Our author, Kerry Kachejian‘s, combat experience is discussed in the following article:

Morning Bell: Would You Take an SUV into Combat?

Read the complete article

By Chip Armstrong

Wars: Then & Now by Rick Waddell

Buy this book if you want to understand if America will have the national heart and political will to be ready for our next national emergencies. Will we have the foresight to look beyond our most recent war(s) to prognosticate how to fight new types of enemies in new ways?

I strongly recommend this quick read by the former Army football team captain, Rhodes Scholar, Columbia University Ph.D., corporate executive, and brigadier general.

Buy “Wars: Then & Now” by Dr. Rick Waddell if you enjoy books on national security, military history, and the state of the USA. Rick has always been a man of few words. When he speaks, it is always well thought out. Likewise, his latest book reads quickly, and it gets to his various points by relying on facts, photos, charts, and cogent summations without burdening the reader with unnecessary verbosity. The 277 pages seemed to fly by without a lull. In other words, the former West Point professor has written an entertaining and accessible book for the average reader, government and military professionals, and academics. Ultimately, it provides a framework for understanding America’s wars– past, current, and future– in context to one another. As the saying goes, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

Especially consider buying this book if you lived through and/or served in the military during the ’60s through the 21st Century. Rick’s brilliance is his ability to take wide swaths of disparate history, find the threads of continuity, and tell a story of what happened then, and how it’s apropos now and the future.

The Military Officer’s Association of America (MOAA)  review of author Kerry Kachejian’s book “SUVs Suck in Combat: Chaos and Valor—The Rebuilding of Iraq during a Raging Insurgency”.

Here is an excerpt from the review:

“This well-paced, no-holds-barred book is a memoir of an intense year in Iraq by a West Point graduate, Ranger-qualified, Army National Guard activated lieutenant colonel (now promoted to 0-6). The author is, furthermore, a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF) (sent to war college as an industrial fellow by Raytheon Corp.), and an executive at Raytheon. His meaningful, highly adventurous, and dangerous year in Iraq occurred during the early phase of the insurgency, soon after the defeat of the Iraqi government.”

Hardcover: 224 pages

ISBN: 978-1937592011

AVAILABLE NOW

It is a simple story of a generation coming of age in a place and time we will not see the likes of again.

Michael Mazen was a child of the Great Depression and grew up on the streets of the Bronx. Snapshots of a Bronx Love Affair, covering 60 years, is the story of his life before, during and after World War II.

Few things are more painful than an unrequited love and his figured largely over a life of events, both great and mundane. That the love he held for her was captured only in brief moments, snapshots in time, didn’t matter.

That he lived and loved others was something we all aspire to and as a great singer once sang,

“The greatest thing… you’ll ever learn,

is just to love… and be loved in return.”

Michael loved, and in return, was loved.

This is a story of how the love of life (and a life of love) can burn brightly even in the darkest days and nights.

About the Author:

Martin Kroll was a teacher and an author. As an English teacher in the New York City school system for 35 years, guiding both junior high school and high school students in the study of literature and writing. His tenure included being a member of the faculties at both Herman Ritter Junior High School and Evander Childs High School. In his role as faculty advisor at Evander Childs, he nurtured numerous young and budding writers in publishing the school’s literary magazine for many years.

His literary career has included publication in New Voices and as a writing contributor to the screen play for Sweet Love Bitter (1967). Snapshots of a Bronx Love Affair is his first novel and are fictional reflections of one man’s life before, during and after World War II. His life experiences included participating in the liberation of Europe as a member of Patton’s 3^rd Army and witnessing the horror of the Holocaust.

In addition, his quest for knowledge led him to be both an art collector and international dealer of primitive art to the American art community. He spent many years of joy introducing Mexican, Portuguese and Yugoslavian artists to American art galleries and collectors.

“Marty” was a great listener but even a better counsel to his friends and family on both life and the difficult decisions one faces throughout. His “moral compass” always pointed the way.

This book is his legacy to both his family and his friends.

 Martin Kroll: An Appreciation

For more than 30 years, thousands entered his classroom as students and emerged as the beneficiaries of his humane, erudite and skillful teaching.

His gifts to his students included an appreciation of language and literature, and an understanding of the essentials of literate writing. A teacher of writing, he was a writing teacher—someone who practiced the craft they sought to teach to others as this novel so eloquently reveals.

