John R. Bruning

Focusing on a microcosm of the War in Afghanistan, Level Zero Heroes is a blunt first-hand account of the deployment of a U.S. Marine Special Operations team to the volatile (to say the least) Bala Murghab Valley in northern Afghanistan. Forget theater-level strategy and home-front politicking, this is about the "on-the-ground" reality faced by a handful of highly-trained warriors embedded with forward elements of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division on the vicious front lines.

Author and former show more MSOT member Michael Golembesky holds nothing back as he recounts the tension, fear, anger and desolation that he and his brothers-in-arms experienced while engaging an enemy that is brutal, conniving, and determined to see Western forces eliminated at any cost. With the aid of co-author and journalist John R. Bruning, Golembesky not only vividly describes life as an American combat soldier deployed beyond the furthest reaches of modern civilization, but sheds an eye-opening light on the politicized hamstringing of our frontline warriors by career-minded field officers and theater commanders - lessons that should have been learned from failures in Vietnam.

Golembesky has not only crafted a page-turning narrative of squad-level combat, but he also offers a thought-provoking examination of the blurred and sometimes morally questionable relationship between American ground forces, Afghan civilian and military leaders, and the Taliban. Given the events described in Zero Level Heroes, the fog of war has likely never been murkier.

A recommended read for those seeking a candid soldier's perspective of the War in Afghanistan, its purpose, and life after combat. show less

Excellent pictorial overview of a little known AND SUCCESSFUL US Air Force WW2 program. Successful bombing was non-existent in the Pacific island campaigns. They bombed from 10,000+ ft, saw the explosions and declared the mission a success never noticing that the targets still existed and functioned. Even MacArthur noticed and declared the bombing and the Air Force as useless.

Then, strafing and skip-bomber medium, A 20s and B 25s attack planes were originated and developed in the field and show more everything changed. These tactics combined with a very successful submarine campaign basically eliminated any and all merchant shipping.

Great pictures and enough text make this a useful one book review of this aspect of the Pacific Campaign. show less

3.5 stars. Honest, mostly unflinching, occasional minor lapses into sentimentality, self righteousness, and historical amnesia, but all the same an excellent account of this Marine JTAC’s experience of war in Afghanistan in 2009. It very much fits into the larger picture of - as I keep saying - tactical bravery and strategic foolhardiness of US involvement in Afghanistan. I’ll read the follow up book.

Well researched and nicely told; the story of a driven man, P. I "Pappy Gunn" who played a substantial part in winning MacArthur's War in the Pacific. Fixated on flying and his family, prisoners of the Japanese, Pappy fights the inept military bureaucracy that was rampant at the beginning of WW2 to develop and produce the air weapons needed to defeat the Japanese.

Ruthlessly, illegibly if necessary and to the detriment of his mental and physical health he drags the US Army Air Force into the show more world of strafing and skip bombing attacks on shipping. These tactics were a very major factor in supporting the overall strategy of isolating, weakening and bypassing Japanese island strongholds such as Rabaul. show less