Oppose Any Foe

Oppose Any Foe PDF Author: Mark Moyar
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465093019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Oppose Any Foe is the epic story of America's most elite warriors: the Special Operations Forces. Born as small appendages to the conventional armies of World War II, the Special Operations Forces have grown into a behemoth of 70,000 troops, including Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Air Force Night Stalkers, Special Operations Marines, Rangers, and Delta Force. Weaving together their triumphs and tribulations, acclaimed historian Mark Moyar introduces a colorful cast of military men, brimming with exceptional talent, courage and selflessness. In a nation where the military is the most popular institution, America's Special Operations Forces have become the most popular members of the military. Through nighttime raids on enemy compounds and combat advising of resistance movements, special operators have etched their names into the nation's registry of heroes. Yet the public knows little of the journey that they took to reach these heights, a journey that was neither easy nor glamorous. Fighting an uphill battle for most of their seventy-five year history, the Special Operations Forces slipped on many an occasion, and fell far on several. Presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama have enthusiastically championed Special Operations Forces, but their enthusiasm has often surpassed their understanding, resulting in misuse or overuse of the troops. Lacking clearly defined missions, Special Operations Forces have had to reinvent themselves time and again to prove their value in the face of fierce critics-many of them from the conventional military, which from the start opposed the segregation of talent in special units. Highlighting both the heroism of America's most elite soldiers and the controversies surrounding their meteoric growth, Oppose Any Foe presents the first comprehensive history of these special warriors and their daring missions. It is essential reading for anyone interested in America's military history-and the future of warfare.

Oppose Any Foe

Oppose Any Foe PDF Author: Mark Moyar
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 0465093019
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

Get Book

Book Description
Oppose Any Foe is the epic story of America's most elite warriors: the Special Operations Forces. Born as small appendages to the conventional armies of World War II, the Special Operations Forces have grown into a behemoth of 70,000 troops, including Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Air Force Night Stalkers, Special Operations Marines, Rangers, and Delta Force. Weaving together their triumphs and tribulations, acclaimed historian Mark Moyar introduces a colorful cast of military men, brimming with exceptional talent, courage and selflessness. In a nation where the military is the most popular institution, America's Special Operations Forces have become the most popular members of the military. Through nighttime raids on enemy compounds and combat advising of resistance movements, special operators have etched their names into the nation's registry of heroes. Yet the public knows little of the journey that they took to reach these heights, a journey that was neither easy nor glamorous. Fighting an uphill battle for most of their seventy-five year history, the Special Operations Forces slipped on many an occasion, and fell far on several. Presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama have enthusiastically championed Special Operations Forces, but their enthusiasm has often surpassed their understanding, resulting in misuse or overuse of the troops. Lacking clearly defined missions, Special Operations Forces have had to reinvent themselves time and again to prove their value in the face of fierce critics-many of them from the conventional military, which from the start opposed the segregation of talent in special units. Highlighting both the heroism of America's most elite soldiers and the controversies surrounding their meteoric growth, Oppose Any Foe presents the first comprehensive history of these special warriors and their daring missions. It is essential reading for anyone interested in America's military history-and the future of warfare.

Let the Word Go Forth

Let the Word Go Forth PDF Author: John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Publisher: Delta
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
Collected in one illuminating volume, the writings and speeches of John F. Kennedy reveal the man and president who inspired a generation. Here are the words that propelled a nation and moved the world, offering an important portrayal of the 35th president's entire career. Photographs throughout.

Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam

Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam PDF Author: John Nagl
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313077037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Armies are invariably accused of preparing to fight the last war. Nagl examines how armies learn during the course of conflicts for which they are initially unprepared in organization, training, and mindset. He compares the development of counterinsurgency doctrine and practice in the Malayan Emergency from 1948-1960 with that developed in the Vietnam Conflict from 1950-1975, through use of archival sources and interviews with participants in both conflicts. In examining these two events, he argues that organizational culture is the key variable in determining the success or failure of attempts to adapt to changing circumstances. Differences in organizational culture is the primary reason why the British Army learned to conduct counterinsurgency in Malaya while the American Army failed to learn in Vietnam. The American Army resisted any true attempt to learn how to fight an insurgency during the course of the Vietnam Conflict, preferring to treat the war as a conventional conflict in the tradition of the Korean War or World War II. The British Army, because of its traditional role as a colonial police force and the organizational characteristics that its history and the national culture created, was better able to quickly learn and apply the lessons of counterinsurgency during the course of the Malayan Emergency. This is the first study to apply organizational learning theory to cases in which armies were engaged in actual combat.

