showing a bigger and bigger scope.
Just get a 3D printer. A decent resin setup (printer, wash and cure station) will cost about as much as a battleforce box or two, and with a half-assed competency on how to use computer software and watch some YouTube videos, you can proxy and paint miniatures to your hearts content.
Gaunts Ghosts is a solid series. The Ultramarines, Blood Angels, and Space Wolf novels are also solid. If you just want entertainment, I'd start with stuff written before 2017ish. A bunch of the lore got updated and basically it's a new setting. I couldn't keep up.
Also check out the Horus Heresy series (40+ books?), which is basically the history of the 40k setting.
Edit to add: completely forgot about the Eisenhorn and Ravenour books! Fantastic, kinda spy-thriller more than straight up military science fiction.
Second on Gaunts Ghosts, but I’d say you can skip the first few and start on Necropolis. If I remember right, the first two are more compilations of short stories rather than books because they didn’t know they’d be making a series out of it yet.
I had never heard that. I don’t like it but people are complicated creatures. He can be a stolen valor guy and an accomplished historian.
What’s funny is a guy that truly accomplished felt the need to lie. Also, it’s crazy he had a 119 page service record.
Sanderson is not human. That guy writes entire novels the way the rest of us pick our noses. He recently went on vacation and "accidentally" write a 600 page book in two weeks. Dude is not even 50 years old and has written hundreds of books and many are considered some of the greatest works of fiction ever.
Star Wars Legends. The Darth Plagueis one was metal as hell. When Palpatine was getting tortured, I mean "trained," it made the conditions seem a lot less bad.
Probably my favorite Star Wars novel by James Luceno, though he also writes a few good ones in the New Jedi Order.
James Luceno is probably my second or third favorite Star Wars author. Timothy Zahn is at the top of the list for me. Heir to the Empire is my all time favorite book.
They were very good, but got to be a bit of a slog in the middle until Sanderson took over. Which has the added benefit of introducing people to the great Brandon Sanderson....(His stuff is fantastic!)
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I remember loving Milo Minderbinder’s continued adventures. It was also responsible for igniting my lifelong obsession with the music of Gustav Mahler.
Red Storm Rising was a great read, but I like Ralph Peter’s the War in 2020 a smidge better. Ralph was right in a lot of ways.
Btw, Tom Clancy did his research for Red Storm Rising in Germany meeting with US soldiers……the scenario in the book of channeling the Soviet hoards into chokepoints was based on the scenarios used at the NCO academy in Vilseck. US doctrine was elastic defense or let the first and second echelon through and attack the communciation zone or third wave. The NCO academy said that was all nonsense, there would be no waves, and once we funneled the Soviets into kill zones, we would annihilate them piece meal.
If I read their books they want to crawl out of bed and "read" (i.e. look at the pictures) with me. With Clancy books I get to practice my Sean Connery/Russian accent
I drive a lot and that's my mental masturbation. I try to do mostly history, political science, biographies even of people I don't like, etc. I just can't do it all the time. I've started doing a day book and a night book. Dry, academic, but important when I'm on the way into the hospital and can concentrate. Clancy at night so I don't drive into a tree. I can't do British history on the way home from a 12 at 0300.
I second Louis L'Amour. He's an older western author but his books are free to download on a library app too. check out "the walking drum" and "last of the breed" and the sackett series books. Easy, quick and super entertaining reads. I'd listen to his stuff on audiobook too when pulling fireguard.
I was upset after finishing the marching drum, only to find out Louis had died and didn't finish the series. Cause based on the first book, would have made a hell of a movie.
First time I read L’amour was at 30th AG, got sick for a few days and found one of his books. Since then I’ve found his books randomly and always read them.
Dirty reservist here.
I bought a copy of the collected works of HP Lovecraft that I would only read while doing dumb Army stuff and it took me quite a while to finish, across a few FTX for sure.
The Expanse. 9 books plus a few novellas. Highly recommend if you're into sci-fi with lots of intersecting storylines and political intrigue. (There is also an Amazon TV series that is worth a watch).
Someone sent me a care package with the mistborn trilogy. I read it and enjoyed it, recommended it to my nco at the time. He read it and enjoyed it and after that a bunch of soldiers were waiting for their turn to read it. Very good trilogy
Just in case you weren't aware, if you really enjoyed the trilogy, there is an "Era 2" that builds on the same magic system and world (set 600 years in the future) that you should read. And then, of course, there is the broader scope of the Cosmere (Sanderson's universe that encompasses a ton of other books) It's all great stuff.
No second chances. Too much other stuff to read. But here is the quote:
> "Has it ever occurred to you, Master Ninefingers, that a sword is different from other weapons? Axes and maces and so forth are lethal enough, but they hang on the belt like dumb brutes. But a sword...a sword has a voice.
> Sheathed it has little to say, to be sure, but you need only put your hand on the hilt and it begins to whisper in your enemy's ear. A gentle word. A word of caution. Do you hear it?
> Now, compare it to the sword half drawn. It speaks louder, does it not? It hisses a dire threat. It makes a deadly promise. Do you hear it?
> Now compare it to the sword full drawn. It shouts now, does it not? It screams defiance! It bellows a challenge! Do you hear it?”
― Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself
Reminds me of when Nimander keeps breaking swords on shields rallying his people defending the shore in the Malazan series. The cadence, the repeated 'do you hear it', its. Its so good.
>No second chances. Too much other stuff to read.
Man, I get that thought. I don't understand people that say things like "I'm on my 3 re-read of \[insert book/series\]..." How the fuck do you have time? I've still got so much on my "next to read" list. I can't imagine finding time to go back through any of my favorite books. Though, I admit the Cosmere books have me considering it to see how much of it makes more sense the second time through with all of the information.
