# Military memoirs from more unusual combat roles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-memoirs-from-more-unusual-combat-roles/778948 "2017-02-04T00:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-memoirs-from-more-unusual-combat-roles/778948/21 "2017-02-05T22:52:53Z")
From homeland civilians/journalists - David Brinkley’s _Washington at War_. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-memoirs-from-more-unusual-combat-roles/778948/22 "2017-02-07T21:50:54Z")
Been away for a couple days which included a what’s next on the reading list and I remembered this one - [Memoirs of Chaplain Life: 3 Years in the Irish Brigage with the Army of the Potomac](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/577122.Memoirs_of_Chaplain_Life) by William Corby. It’s still on my too read list so I can’t speak to it on personal experience. Somehow I didn’t think of one of the classics of non-standard role memoirs in my first post, “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T. E. Lawrence. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BuckChongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@BuckChongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuckChongo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-memoirs-from-more-unusual-combat-roles/778948/23 "2017-02-08T03:34:33Z")
Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E.Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia but the book is nothing like the terrible movie. Poet, warrior, terrorist, masochist, brilliant. Story of the Arab uprising against the Turks in WW1, also about the most beautiful desert on earth. Bit of an education for Americans chronically ignorant of any history of a part of the world we’ve been happily destroying since 2003. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-memoirs-from-more-unusual-combat-roles/778948/24 "2017-02-08T04:07:57Z")
> [@JHBoom](#): > > Safe to assume _Low Level Hell_ occupies a place of honor in your personal library? > Excellent book, IMO. > When I was a young PFC/LCpl barracks rat, I read a ton of “PX Special” paperback books written by Vietnam helicopter pilots; mostly slicks and gunships, but I do recall at least one or two books about scouts that _weren’t_ _LLH_. I wish I could remember their titles (or at least their authors); I left the books in various barracks rooms, base libraries, and “Have a free book” boxes on a couple continents during the previous century. > Also excellent books IMO: > [Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1611211441/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3UJKWPTBO5267&coliid=I2FXLZ7I5TEV6H) > > [One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003K16PS2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1) > Nate Fick was the actual platoon commander of the actual Marine Recon platoon that _Generation Kill_ was written about. > > [Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan](https://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-Platoon-Renegades-Brotherhood-Afghanistan-ebook/dp/B005LC0S7W/ref=pd_sim_351_8?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B005LC0S7W&pd_rd_r=4A1X483KNZV5REXDWXBH&pd_rd_w=4vDNR&pd_rd_wg=4bjXU&psc=1&refRID=4A1X483KNZV5REXDWXBH) > ETA: I’ll be adding a few more titles to my Books wishlist on Amazon after reading this thread. Thanks for the suggestions. Oh yeah, Low Level Hell was required reading for scouts. His helicopter Miss Clawd IV is in the aviation museum in Fort Rucker. > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > This guy wrote About Face which is not your typical memoir of a soldier. He served in Vietnam but became very much against that war. > > [David Hackworth - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hackworth) There are two versions. I would suggest to not get the abridged version. I found some of the most interesting parts were some of the non-combat interludes that didn’t make the cut down version. Hackworth had a fascinating career and was a hell of a soldier. He was also a tool with a gigantic ego. He was the greatest military mind ever. Just ask him. Well you can’t he’s dead now but you know what I mean. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-memoirs-from-more-unusual-combat-roles/778948.md?page=1)