Oppose Any Foe (A Luke Stone Thriller—Book 4)

Oppose Any Foe (A Luke Stone Thriller—Book 4) PDF Author: Jack Mars
Publisher: Jack Mars
ISBN: 1632918501
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
“One of the best thrillers I have read this year. The plot is intelligent and will keep you hooked from the beginning. The author did a superb job creating a set of characters who are fully developed and very much enjoyable. I can hardly wait for the sequel.” --Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Any Means Necessary) OPPOSE ANY FOE is book #4 in the bestselling Luke Stone thriller series, which begins with ANY MEANS NECESSARY (book #1), a free download with over 250 five star reviews. A small arsenal of U.S. nuclear weapons are stolen from a NATO base in Europe. The world scrambles to figure out who the culprits are and what their target is—and to stop them before they unleash hell on humanity. With only hours left before it is too late, the President has no choice but to call in Luke Stone, the former head of an elite FBI para-military team. Finally getting his life back in order, and with devastating news on his own family front, Luke does not want the job. But with the newly elected female President desperate for his help, he realizes he cannot turn his back on her. In the action-packed, international cat-and-mouse chase that follows, Luke, Ed and his former team will have to be more daring, and break more rules, than ever before. With the fate of the world at stake, Luke heads into the murky fog of war and espionage, and discovers the culprit is not who he thinks it is after all. A political thriller with non-stop action, dramatic international settings and heart-pounding suspense, OPPOSE ANY FOE is book #4 in the bestselling and critically-acclaimed Luke Stone series, an explosive new series that will leave you turning pages late into the night. Book #5 in the Luke Stone series is also now available!

Spec Ops

Spec Ops PDF Author: William H. McRaven
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0891416005
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Vice Adm. William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.

Exposure

Exposure PDF Author: Michael Woodford
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101606339
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
“It was no comfort to know that I was making history, for the forced removal of a company president is almost unheard of in Japan. I rose quietly, left the room, and holding my head high, walked back to my office. My main goal was to escape as quickly as pos­sible. The board had seemed scared—why else would they have acted the way they did. But just what were they scared of?” When Michael Woodford was made president of Olympus—the company to which he had dedi­cated thirty years of his career—he became the first Westerner ever to climb the ranks of one of Japan’s corporate giants. Some wondered at the appointment—how could a gaijin who didn’t even speak Japanese understand how to run a Japanese company? But within months Wood­ford had gained the confidence of most of his colleagues and shareholders. Unfortunately, soon after, his dream job turned into a nightmare. The trouble began when Woodford learned about a series of bizarre mergers and aquisi­tions deals totaling $1.7 billion—a scandal that threatened to bring down the entire company if exposed. He turned to his fellow executives— including the chairman who had promoted him Tsuyoshi Kikukawa—for answers. But instead of being heralded as a hero for trying to save the company, Woodford was met with vague responses and hostility—a clear sign of a cover up. Undeterred, he demanded to be made CEO so he could have more leverage with his board and continue to search for the truth. Then, just weeks after being granted the top title, he was fired in a boardroom coup that shocked Japan and the business world at large. Worried his for­mer bosses might try to silence him, Woodford immediately fled the country in fear of his life and went straight to the press—making him the first CEO of a global multinational to blow the whistle on his own company. Following his dismissal, Woodford faced months of agonizing pressure that at times threatened his health and his family life. But instead of suc­cumbing he persisted, and eventually the men who had ousted him were held to account. Now, Woodford recounts his almost unbelievable true story—from the e-mail that first alerted him to the scandal, to the terrifying rumors of involve­ment with the Japanese mafia, to the stream of fruitless denials that continued to emanate from Olympus in an effort to cover up the scandal. He also paints a devastating portrait of corporate Japan—an insular, hierarchy-driven culture that prefers maintaining the status quo to exposing ugly truths. The result is a deeply personal memoir that reads like a thriller narrative. As Woodford puts it, “I thought I was going to run a health-care and consumer electronics company, but found I had walked into a John Grisham novel.”