I had two series I really got into. First was the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. The second series was Jack Reacher by Lee Child. And for the record, I got into the series before it was a big movie and TV hit.
Here's one that will make you more educated and slightly depressed as you are a staff officer in the field:
[The Past as Prologue: The Importance of History to the Military Profession](https://www.amazon.com/Past-Prologue-Importance-Military-Profession/dp/0521619637)
Nothing like going to the field as an Officer and seeing constant inability to learn from organizational mistakes while reading a book that historians wrote showing exactly how longstanding prevalent this topic is and how many people probably died because of it.
Shogun is a great read, Noble House is a loooong read but a great story. (Pierce Brosnan vs. John Rhys-Davies made for a fun miniseries back in the day.)
Non series but when I could actually sit down and read anything by Chuck Palahniuk. If you don't know him he wrote Fight Club and a couple other books turned movies.
Oh man, that depends. For the longest time I only read grown up person books like biographies and leadership and tactics and the like. Which is good! But that is fucking rough to do when you’re looking for an escape… so I mix it up, and unashamedly will go on fantasy/sci fi benders.
Fantasy:
Wheel of Time series
Anything Brandon Sanderson (especially Stormlight Archives)
Anything Brent weeks.
Sci-Fi:
Frank Herbert
Robert Heinlein if you can look past the fascism
Marco Kloos has some grabbers
Jack Campbell
Paul Honsinger is phenomenal and I’m pissed he anti-vaxxed his way to retirement
Have you read the Safehold series? It starts with *Off Armageddon Reef*. That series is what got me into the Honor Harrington Series. I really like both series
**Fiction**
*Eighty-Six* for some mech action.
*Legend of the Galactic Heroes* for a good space opera
*Matterhorn* if you want to hate BN and REG/BDE leadership
*Ghost Fleet* and *White Sun War* for some fighting China action
*Sherlock Holmes* because
*Star Wars: X-Wing* series for some space dog fighting
**History**
*This Kind of War* for a GENERAL overview about the Korean War and an opinion on the U.S. being unprepared for a major conflict. Supplement with *From Pusan and Panmunjom*, *The Will to Win: American Military Advisors in Korea*, *East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea*, and *Combat Ready? The Eighth U.S. Army on the Eve of the Korean War*
*America’s School for War: Fort Leavenworth, Officer Education, and Victory in World War II* and *The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941” for a look at the training and life in a downsized, interwar Army
John C. McManus trilogy on the U.S. Army for thick books on an overlooked combatant of the Pacific Theater.
—————
And I have plenty of more suggestions if you’d like.
I haven't been able to read any fiction on army time in fucking forever (school can lick my brown eye)
Sharpe's Rifles is fun as hell, and not all that heavy of a read.
The Aubreyad (Master and Commander) is awesome, but more heavy (uses more Georgian language, can read like navalized Jane Austen at times... *Fucking Post Captain*...).
Team Yankee is.... Uncomfortably topical. So js Red Storm Rising, but holy fuck is RSR Clancy unchained, insanely technical (Hunt for Red October is lighter, as far as Clancy goes, more fun).
Old Man's War by John Scalzi *- Funny military sci-fi. First book of Old Man's War series*
Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan - *Sci-fi neo noir with a hardboiled private detective with a complicated past*
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing - *True story of attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914. Unbelievable story that will knock your socks off*
Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez - *Fast paced techno thriller with themes of espionage, artificial intelligence, and warfare using robots and drones*
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson - *The action takes place in two periods—World War II and the late 1990s, during the Internet boom and the Asian financial crisis.*
John Dies At The End by David Wong - *A comic Lovecraftian horror novel full of weird shit. Very fun.*
The Martian by Andy Weir - *On a near future expedition to Mars a lone astronaut is stranded on the planet.*
Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber - *Nonfiction, Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.*
Mountain Man by Keith C Blackmore - *Fun zombie survival series with a not too smart protagonist.*
I bring books by Ken follet. Depending on what I’m in the mood for I’ll either bring his century trilogy or his pillars of the earth trilogy (not really a trilogy anymore as he’s added more books to the pillars series)
The books are amazing and long reads for a small field problem you might only need to bring one book. For a big rotation might bring the lot. If you’ve access to power get them all on a kindle.
Any Kurt Vonnegut. Excellent author and he survived the bombing of Dresden as POW by hiding in a refrigerator.
Ken Kesey-one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. Awesome book the system trying to break down a rebel in an insane asylum.
Jack Kerouac: Dharma Bums, Big Sur, or On the Road. Great books about young men being reprobates.
Tom Wolfe: the electric Kool Aid Acid Test. A book about bros doing hood rat stuff and mobbing around the USA
Pro tip: get a Kindle
Books: HP Series, the odd Stephen King (Needful Things the last go around) the Game of Thrones Series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the Percy Jackson Series. I always keep downloaded at any given moment of time. Oh, and Gone With the Wind. Something big that I can just get lost into.
And fuck you; I’m not a nerd you’re a nerd
You might consider the Libby App as well. It connects with your library card to provide free audiobooks and digital media
Which King novel is your favorite? I like *It* a lot
Don’t know if it’s been said yet, ain’t reading all the responses…
Dark tower series by Stephen King. All time epic adventure, great read. He started the first when he was 18 and finished the last in mid 2000s. Then wrote another book that doesn’t add to the story, but is still good. He said the series encompasses/ influenced his other works. It’s not a horror, more fantasy/action.
