As a member of Charlie Company, it is my opinion that the author was overly critical of Charlie Company. And I did notice one major discrepancy with the participants and their roles in one specific event. However, having said that, it was also a refreshing reminder of names and places I thought I would never forget, but had. I also think it's encouraging to see an NCO take the initiative of publishing something like this, and am curious as to how this reflects on his current enlistment. I really give the book a 4 but felt obligated to defend Charlie.

I was in the author's unit as well. He depicts the events so realistically it brought back many memories once thought forgotten. I enjoyed the book and think it should be a 'must read' for all those interested in the Gulf War as well as any who served 'over there' specifically in 1st LAI Bn. Check my member page for information in seeing my seb site, lots of LAI Bn photo's.

I was a M1A1 tank platoon leader with the Army over in Desert Storm, but I picked up a copy of this book to see how the Marines did things over there. This book was a very good book and I was surprised at some of the similarities the Marines had with the Army. The author did a great job, in my opinion, in showing how a company size element operated during wartime. My only complaint is I wish he had included more diagrams depicting various company actions, especially around OP 4 and OP 6. That part kind of got confusing at times trying to figure out where each company in the 1st LAI was located. Overall this is a great book and small unit leaders in the Army would benefit from this book, even though it is about the Marines.

I can recommend this book for a statistical reference and a factual source. The image are fairly good and some are really new, since they show the assault gun in factories and in dismantle view. You can follow the development of the assault gun even to the slihtest detail. In that optic this book is aim at the modeller and the detail devotee.

And what really, really bug me with all the Schiffer Military books is that they use a old Typo and that mainly all the photography and schema have poor description and use a even worst Typo. It could sound odd, but when you read a manual like this, you dont want to be stress by the Typo.

Dont go for this book if you want a photographic reference and avoid at all cost this book if you intend to entertain yourself.

_________________________
Paul Bourgault
2Lt/Fus MR21/34thCBG/RCAC

I enjoy reading this book very much. Speilberger has written a good history of the assualt gun sturmgeshutz. Included are a lot of excellent, high quality photos, line drawings, a history of the development of the assualt gun, the varients to the stug as well as support vehicles.

Also of interest are sections on the factories, subcontractors where the vehicles were made, operational information written by the crews who used these turretless tanks.

What would have made this better? A bit more detail, but not all of the line drawing information was translated from German, so something is lost there. Some of the drawings were used in other Speilberger works, but I still highly recommend this work.

The book covers self-propelled assault artillery used by the Germans in World War Two. The Germans first created the Sturmgeschutz as a cheap fire support vehicle for the infantry, but it soon became a mount for long-barreled, high-velocity antitank guns. The first chapter covers prewar experiments, but the bulk of the book is devoted to the Sturmgeschutz based on the Panzer III chassis, and each production variant gets a chapter. The Sturmgeschutz IV, based on the Panzer IV chassis, is also covered, as are the self-propelled 105 mm and 150 mm assault howitzers on the Panzer III chassis. There are also bonus chapters covering antiaircraft vehicles, halftracks, and recovery vehicles used by Sturmgeschutz units. The technical history is well-balanced, offering information for both the model builder and the automotive engineer, and the three-view drawings and cutaways by Hilary Louis Doyle are to the modeller's scale of 1/35th. Though the title was one of the first of Walter Spielberger's books to be translated into English, it is actually one of his most recent books, and is far superior to the Panzer III, Panzer IV, and Panther books. This was also one of his last collaborations with researcher Thomas Jentz, and the style is almost identical to that of Jentz's own series of books on German armor (also published by Schiffer).

... some of the captions are wrong. For instance: Page 116, a picture that they claim are Isreali troops firing Galil rifles -- they aren't Galils, they're Stoners. And in the "Law, Crime, and Terror" section are photos of Police Officers from the Salem Police Department -- except they're from Salem Oregon NOT Salem Massachusetts as the captions claim. Beyond the caption errors, it's a pretty good overview and introduction to modern weapons, with plenty of pictures of the weapons in use around the world and through history -- from WWI to the Persian Gulf War and modern Yugoslavia. It's not perfect, and it doesn't have a lot of technical detail -- for that, I'd suggest some of the works of Ian Hogg, Edward Ezell, and others.

If you ever wanted a book about infantry weapons of the 20th century, this is *the* book for you. It has everything, from the first world war all the way to the nineties.

Sections cover the main wars, and every main weapon of the era is extensively discussed. Great pictures (apart from one 2-page black-and-white pic where you can see the computer missing a line... :) Anyway - it has it all. even *armor*!

One bad thing: the last few chapters, about guns in the police, and sport rifles. Who needs these? I mean, the police I can understand. It's even quite interesting. But the sporting weapons are absolutely not needed in a book like this - i always skip it anyway.

This standout book in the ongoing Executioner novel by the Pendelton bullpen pits Bolan against a cabal of armored extremists calling themselves "The Juggernauts". These lethal loonies have embarked on a bloody campaign to rid the streets of crime just like Mack did so long ago. Unlike Bolan, they regularly ventilate any hapless patrolmen unfortunate enough to get in the way of one of their hits. Enter Big Mack. His normal guns aren't going to be enough this time. I've read alot of them and this is still my favorite one. Came out around the same time those guys robbed the bank in LA in full body armor. Strong parallels to "Death Force" in the series.