Creativity, Inc. (The Expanded Edition)

Creativity, Inc. (The Expanded Edition) PDF Author: Ed Catmull
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0593594657
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
The co-founder and longtime president of Pixar updates and expands his 2014 New York Times bestseller on creative leadership, reflecting on the management principles that built Pixar’s singularly successful culture, and on all he learned during the past nine years that allowed Pixar to retain its creative culture while continuing to evolve. “Might be the most thoughtful management book ever.”—Fast Company For nearly thirty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner eighteen Academy Awards. The joyous storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the twenty-five movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. Creativity, Inc. has been significantly expanded to illuminate the continuing development of the unique culture at Pixar. It features a new introduction, two entirely new chapters, four new chapter postscripts, and changes and updates throughout. Pursuing excellence isn’t a one-off assignment but an ongoing, day-in, day-out, full-time job. And Creativity, Inc. explores how it is done.

Platoon Leader

Platoon Leader PDF Author: James R. McDonough
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0307416380
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
A remarkable memoir of small-unit leadership and the coming of age of a young soldier in combat in Vietnam.' "Using a lean style and a sense of pacing drawn from the tautest of novels, McDonough has produced a gripping account of his first command, a U.S. platoon taking part in the 'strategic hamlet' program. . . . Rather than present a potpourri of combat yarns. . . McDonough has focused a seasoned storyteller’s eye on the details, people, and incidents that best communicate a visceral feel of command under fire. . . . For the author’s honesty and literary craftsmanship, Platoon Leader seems destined to be read for a long time by second lieutenants trying to prepare for the future, veterans trying to remember the past, and civilians trying to understand what the profession of arms is all about.”–Army Times

Call Sign: Lightning

Call Sign: Lightning PDF Author: Scott Messmore
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0811763749
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The U.S. Marine Corps' Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Companies--usually referred to as ANGLICOs--are the unsung heroes of the U.S. military. Small squads of these marines are inserted deep behind enemy lines to identify targets and direct fire from aircraft, ground artillery, and naval guns. They are among the best of the best, and their radio call sign "Lightning" is recognized throughout the military as the gold standard of qualification and capability.

The Red Pill Executive

The Red Pill Executive PDF Author: Tony Gruebl
Publisher: Morgan James Publishing
ISBN: 1642799505
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
A new paradigm for shaping and aligning processes, tools, and employees—to tap into the power and potential of your company. Through fifteen years of intense observation and analysis, Tony Gruebl, Jeff Welch, and Bryan Wolbert of advisory services firm Think Systems, Inc. identified a powerful controlling force hiding in plain sight—and now they reveal it in The Red Pill Executive. Tony, Jeff, and Bryan named their approach to harnessing this controlling force the Red Pill model. Every company has an invisible framework called culture. Red Pill Operators sense it where others are oblivious. Culture determines how business happens and what success looks like. Some cultures love growth; others, a perfect record in customer service. For some, it’s sales or P&L—regardless of tanking satisfaction or turnover. With culture as their blueprint, Red Pill Operators shape their processes, tools, language, staff, and every other aspect to align—not just with the strategy and mission, but with the culture as it exists in time. The Red Pill Executive offers operating executives and small business owners fresh insight into the grooming of their frontline managers who carry out critical initiatives. This new paradigm unlocks massive potential for Operations Executives and their team members who have the courage to embrace them. It showcases a new way of thinking that empowers operators to capture value and corrects the one-size-fits-all approach created by the project management industry in reaction to massive project failure. In The Red Pill Executive, Tony, Jeff, and Bryan use a straight-talking style—and some entertaining pop culture metaphors—to deliver their results in an engaging and readable style.