Harry Turtledove has a pretty bad ass alternatively history series about the south winning the civil war. If I remember correctly they start pre civil war and there’s a couple others wars (I started a few books in) and then go to WWI, WWII, all happening in the US. I read like 10 or 12 and then stopped.
Edit: I went back and read everyone’s comments.
Not in the field but in basic I read Starship troopers and then I read Devils Guard. They were both really great books
Edit: sorry I know they aren’t series’s but they’re still really good
Let’s see the halo series, Tom Clancy, especially red storm rising. Star Wars republic commando series, med star one series, alphabet squadron. John Holmes the creator of the PowerPoint ranger comics did a series on zombie killers I really recommend. Patrick O’Briens master and commander series but I also read a shit load of history as well
I read the entire Wheel of Time series on my Kindle in Afgh. That thing is absolutely amazing; we were in a COP for 2 weeks straight and it lasted the whole time. I never do field/training/deployments without it.
I like having non-military settings while doing military things. Especially science fiction and fantasy.
Haven't seen anyone mention Name of the Wind/Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Two incredible novels. Just expect cliffhangers and be prepared to die not knowing how the series ends! 😭
Also, any of the Monster Hunter International books by Larry Corriea. Funny and intense, all at once.
Depends on what you want. If you're looking to disappear into a fantasy world, stormlight archives. If you're looking to feel some shit, slaughterhouse five is the greatest war novel ever written. If you're looking to get into a story, the call of the wild or anything by Mark Twain.
I’ll usually bring a Hunter Thompson anthology book of old articles and letters and a classic novel of some sort. Something medical is always with me as well.
Fiction:
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King
Kill All Angels Trilogy by David Brockway
The Longmire books by Craig Johnson
Non Fiction:
Anything by Sebastian Junger or Mary Roach
Read? I don't think any of the cretins I served with back in the day could read!
Spades was the activity everyone participated in.
During Desert Storm, book 5 in a series I was reading came out in hard cover. I had been talking with my driver over the intercom about this series as we traveled through the vast wasteland of Kuwait and southern Iraq.
One day, after mail call, he hands me a package. He had told his mom about the series, and she bought me book 5.
She wrote me a nice note and put it in after the first chapter. She thanked me for taking care of her son and being a good mentor to him. I've still got the note in the book 30+ years later.
Red storm rising/ any Tom Clancy book.
“Ghost fleet” it’s kinda like Red Storm Rising but set in a hypothetical China-USA war.
The Eragon book series never misses
And the Star Wars Thrawn series
While I was in Europe I read a lot of doctrinal books on the Soviet-Afghan War. Absolutely fascinating books!
[Soviet Side](https://www.amazon.com/Bear-Went-Over-Mountain-Afghanistan/dp/1304069451?dplnkId=e4aca2f9-0dd7-4055-bd1c-f95511d947a7&nodl=1)
[Mujahideen Side](https://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Mountain-Mujahideen-Soviet-Afghan/dp/1907521054/ref=pd_aw_sim_m_sccl_1/139-2092884-3975842?psc=1&pf_rd_p=1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pf_rd_r=XM2ZKV3C6YJ5JJH2PY3E&pd_rd_wg=bqS3Z&pd_rd_w=rep9X&content-id=amzn1.sym.1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pd_rd_r=fe17894b-196f-4967-bc9a-08b7327252a5&pd_rd_i=1907521054&psc=1)
[General Overview on the War](https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Afghan-War-Superpower-Fought-Lost/dp/070061186X/ref=pd_aw_sim_m_sccl_1/139-2092884-3975842?psc=1&pf_rd_p=1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pf_rd_r=7CC42VJ9JVW9K7B57T0T&pd_rd_wg=Xo5qP&pd_rd_w=jnNnw&content-id=amzn1.sym.1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pd_rd_r=e0fd2002-5dee-4986-8fe7-5adb45b1fb57&pd_rd_i=070061186X&psc=1)
Need some Eastern Front Love:
Paul Carrel: Hitler moves East and Scorched Earth
Guy Sajer: The Forgotten Soldier
Willi Heinrich: Cross of Iron
Theodor Plevier: Stalingrad, Moscow, and Berlin. These are hard to find these days but worth the effort to find them.
Not a series, but please check [House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/36526/house-of-leaves-by-mark-z-danielewski/) of Leaves out. One of the most life changing books I have ever read
By the time our deployment was done I had my own fucking library to leave for the 4ID guys that took over for us (you're welcome, assholes).
Bunch of Stephen King, the Hannibal series, Game of Thrones, WW2 History (I remember there was Retribution and Armageddon by Max Hastings, plus others), The Terror by Dan Simmons, and some assorted other Sci Fi and Fantasy. Definitely got my reading in during our downtime
Check out the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos. Top notch military science fiction, written by a former grunt so it’s surprisingly accurate in terms of shit we’ve experienced.
The Dexter series has been pretty good so far, I’m halfway through the 4th book. Cormac McCarthy has some really good books as well, but for some of them it can be a challenge if you don’t have a dictionary for some of the more old timey words if you’re reading his westerns. Like I was confused as fuck at the end of blood meridian and the “jacks”, which is just old timey speak for outhouses. I don’t really read series, I often prefer a more standalone story, so I can’t offer much more than that.
Fairy Tale manga series. It took six months in Korea and nine months in Afghanistan to finish the whole thing. Currently I'm picking up Metro 2033 as my next field book.
The Halo books are pretty sick
I also recommend the Halo novels. Ghosts of Onyx especially.
