I’m really interested to read books written by retired/ex members of the army, special forces, navy, etc. on what life was like during their service – specifically the training and process to get them to where they were.
Preferably British accounts. Thank you!
by thefrenchted
5 Comments
Sea Stories
Generation Kill
Call Sign Chaos
Hal Moore on Leadership
All four are excellent books, well written and worth reading in my opinion even if you’re not looking specifically for leadership insights.
All of them offer different perspectives on life from different branches of the military.
Sea Stories is an excellent audio book as the author is also the narrator and some of his command presence comes through.
Edit: All are US military. Just reread the thread and saw you were looking for British.
Pick Up Your Parrots And Monkeys by William Pennington
You’d probably also like the ‘forgotten voices’ series:
* Forgotten Voices of the Great War by Max Arthur
* Forgotten Voices of the Second World War by Max Arthur
* Forgotten Voices of Burma by Julian Thompson
* Forgotten Voices of the Falklands by Hugh McManners
* Forgotten Voices of the Royal Navy by Max Arthur
And so on.
Although it’s more a history then a memoir, you might also like The War of the Running Dogs by Noel Barber.
Have you tried Richard Holmes’s books? They are histories of the British solider in lots of different campaigns and settings, as you can tell from the titles (“Tommy”, “Sahib”, “Redcoat” and so on). But they contain a good bit of first-hand testimony.
You might also want to try Saul David’s stuff: Victoria’s Wars, SBS – Silent Warriors, All The King’s Men and so on.
Finally, these are podcasts not books, but if you haven’t already, you should really give the following a try:
We Have Ways of Making You Talk
[https://open.spotify.com/show/34VlAepHmeloDD76RX4jtc?si=89af4982aafa4be9](https://open.spotify.com/show/34VlAepHmeloDD76RX4jtc?si=89af4982aafa4be9)
Cold War Conversations
https://open.spotify.com/show/3XEltQNIhwCN60teFmbQwl?si=69c6aba9a571475b
I’d check out [Brave Zero Two](https://amzn.to/3tgrLf8) or [Immediate Action](https://amzn.to/3ZGIWSY), both are written by a former SAS guy
Grunt by Mary Roach
Bravo two zero(SAS)- Andy McNab
Immediate action(SAS)- Andy McNab
Seven Troop(SAS) -Andy McNab
The one that got away(SAS) – Chris Ryan
Bravo three zero(SAS) Damien Lewis
X-Platoon (as on the tin)- Damien Lewis
The Eye of the storm(SAS)- Peter Radcliffe
Sabre Squadron(SAS) – Cameron Spence
All necessary measures(SAS)- Cameron Spence
Wearing the green beret (Royal Marines)- Jake Olafsen
Those are all decent UK forces books
For American books
Generation Kill (USMC force recon – Evan Wright
Warrior Elite (SEALs) – Dick Couch
Hidden warriors (green beret) – Dick Couch
Lone Survivor ( SEALs) – Marcus Luttrel
Alpha (SEALs) – David Phillips
Death in the Delta(SEALs) – Gary R Smith
Diary of a Navy SEAL – Gary R Smith
Diary of a Master Chief – Gary R Smith
One Perfect OP (SEALs) – Dennis Chalker
Rogue Warrior (SEALs) Dick Marcinko
Let me know if you want more