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Canadian Army Reading List- 11+ Years Of Suggestions and Ideas

Hey guys,

I am looking for a book a friend lent me. Its alternative history in which the Canadian Army in Europe during the cold war is involved in conventional war with the USSR. The book was very good and highly technical. I believe the title to be something like the following:

Close Contact
First Contact
Initial Contact

I have search high and low for the name but I cant find it and my friend I cant reach at the moment. Any help would be much appreciated!
 
The name is First Clash

http://www.amazon.com/First-Clash-Combat-Close-Up-World/dp/0425107566

Not a bad little tale albeit dated now.  Mackasey was asked to write it as a form of training manual in the mid 1980's ( my first copy came form the pam library). It was later released as a novel. There were suopposed to be several in the  series but as far as I know only one "sequel"
dealing with a BG in the advance was released and only as a "pam."

Some excellent maps, orbat diagrams etc. Anyone who served in 4CMBG will enjoy it and get the in joke on where the battle takes place.
 
Halifax Tar said:
Thank you so much Danjanou off to Amazon I go!

Por Nada

As I said it was a pam in the 1980's probaly still a copy on some book shelf somwhere in Stadacona 8)
 
Jim Seggie said:
Ah the old ABC of military communications:

Accuracy
Brevity
Clarity

I have seen too many briefings where none of these Principles were observed.
With most government writing, at the best of times, meeting only two of the three.
 
milnews.ca said:
With most government writing, at the best of times, meeting only two of the three.

You get two out of three in your place?

Here if we manage one of them at least once a year it's time to break out the champagne. ::)
 
Visiting my local "sub" library this afternoon and saw they had a collection of military books in keeping with Remembrance Day. It was entirely WWI and WWII.  :( I went to the stacks located three fine books on our military in Afghanistan and stuck them in amongst the display.
I did not bring this up with the Head Librarian because my requests in the past have been met with "Oh we are just a sub library, you have to go to the main branch for blah blah" and I am fairly sure her bureaucratic mind would explode.
 
WB said:
When it comes to Canadian literature, I‘m interested in Bosnia, Rwanda, Afghanistan - fairly recent stuff. Books about Paratroopers from other countries are also cool. I wouldnt mind reading about the FFL, UK Paras and RMs, US Rangers, or the Aussie Commandos (can‘t remember the regt. name).


Under a war-torn sky's a good one, forget the author...
 
Here is a reading recommendation to all those people who want to read military literature-"The kill".It is a fantastic novel vividly depicting the ways and nature of military people.
 
RemembranceDay said:
Under a war-torn sky's a good one, forget the author...
Because I was in this thread checking something else.....

LM Elliot, Under a War-Torn Sky. NY: Hyperion, 2003. Amazon.ca link

I haven't read it, but the book services note that its intended audience is "Grade 6-9"  ~shrug~
 
Saw this one yesterday in Chapters, read a bit of it and found it very interesting.

On Killing: The Psychological Cost Of Learning To Kill In War And Society
by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman .
Little, Brown And Company | June 22, 2009 | Trade Paperback

The good news is that most soldiers are loath to kill. But armies have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. And contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army''s conditioning techniques …+ read more
The good news is that most soldiers are loath to kill. But armies have developed sophisticated ways of overcoming this instinctive aversion. And contemporary civilian society, particularly the media, replicates the army''s conditioning techniques, and, according to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman''s thesis, is responsible for our rising rate of murder among the young.

Upon its initial publication, ON KILLING was hailed as a landmark study of the techniques the military uses to overcome the powerful reluctance to kill, of how killing affects soldiers, and of the societal implications of escalating violence. Now, Grossman has updated this classic work to include information on 21st-century military conflicts, recent trends in crime, suicide bombings, school shootings, and more. The result is a work certain to be relevant and important for decades to come.



http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Killing-Psychological-Cost-Learning-Kill-Lt-Col-Dave-Grossman/9780316040938-item.html?ikwid=on+killing%3a+the+psychological+cost+of+learning+to+kill&ikwsec=Books
 
I've read Outside the Wire by Kevin Patterson & Fifteen Days by Christie Blatchford. Both were excellent reads and I am having trouble finding more books like it.
Have you read/enjoyed these books? Do you recommend any others?
 
Good reading books

:rofl:


If Afghanistan is all you are interested in,"Contact Charlie" was pretty good. There are many more outstanding books that cover many Canadian military subjects.
 
CDN Aviator said:
:rofl:


If Afghanistan is all you are interested in,"Contact Charlie" was pretty good. There are many more outstanding books that cover many Canadian military subjects.

Sort of a juvenile title looking at it now..  :facepalm:       

Im interested in any, not just Afghanistan. Although those have been the most exciting i've read yet.
 
Topic: "Canadian Army Reading List-5 Years Of Suggestions and Ideas":
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/22608.0.html

10 pages
 
JoeMoe said:
Sort of a juvenile title looking at it now..  :facepalm:       

Well, to be fair to your thread title, i looked through my 500+ military books and could not find a single pop-up book.

Sorry.
 
CDN Aviator said:
Well, to be fair to your thread title, i looked through my 500+ military books and could not find a single pop-up book.

Sorry.


Aw, darn. I hate the big words... :crybaby:
 
Some of my suggestions:

"Where the hell are the guns", "The guns of Normandy" and "The guns of victory".......a 3-book series by George Blackburn

"A thousand shall fall" by Murray Peden

"Ortona" by Mark Zuehlke ( indeed i enjoyed his entire world war 2 series of books)
 
Have you had a chance to watch the few short series that the history channel came out with? Juno Beach was a great one about the Canadian Airbourne, reminded me of Band of Brothers which was a great series. Loved the movie Passchendaele , the ending scene was epic. To bad there aren't more Canadian war cinematics. I'll take a look into those books.
 
JoeMoe said:
Loved the movie Passchendaele , the ending scene was epic. To bad there aren't more Canadian war cinematics.

That was hardly a war movie. It was a love story with "oh shit, theres a war on" at the end of it.
 
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