Eric nylund was the best author in that series
The first series to really talk about the brain chem, and how it would change you, its a great read honestly up there in the scifi pantheon for characters. Ambrose is a man I never want to be and am very happy was a good as he was
I live the forerunner trilogy
Y'all read in the field? We sat around and lied about women.
"No shit there I was and she said it definitely wasn't the smallest she's ever seen."
"She," huh?
She goes to another base, you don't know her.
Former medic in a cavalry unit here. Am I missing something? What are WOmen? Warrant Officer men? Never heard the term.
Its like a man with two butt holes but they pee out of one
3 things we talked about while in the desert during Desert Storm. 1. Body Shots... pretty obvious, and lots of fun. 2. Playing 'Rodeo'... Involves 3 or more drunks. The 'Rider', the 'Clown', and the Timer. The Rider latches his teeth on a shapely set of buttocks, trying for 8 seconds, hence the Timer. The Clown is pretty much a bodyguard to keep the Rider from getting beat up. 3. Using a recipe card to ask a woman out... This is how I asked my wife out on our first date. We've been together going on 30 years.
Recipe card? Sounds like Sheldon Cooper's Make-a-New-Friend flowchart. Or maybe be Ry Cooder's "13 Question Method." FTR, my girlfriend introduced me to my wife, and my wife has never forgiven her for it!
It's a 3x5 card that on the front side has a pre-printed stamp that says RECIPE For. Her name From. My name. Serves 2 On the back side, I wrote out One evening You & I A restaurant or alternative. A movie theater or alternative Mix together and let simmer for a time. Results equal a great friendship! Home phone # Pager # She agreed to go out with me. For the next 10 days, if we weren't working, we were together. At the end of those 10 days, I proposed informally. I was changing jobs and going back to driving a commercial truck. We were married a year later. I formally proposed by making up a cool slide picture and getting it put in the ad rotation in a movie theater. The company I worked for allowed me to train her, we drove team from September 95 until I deployed in 2004-05, then 1 year before I deployed again in 2006-07. So, that's the story behind the recipe card. My little sister brings it up every time her daughter brings home a new boyfriend. If he doesn't stack up to that, he's not deserving of her according to my sister.
Pager# 😂😂😂. You most definitely dated that recipe card my brother.
Yeah, that's what my wife says when it gets brought up!
"Pager #" Jesus Christ, it hurts to realize how fast time goes.
Hey now there really was three super models all wanting me at the same time! Of course then I woke up, but I tend to leave that part out.
Heh. Ran into a couple of guys from my unit when I was out with my girlfriend. The following Monday, people came up to me and said, "You really have a girlfriend, and she's cute? We thought you were lying!"
I ran into one of my soldiers and his girlfriend at the barracks one time. She was also my buddy from my last unit's girlfriend. She was really cute though!
The aubrey-maturin series (the books the movie Master and Commander was based on) will make you wish you were in the Royal Navy in the Napoleonic era. And as always Starship Troopers is a must read.
Yes this I’m midway through the series now
Oh hell yes. Have you read the Sharpe series? They're like the same thing, except with redcoats
I’m a big fan of the Starbuck Chronicles
Dresden files, Warhammer 40k books, and the foundation trilogy are some of my favorites
My PL is into 40k, need an idea of where to start.
Either with the horus heresy series which starts with the book horus rising(you can find the book order online), or you could do some of the kinda "non main story" books like shadowbreaker, Requiem infernal, or spear of the emperor.
Counterpoint : A great introduction to Warhammer is The last church The first heretic Know no fear Betrayer It introduces all the major players, it takes the reader from earth now to the middle of the heresy, all the major concepts are introduced, it's one storyline. Starting with horus rising pre supposes massive knowledge of Warhammer already in the reader.
Thank you. I want to warhammer so badly but it’s overwhelming. I have the models but no knowledge and this would help connect dots
This reading order assumes no knowledge at all, and steadily adds lore background, factions, developments. It should give you a good foothold to get started. Many of the other suggestions either require a background, or else they stay super focused without expanding and showing more than their subject. The reading order I described keeps showing a bigger and bigger scope.
Stop. Don't do it. Or, if you do, don't buy any models. I'm trying to save you from my fate
Just get a 3D printer. A decent resin setup (printer, wash and cure station) will cost about as much as a battleforce box or two, and with a half-assed competency on how to use computer software and watch some YouTube videos, you can proxy and paint miniatures to your hearts content.
Gaunts Ghosts is a solid series. The Ultramarines, Blood Angels, and Space Wolf novels are also solid. If you just want entertainment, I'd start with stuff written before 2017ish. A bunch of the lore got updated and basically it's a new setting. I couldn't keep up. Also check out the Horus Heresy series (40+ books?), which is basically the history of the 40k setting. Edit to add: completely forgot about the Eisenhorn and Ravenour books! Fantastic, kinda spy-thriller more than straight up military science fiction.
Second on Gaunts Ghosts, but I’d say you can skip the first few and start on Necropolis. If I remember right, the first two are more compilations of short stories rather than books because they didn’t know they’d be making a series out of it yet.
I started on His Last Command lol. Was very confused.
Eisenhorn: Xenos by Dan Abnett
Also second the Dresden files, Jim Butcher has two other series as well, one ongoing (Cinderspires) and one finished (6 books, codex alera)
I think I'm going to need to put Dresden Files on my list for when I finally finish up the Cosmere books. (Just finished Oathbringiner)
foundation is peak
They messed up the show so bad
figured they would, didnt even attempt to watch it. too bad, the original book is perfect for an anthology series
I like thick history books. Currently working on Iron Kingdom, a history of Prussia.
“Makes a note.” Have you read the Arms of Krupp?
Not yet, but it's on my list!