Mack Bolan does his job again, barely. Don Pendleton continues his great exciting writing. Mack Bolan almost doesn't make it this time, he's captured and close to torture & death, when he catches them off guard, then wins again. The armor is hard to penetrate, the guns are enormous and no match for the Police. Sounds almost like real life now a days. Leave out the armor and the story could be real in any inner City neighborhood where the Police are outmatched. Great reading, action all the way through... Another in a great series. Must read for Don Pendletons fans

This is a collection of short stories by various authors

The stories are set in the future, where the battle suit is the king of battle. Stories by David Drake, Gordon R. Dickson, Harry Harrison, Joe Haldeman and more. The FIRST in a series of books. The other two are SPACEFIGHTERS and SUPERTANKS. All three are edited by Joe Haldemen. This book even has a few pictures in the first story showing some of the suits (as the first story is done as a history of battle suits).

It was necessary to bring this book into the new framework of the post Reckoning world of darkness, and this book pulls it off with substance as well as style. Like the original it covers the denizens beyond the pale and thier dark and twisted agendas, but this version does things in a more sinister style and was worth the price for an upgrade. I recommend it, but if you aren't planning on dealing with these elements, the book may best be avoided for your campaign.

I admit it - I'm a relative newcomer to the world of Mage: the Ascension, and to White Wolf in general (right now, I'm in the midst of my first game ever, for which I'm the ST *gulp*). But I have to admit - next to the Guide to the Technocracy, this is probably the most solid and useful Mage book I've seen.

The book is divided into four sections - Nephandi, Marauders, Infernalists, and Umbrood. The Nephandi chapter is probably the best - it gives scads of information on all manner of Nephandic beings, practices, and yes, even the Spheres of the Qlippoth. The Nephandic chapter is solid and useful. And the art takes a turn for the disturbing . . . *shudder*

The Marauder chapter is also fun, but not quite so fun as the chapter on Nephandi. There's a lot of chatter about just what Marauders are. In short, it tells you all the things you need to know in order to create a Marauder or even to play as one.

The chapter on Infernalism is detailed and interesting, and probably the most utile one in the entire book (utile, yes, but not as interesting as the one on the Nephandi). There's information on Soul Trade, various demons, and anything you need to add the ultimate seeker of power into your chronicle. However, I wouldn't give the players the power of infernalism, considering how easy it is to become powerful quickly . . .

Finally, the chapter on Umbrood. This is where the chapter falls down. It's done almost entirely in a series of letters, which can get old really fast. In truth, I didn't even read the whole thing. It just got old very, very quickly.

All together, the Book of Madness is an essential read for anybody who wants to create a Mage chronicle involving the wilder side of the Mage universe.

In a really good book, reminiscent of his other works, especially "Come here:a man overcomes sexual abuse", Dr. B takes us into the life of a university president. (And I always thought they enjoyed all those fancy dinners!!)

Read it for fun, ...

In 1990, American University President Richard Berendzen pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of making obscene phone calls from his office to a Virginia woman. The woman alleged that Berendzen described in detail sexual acts he wanted to perform on young children.

I've seen some of the originals these images are taken from and they are quite well done. As the drawings are from art works they are not as detailed as some costume books so be carefull if using them as references for garment making. A great idea to have a wide range of weapons, clothing and armour in one book.

This book contains an enormous amount of drawings, most from the bible of King Wenceslas and a variety of others. The book covers many items of medieval life from 1350 to 1450, like the title promises and then some. The drawings are not so great, but most are provided with backgound information, dates, who the person was and from which source it may have been taken. This book has been hard to find and I can recommend it to anybody who is interested in recreating the middle ages.

Not a bad book (paperback edition), but not as good as I expect from Wess Roberts. Unlike his other books, ("Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun" and "Victory Secrets of Attila the Hun") this one had a pervasive negative tone through use of many real-world "what-not-to-do" examples. This excessive negativity was de-motivating and made for heavy reading.

Roberts' strength is his use, understanding, and insightful leadership perspectives of historical figures. I learned a great deal about the myth of Achilles. Unfortunately, Roberts focused too many of his examples on the nine flaws of Achilles (disloyalty, greed, hostility, betrayal, withdrawal, inflexibility, deceit, vengeance, and arrogance) vice the nine shields of immortality (commitment, selflessness, cooperation, integrity, rigor, flexibility, honesty, respect, and humility).

I know there are many true stories of people in leadership positions who possess little to no true leadership qualities and lessons can be learned from them, but I prefer to read about true leaders who exemplify the true essence of leadership to learn what can be done. After reading his other two fine leadership books mentioned above, this book pales in comparison.

Using stories from our past, Roberts teaches us how to overcome moral weakness. Thanks.

Just as my title says, buy a larger weapon if you really want to shoot people with body armor, or go for a head shot. The process in createing vest busters is time-consuming just for one and with a Beretta M9 with a magazine capacity of 15 rounds, it would take a long time to fill just one magazine (although 15 vest busters would be nice). If you really want to penetrate body armor, just get a large caliber weapon. My IMI Deagle is a .50AE so you would have to have much heavier body armor than just standard issue kevlar vests to stop a shot or two from it. For those of you who cant afford a Deagle (IMI Desert Eagle usually runs about [$$$]) a 12-guage shotgun with slug shot will do the job just fine. So for those of you with a lot of time on your hands, this is a pretty accurate book on createing vest busters and a good buy, but for those of you who dont have a lot of time, just buy a bigger weapon.

At last we, common citizens, can have the knowledge that leads to the means to use effective firearm projectiles.
The cops have it (KTW and so), the military have it (AP slugs), the criminals stole it from cops & military and we... well, we must use soft slugs that mushrooms like a mud-ball as soon as a hard target is reached. Any criminal is safe from our guns if protected by a car body, or even a body armor just stolen from legitimate sources. But never more, after you read and put in practice the teachings of this amazing book. No gun-buff can pass this one. It is a must.