 It is most appropriate that after all his years of presenting the works of other writers; his last achievement was to write this novel which he had long planned. As a colleague and friend, I read the novel with admiration as I know others will as well.

Henry Adams wrote, “A teacher affects eternity: he can never tell when his influence stops.”

Marty Kroll was such a teacher. His influence has never stopped.

Arthur Feinberg

September 2011

Wars: Then & Now is Available for Order Now

Wars are much different today than they were in years past, but some things remain the same.

Wars: Then & Now looks at this and offers insightful commentary on how things have changed in the waging of America’s wars… and in some cases… how they have remained the same. It’s a must read for anyone that wants to get a better understanding of the American (political, media and public) psyche during and after our various conflicts through the years.

Order Now at Amazon

Book Review from NewsOK:

Leadership In Action, should be read and studied by those who seek to make a difference. According to the author (retired Rear Admiral Greg Slavonic), honor, courage and commitment must be the cornerstones for our country’s return to greatness.

Read More

To read this review of SUVs Suck in Combat, click here.

http://www.themusingsofabookaddict.com/2011/09/book-review-and-giveaway-suvs-suck-in.html

Book Review for SUVs Suck in Combat.

Click Here to read the review:

http://eclecticreview.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/book-review-suvs-suck-in-combat-chaos-valor-the-rebuilding-of-iraq-during-a-raging-insurgency-by-karry-kachejian-9780977788453/

Paperback: 108 pages

ISBN: 978-0984551194

My story is about 36 days that changed my life. It is the story of a Jewish boy from Brooklyn who dreamt of flying and enlisted in the Army Air Corps to fight for his country. It is about survival. It is about walking, riding in trolleys, carts, and trains to go from Fiume, Italy to Nuremberg, Germany. It is about war. It is about the resiliency of the human being and the ability of the body to adapt to conditions beyond one’s control. It is the story that all POWs keep replaying over and over and over and over. Could I have done more? Could I have done better? Did I perform as trained? Each day was a harrowing experience. I was the navigator in John Lincoln’s Crew 11-30. We were attached to the 772nd Bomber Squadron, 463rd Bomber Group, 15th Air Force based in Foggia, Italy. On March 20, 1945, we were assigned to Flying Fortress B-17G “Pretty Baby’s Boys.” Our mission was to bomb the marshalling yards south of Vienna at Amstettin, Austria. We were hit by flak over Zagreb, Jugoslavia, and had to ditch into Quarnaro Bay off Fiume, Italy (now Rijeka, Croatia). We became prisoners of war of the German Navy.

Being captured by the Germans is not the best of times; being Jewish and being captured by the Germans is the worst of times.

~Flight Officer Harvey S. Horn, 15th Air Force, 463rd Bomber Group, 772nd Bomber Squadron.

Hardcover: 270 pages

ISBN-13: 978-0984551170

Our country has witnessed leadership successes and failures, some large some small, at different times throughout its history. Much like what an individual experiences throughout their life—we all have bad times and good times. Our most recent “bad times” highlight so strongly a number of leadership failures that led to them—that books like this one are necessary. This book provides the reader with a collection of highly successful real-world leaders detailing their own sound fundamental principles on how to lead, what to do as a leader and most importantly—how not to lose sight of the objective of the mission. Corporate America and leaders (or those who want to become more effective leaders) of businesses of all sizes and kinds can learn much from the experiences and guidance shared in this book.

There are fewer things more complicated and high-risk than responsibility for the men and women in our military and our relationship with other nations. No matter the branch, much of the time even routine daily tasks bring with them the reality of people in life or death situations. On the international scene, small errors and incidents are magnified, often having out-sized consequences. To lead in this environment and succeed at the highest levels, takes uncommon courage and skill. To say it is challenging would be an understatement. This book shares details of the men and women who rose to the challenge—in the reading, you can learn from them transferrable skills and qualities that will have just as much success in the business world as they have proven in the military.

Those who contributed to this book would rightly be on a “Who’s Who” list of our nation’s most highly honored and decorated military leaders; two-, three- and four-star Generals, Admirals, Captains and Colonels, war heroes and two Medal of Honor recipients—they know what it takes to lead and to succeed.