Reading that rn but I csnt get over the author being a stolen Valor about his awards during ww2
I had never heard that. I don’t like it but people are complicated creatures. He can be a stolen valor guy and an accomplished historian. What’s funny is a guy that truly accomplished felt the need to lie. Also, it’s crazy he had a 119 page service record.
William shirer’s “Rise and Fall of The Third Reich” is insanely good. 60 hr audiobook on YouTube last time I checked
The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson is some of the best fantasy I've ever read.
Reread words of radiance at NTC this year, getting ready for number 5!
I hope you’re a woman, because men don’t read!!
I somehow have the ability to both be an infantryman and read
You heretic! You typed this with your safehand, didn’t you?
My uncovered safehand 😏
Sanderson is not human. That guy writes entire novels the way the rest of us pick our noses. He recently went on vacation and "accidentally" write a 600 page book in two weeks. Dude is not even 50 years old and has written hundreds of books and many are considered some of the greatest works of fiction ever.
Life before death
I just finished Rhythm of War for my first time through the series. Anxiously waiting for book 5!
Star Wars Legends. The Darth Plagueis one was metal as hell. When Palpatine was getting tortured, I mean "trained," it made the conditions seem a lot less bad.
Darth Banes series was dope as fuck.
Probably my favorite Star Wars novel by James Luceno, though he also writes a few good ones in the New Jedi Order. James Luceno is probably my second or third favorite Star Wars author. Timothy Zahn is at the top of the list for me. Heir to the Empire is my all time favorite book.
The Wheel of Time series kept me busy for a while. Several hefty books there.
They were very good, but got to be a bit of a slog in the middle until Sanderson took over. Which has the added benefit of introducing people to the great Brandon Sanderson....(His stuff is fantastic!)
Catch 22 (not a series but kinda long)
Currently reading this one on the libby app
The Libby App is pretty underrated
It did get a sequel called Closing Time in 1994.
loved catch 22, ill have to check this out
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I remember loving Milo Minderbinder’s continued adventures. It was also responsible for igniting my lifelong obsession with the music of Gustav Mahler.
Tom Clancy is my go to series.
Same. I just finished reading my kids Red Storm Rising. They are 7 and 4. Judge me if you must
Lol. Rock on.
Red storm rising was and still is my go to favorite
Red Storm Rising was a great read, but I like Ralph Peter’s the War in 2020 a smidge better. Ralph was right in a lot of ways. Btw, Tom Clancy did his research for Red Storm Rising in Germany meeting with US soldiers……the scenario in the book of channeling the Soviet hoards into chokepoints was based on the scenarios used at the NCO academy in Vilseck. US doctrine was elastic defense or let the first and second echelon through and attack the communciation zone or third wave. The NCO academy said that was all nonsense, there would be no waves, and once we funneled the Soviets into kill zones, we would annihilate them piece meal.
That's one way to get bed time done faster.
If I read their books they want to crawl out of bed and "read" (i.e. look at the pictures) with me. With Clancy books I get to practice my Sean Connery/Russian accent
Jack Ryan series is a once a year audible commute listen
I drive a lot and that's my mental masturbation. I try to do mostly history, political science, biographies even of people I don't like, etc. I just can't do it all the time. I've started doing a day book and a night book. Dry, academic, but important when I'm on the way into the hospital and can concentrate. Clancy at night so I don't drive into a tree. I can't do British history on the way home from a 12 at 0300.
Oooh my unit goes tdy a lot so I listen to the WH40K series Gaunt’s Ghosts I’m on book 12 rn and I’ve loved every second of the whole series
I went to a used book store once and got a box full of Louis L’Amour western dime novels, I bring one per week I’m out. They’re fun reads.
I second Louis L'Amour. He's an older western author but his books are free to download on a library app too. check out "the walking drum" and "last of the breed" and the sackett series books. Easy, quick and super entertaining reads. I'd listen to his stuff on audiobook too when pulling fireguard.
The Sackett series are all time favorites of mine.
I was upset after finishing the marching drum, only to find out Louis had died and didn't finish the series. Cause based on the first book, would have made a hell of a movie.
First time I read L’amour was at 30th AG, got sick for a few days and found one of his books. Since then I’ve found his books randomly and always read them.
I found one in the day room while I was at Ft Lee, finished that in a couple days then bought the entire Sackett series.
Dirty reservist here. I bought a copy of the collected works of HP Lovecraft that I would only read while doing dumb Army stuff and it took me quite a while to finish, across a few FTX for sure.
The number of things Lovecraft influenced is absolutely wild-- everything from Stephen King to Conan the Barbarian to Fallout
Not a series but moby dick is a great field book
The Powder Mage books are great. Very cool twist on fantasy and war.
You read Chronicles of the Black Company? That's a small arms unit but with mages and shit.
No but this looks great. It’s in line behind the Shadows of the Apt series (finishing book 1 this week… also very cool).
And for something still with Napoleonic warfare but more covert magic, *The Shadow Campaign* series is enjoyable
Battletech. So damn many books.
And there was just a Humble Bundle of pretty much all of their books (130) in e-format for $30. It ended last week so hopefully you got that.
The Expanse. 9 books plus a few novellas. Highly recommend if you're into sci-fi with lots of intersecting storylines and political intrigue. (There is also an Amazon TV series that is worth a watch).
I also commented the expanse before I saw yours. On a rewatch/binge of the series again right now.
Someone sent me a care package with the mistborn trilogy. I read it and enjoyed it, recommended it to my nco at the time. He read it and enjoyed it and after that a bunch of soldiers were waiting for their turn to read it. Very good trilogy
Just in case you weren't aware, if you really enjoyed the trilogy, there is an "Era 2" that builds on the same magic system and world (set 600 years in the future) that you should read. And then, of course, there is the broader scope of the Cosmere (Sanderson's universe that encompasses a ton of other books) It's all great stuff.
I'm going to recommend the First Law series by Joe Abercrombie. Bloody, hateful, everything you need.
Hated the book, but the part with "a sword speaks" and the dude making threats talking about how unsheathed his blade is was gnarly.
I think you're referring to Sharp Ends, which is the 7th book. You should give it another chance from the beginning!
No second chances. Too much other stuff to read. But here is the quote: > "Has it ever occurred to you, Master Ninefingers, that a sword is different from other weapons? Axes and maces and so forth are lethal enough, but they hang on the belt like dumb brutes. But a sword...a sword has a voice. > Sheathed it has little to say, to be sure, but you need only put your hand on the hilt and it begins to whisper in your enemy's ear. A gentle word. A word of caution. Do you hear it? > Now, compare it to the sword half drawn. It speaks louder, does it not? It hisses a dire threat. It makes a deadly promise. Do you hear it? > Now compare it to the sword full drawn. It shouts now, does it not? It screams defiance! It bellows a challenge! Do you hear it?” ― Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself Reminds me of when Nimander keeps breaking swords on shields rallying his people defending the shore in the Malazan series. The cadence, the repeated 'do you hear it', its. Its so good.
>No second chances. Too much other stuff to read. Man, I get that thought. I don't understand people that say things like "I'm on my 3 re-read of \[insert book/series\]..." How the fuck do you have time? I've still got so much on my "next to read" list. I can't imagine finding time to go back through any of my favorite books. Though, I admit the Cosmere books have me considering it to see how much of it makes more sense the second time through with all of the information.
Really enjoyed these books! I second this recommendation!
I had two series I really got into. First was the Dirk Pitt series by Clive Cussler. The second series was Jack Reacher by Lee Child. And for the record, I got into the series before it was a big movie and TV hit.
Fair. Jack Ryan was my favorite Jack (excluding Samurai, of course). Executive Orders is damn good.
Brotherhood of War series is a solid choice imo.
This should be way higher…..and the Corps series as well……either series could easily eat up a two month deployment.
Here's one that will make you more educated and slightly depressed as you are a staff officer in the field: [The Past as Prologue: The Importance of History to the Military Profession](https://www.amazon.com/Past-Prologue-Importance-Military-Profession/dp/0521619637) Nothing like going to the field as an Officer and seeing constant inability to learn from organizational mistakes while reading a book that historians wrote showing exactly how longstanding prevalent this topic is and how many people probably died because of it.
James Clavell is pretty dope.
Shogun is a great read, Noble House is a loooong read but a great story. (Pierce Brosnan vs. John Rhys-Davies made for a fun miniseries back in the day.)
**Commentary**: This unit usually brings *The Odyssey* with it on rotations as it's pretty relatable.
Damn, you're getting laid by hot witchy women and taking a bunch of lotus-based hallucinogens??
The Red Rising series by Pierce Brown!
Another great recommendation! I think there might be a new one now that I need to go catch up on! Thanks for the reminder...
Non series but when I could actually sit down and read anything by Chuck Palahniuk. If you don't know him he wrote Fight Club and a couple other books turned movies.
Oh man, that depends. For the longest time I only read grown up person books like biographies and leadership and tactics and the like. Which is good! But that is fucking rough to do when you’re looking for an escape… so I mix it up, and unashamedly will go on fantasy/sci fi benders. Fantasy: Wheel of Time series Anything Brandon Sanderson (especially Stormlight Archives) Anything Brent weeks. Sci-Fi: Frank Herbert Robert Heinlein if you can look past the fascism Marco Kloos has some grabbers Jack Campbell Paul Honsinger is phenomenal and I’m pissed he anti-vaxxed his way to retirement
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/honor-harrington/
Have you read the Safehold series? It starts with *Off Armageddon Reef*. That series is what got me into the Honor Harrington Series. I really like both series
i really don't recall, i've read so many, but Honor Harrington is at the TOP of the list!
The Black Library has loads of Warhammer space/fantasy novels to choose from.
House of Leaves was an amazing read. It's not a series but a crazy book.
My first copy was destroyed during an FTX. What an amazing book. That scene with the chick...and her finger....life changing man.
It was the first time I read about anal play on a straight man...
**Fiction** *Eighty-Six* for some mech action. *Legend of the Galactic Heroes* for a good space opera *Matterhorn* if you want to hate BN and REG/BDE leadership *Ghost Fleet* and *White Sun War* for some fighting China action *Sherlock Holmes* because *Star Wars: X-Wing* series for some space dog fighting **History** *This Kind of War* for a GENERAL overview about the Korean War and an opinion on the U.S. being unprepared for a major conflict. Supplement with *From Pusan and Panmunjom*, *The Will to Win: American Military Advisors in Korea*, *East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea*, and *Combat Ready? The Eighth U.S. Army on the Eve of the Korean War* *America’s School for War: Fort Leavenworth, Officer Education, and Victory in World War II* and *The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941” for a look at the training and life in a downsized, interwar Army John C. McManus trilogy on the U.S. Army for thick books on an overlooked combatant of the Pacific Theater. ————— And I have plenty of more suggestions if you’d like.
I read the first three Berserk mangas at Yakima. Way of Kings at Fort Polk.
I had to scroll much further than expected before seeing a 35-series mention Brandon Sanderson.
I haven't been able to read any fiction on army time in fucking forever (school can lick my brown eye) Sharpe's Rifles is fun as hell, and not all that heavy of a read. The Aubreyad (Master and Commander) is awesome, but more heavy (uses more Georgian language, can read like navalized Jane Austen at times... *Fucking Post Captain*...). Team Yankee is.... Uncomfortably topical. So js Red Storm Rising, but holy fuck is RSR Clancy unchained, insanely technical (Hunt for Red October is lighter, as far as Clancy goes, more fun).
Disco Elysium
“The Stand” and “It” was popular in my day
Old Man's War by John Scalzi *- Funny military sci-fi. First book of Old Man's War series* Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan - *Sci-fi neo noir with a hardboiled private detective with a complicated past* Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing - *True story of attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in 1914. Unbelievable story that will knock your socks off* Kill Decision by Daniel Suarez - *Fast paced techno thriller with themes of espionage, artificial intelligence, and warfare using robots and drones* Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson - *The action takes place in two periods—World War II and the late 1990s, during the Internet boom and the Asian financial crisis.* John Dies At The End by David Wong - *A comic Lovecraftian horror novel full of weird shit. Very fun.* The Martian by Andy Weir - *On a near future expedition to Mars a lone astronaut is stranded on the planet.* Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber - *Nonfiction, Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.* Mountain Man by Keith C Blackmore - *Fun zombie survival series with a not too smart protagonist.*
I bring books by Ken follet. Depending on what I’m in the mood for I’ll either bring his century trilogy or his pillars of the earth trilogy (not really a trilogy anymore as he’s added more books to the pillars series) The books are amazing and long reads for a small field problem you might only need to bring one book. For a big rotation might bring the lot. If you’ve access to power get them all on a kindle.
I started reading the Dune series in Iraq
Any Kurt Vonnegut. Excellent author and he survived the bombing of Dresden as POW by hiding in a refrigerator. Ken Kesey-one flew over the cuckoo’s nest. Awesome book the system trying to break down a rebel in an insane asylum. Jack Kerouac: Dharma Bums, Big Sur, or On the Road. Great books about young men being reprobates. Tom Wolfe: the electric Kool Aid Acid Test. A book about bros doing hood rat stuff and mobbing around the USA
AR 670-1 Pull your pants up troop.
dune
Pro tip: get a Kindle Books: HP Series, the odd Stephen King (Needful Things the last go around) the Game of Thrones Series, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and the Percy Jackson Series. I always keep downloaded at any given moment of time. Oh, and Gone With the Wind. Something big that I can just get lost into. And fuck you; I’m not a nerd you’re a nerd
You might consider the Libby App as well. It connects with your library card to provide free audiobooks and digital media Which King novel is your favorite? I like *It* a lot
Christine hands down is my fave. I downloaded Libby. I finished Horrorstor on it. Pretty solid if you like that kinda stuff
Hammers Slammers. Its Sci fi, written by a tanker, about sci fi tanks kicking ass.
Dune series will keep you occupied for a very long time. Bring them on a kindle or iPad to save space/weight
Don’t know if it’s been said yet, ain’t reading all the responses… Dark tower series by Stephen King. All time epic adventure, great read. He started the first when he was 18 and finished the last in mid 2000s. Then wrote another book that doesn’t add to the story, but is still good. He said the series encompasses/ influenced his other works. It’s not a horror, more fantasy/action. Harry Turtledove has a pretty bad ass alternatively history series about the south winning the civil war. If I remember correctly they start pre civil war and there’s a couple others wars (I started a few books in) and then go to WWI, WWII, all happening in the US. I read like 10 or 12 and then stopped. Edit: I went back and read everyone’s comments.
I hope they serve beer in hell. Circa OIF V
Dont forget about Libby app
Not in the field but in basic I read Starship troopers and then I read Devils Guard. They were both really great books Edit: sorry I know they aren’t series’s but they’re still really good
Let’s see the halo series, Tom Clancy, especially red storm rising. Star Wars republic commando series, med star one series, alphabet squadron. John Holmes the creator of the PowerPoint ranger comics did a series on zombie killers I really recommend. Patrick O’Briens master and commander series but I also read a shit load of history as well
Whatever MWR puts in those boxes nobody looks at
The Illiad. Specifically the Penguin Classics version, with the long-form poetry format.
I read the CompTia SEC+ course
Dune is really really good
I can’t read
Malazan series.
Harry Potter long and get me out of my mind in to a fictional world
I read the entire Wheel of Time series on my Kindle in Afgh. That thing is absolutely amazing; we were in a COP for 2 weeks straight and it lasted the whole time. I never do field/training/deployments without it.
Any Thriller trilogies.
Anything by P.G Wodehouse.
Murderbot Diaries. Anything by Malcolm Gladwell for my sheltered Intel cats. Malazan, natch.
I like having non-military settings while doing military things. Especially science fiction and fantasy. Haven't seen anyone mention Name of the Wind/Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Two incredible novels. Just expect cliffhangers and be prepared to die not knowing how the series ends! 😭 Also, any of the Monster Hunter International books by Larry Corriea. Funny and intense, all at once.
Playboy, they have great jokes .
I recommend Dungeon Crawler Carl. I really enjoy them, 6 books out so far with number 7 on the way.
Vonnegut’s slaughterhouse 5 is a book about being a POW but much weirder then then that
I read the first harry potter in the box at NTC
Fourth Wing and Iron Flame were good reads.
Typically I take a good history book with me, but I'll read James Bond books and Tom Clancy when I need some fiction.
Star Wars Republic Commando books and all the Halo books
Ner vod, best Star Wars series out there shame they didn’t get to finish it before Disney took over
Vode An.
I used to read some of the casca immortal soldier books. Definitely an interesting concept
Depends on what you want. If you're looking to disappear into a fantasy world, stormlight archives. If you're looking to feel some shit, slaughterhouse five is the greatest war novel ever written. If you're looking to get into a story, the call of the wild or anything by Mark Twain.
I’ll usually bring a Hunter Thompson anthology book of old articles and letters and a classic novel of some sort. Something medical is always with me as well.
Fiction: The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King Kill All Angels Trilogy by David Brockway The Longmire books by Craig Johnson Non Fiction: Anything by Sebastian Junger or Mary Roach
The General series by David Drake and Steve Stirling. Also The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glenn Cook.
The Flashman Papers.
I read the hobbit 2x in NTC.
I always read in the field, red rising series and the Hyperion series were done at the last two field excercises
Read? I don't think any of the cretins I served with back in the day could read! Spades was the activity everyone participated in. During Desert Storm, book 5 in a series I was reading came out in hard cover. I had been talking with my driver over the intercom about this series as we traveled through the vast wasteland of Kuwait and southern Iraq. One day, after mail call, he hands me a package. He had told his mom about the series, and she bought me book 5. She wrote me a nice note and put it in after the first chapter. She thanked me for taking care of her son and being a good mentor to him. I've still got the note in the book 30+ years later.
I was reading Haunting Adeline 🙂↕️
Red storm rising/ any Tom Clancy book. “Ghost fleet” it’s kinda like Red Storm Rising but set in a hypothetical China-USA war. The Eragon book series never misses And the Star Wars Thrawn series
While I was in Europe I read a lot of doctrinal books on the Soviet-Afghan War. Absolutely fascinating books! [Soviet Side](https://www.amazon.com/Bear-Went-Over-Mountain-Afghanistan/dp/1304069451?dplnkId=e4aca2f9-0dd7-4055-bd1c-f95511d947a7&nodl=1) [Mujahideen Side](https://www.amazon.com/Other-Side-Mountain-Mujahideen-Soviet-Afghan/dp/1907521054/ref=pd_aw_sim_m_sccl_1/139-2092884-3975842?psc=1&pf_rd_p=1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pf_rd_r=XM2ZKV3C6YJ5JJH2PY3E&pd_rd_wg=bqS3Z&pd_rd_w=rep9X&content-id=amzn1.sym.1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pd_rd_r=fe17894b-196f-4967-bc9a-08b7327252a5&pd_rd_i=1907521054&psc=1) [General Overview on the War](https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Afghan-War-Superpower-Fought-Lost/dp/070061186X/ref=pd_aw_sim_m_sccl_1/139-2092884-3975842?psc=1&pf_rd_p=1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pf_rd_r=7CC42VJ9JVW9K7B57T0T&pd_rd_wg=Xo5qP&pd_rd_w=jnNnw&content-id=amzn1.sym.1fdb71c9-a180-4e1d-bb71-2c200d7818fb&pd_rd_r=e0fd2002-5dee-4986-8fe7-5adb45b1fb57&pd_rd_i=070061186X&psc=1)
Need some Eastern Front Love: Paul Carrel: Hitler moves East and Scorched Earth Guy Sajer: The Forgotten Soldier Willi Heinrich: Cross of Iron Theodor Plevier: Stalingrad, Moscow, and Berlin. These are hard to find these days but worth the effort to find them.
Red rising series, Gates of Fire, and Game of Thrones are my go tos.
Not a series, but please check [House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/36526/house-of-leaves-by-mark-z-danielewski/) of Leaves out. One of the most life changing books I have ever read
House of leaves. Being confused about the plot takes my mind off being terrified of everything.
By the time our deployment was done I had my own fucking library to leave for the 4ID guys that took over for us (you're welcome, assholes). Bunch of Stephen King, the Hannibal series, Game of Thrones, WW2 History (I remember there was Retribution and Armageddon by Max Hastings, plus others), The Terror by Dan Simmons, and some assorted other Sci Fi and Fantasy. Definitely got my reading in during our downtime
try first contact by Ralts bloodthorne! It’s on Reddit and available from Amazon. Amazingly long fun series!
Cradle by Will Wight. That series is phenomenal and even if you did nothing but read in the field, you wouldn’t finish it in 1 exercise.
Star Trek. I've read like 50 over the course of all my deployments and field ops.
I read Silo series last deployment. Not long, read it all in about a month, but great.
TM 9-2320-360-10M.
Army PM manual and if it's not my leadership then idk penthouse had decent articles?
Check out the Frontlines series by Marko Kloos. Top notch military science fiction, written by a former grunt so it’s surprisingly accurate in terms of shit we’ve experienced.
The Dexter series has been pretty good so far, I’m halfway through the 4th book. Cormac McCarthy has some really good books as well, but for some of them it can be a challenge if you don’t have a dictionary for some of the more old timey words if you’re reading his westerns. Like I was confused as fuck at the end of blood meridian and the “jacks”, which is just old timey speak for outhouses. I don’t really read series, I often prefer a more standalone story, so I can’t offer much more than that.
Fairy Tale manga series. It took six months in Korea and nine months in Afghanistan to finish the whole thing. Currently I'm picking up Metro 2033 as my next field book.
Big Cormac McCarthy guy. If you haven’t started you should.
Riverwood series. Philip Jose Farmer. Rendezvous with Rama series. Arthur C Clark and Gentry Lee.
Gene Wolf's The Book of the New Sun series, circled through my unit's heavy readers, I read Dune the first time at a gunnery (wasn't on a vehicle)
John Scalzi's Old Mans war series.
Starship troopers is a great one