military

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military

It's my country too

Women's military stories from the american revolution to afghanistan
This inspiring anthology is the first to convey the rich experiences and contributions of women in the American military in their own words?from the Revolutionary War to the present wars in the Middle East.Serving with the Union Army during the Civil War as a nurse, scout, spy, and soldier, Harriet Tubman tells what it was like to be the first American woman to lead a raid against an enemy, freeing some 750 slaves. Busting gender stereotypes, Josette Dermody Wingo enlisted as a gunner?s mate in the navy in World War II to teach sailors to fire Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. Marine Barbara Dulinsky recalls serving under fire in Saigon during the Tet Offensive of 1968, and Brooke King describes the aftermath of her experiences outside the wire with the army in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In excerpts from their diaries, letters, oral histories, and pension depositions?as well as from published and unpublished memoirs?generations of women reveal why and how they chose to serve their country, often breaking with social norms, even at great personal peril.

Bangor in world war ii

From the homefront to the embattled skies
As the specter of a second world war grew, so did Bangor's strategic importance in eastern Maine. National Draft Day saw 3,157 local men register to serve, and the city built up its Dow Field as the nation braced for war. Nearly 6,000 servicemen and women called Dow their home base throughout World War II. Organizations like the local Soldiers Welfare Council and the USO welcomed the troops even as women stepped into roles vacated by enlisted men and worked tirelessly to keep up the community's patriotic spirit. Bangor and its world-class air base stood strong at home as its native sons fought valiantly on the warfront.

Vietnam war nurses

Personal accounts of 18 americans
Eighteen nurses who served in the United States military nurse corps during the Vietnam War present their personal accounts in this book. They represent all military branches and both genders. They served in the theater of combat, in the United States, and in countries allied with the U.S. They served in front line hospitals, hospital ships, large medical centers and small clinics. They speak of caring for casualties during a conflict filled with controversy--and of patriotism, of the nursing profession and of travel and the adventure of friendship and love.

Harry s. truman and the cold war revisionists

The idea of revising what is known of the past constitutes an essential procedure in historical scholarship, but revisionists are often hasty and argumentative in their judgments. Such, argues Robert H. Ferrell, has been the case with assessments of the presidency of Harry S. Truman, who was targeted by historians and political scientists in the 1960s and ?70s for numerous failings in both domestic and foreign policy, including launching the cold war?perceptions that persist to the present day.Widely acknowledged as today?s foremost Truman scholar, Ferrell turns the tables on the revisionists in this collection of classic essays. He goes below the surface appearances of history to examine how situations actually developed and how Truman performed sensibly?even courageously?in the face of unforeseen crises.While some revisionists see Truman as consumed by a blind hatred of the Soviet Union and adopting an unrestrainedly militant stance, Ferrell convincingly shows that Truman wished to get along with the Soviets and was often bewildered by their actions. He interprets policies such as the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and support for NATO as prudent responses to perceived threats and credits the Truman administration for the ways in which it dealt with unprecedented problems.What emerges most vividly from Ferrell?s essays is a sense of how weak a hand the United States held from 1945 to1950, with its conventional forces depleted by the return of veterans to civil pursuits after the war and with its capacity for delivery of nuclear weapons in a sorry state. He shows that Truman regarded the atomic bomb as a weapon of last resort, not an instrument of policy, and that he took America into a war in Korea for the good of the United States and its allies. Although Truman has been vindicated on many of these issues, there still remains a lingering controversy over the use of atomic weapons in Japan?a decision that Ferrell argues is understandable in light of what Truman faced at the start of his presidency.Ferrell argues that the revisionists who attacked Truman understood neither the times nor the man?one of the most clearheaded, farsighted presidents ever to occupy the Oval Office. Harry S. Truman and the Cold War Revisionists shows us that Truman?s was indeed a remarkable presidency, as it cautions historians against too quickly appraising the very recent past.

Hue 1968

A turning point of the american war in vietnam
The first battle book from Mark Bowden since his #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down, Hue 1968 is the story of the centerpiece of the Tet Offensive and a turning point in the American War in Vietnam.In the early hours of January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese launched over one hundred attacks across South Vietnam in what would become known as the Tet Offensive. The lynchpin of Tet was the capture of Hue, Vietnam?s intellectual and cultural capital, by 10,000 National Liberation Front troops who descended from hidden camps and surged across the city of 140,000. Within hours the entire city was in their hands save for two small military outposts. American commanders refused to believe the size and scope of the Front?s presence, ordering small companies of marines against thousands of entrenched enemy troops. After several futile and deadly days, Lieutenant Colonel Ernie Cheatham would finally come up with a strategy to retake the city, block by block and building by building, in some of the most intense urban combat since World War II.With unprecedented access to war archives in the U.S. and Vietnam and interviews with participants from both sides, Bowden narrates each stage of this crucial battle through multiple viewpoints. Played out over 24 days and ultimately costing 10,000 lives, the Battle of Hue was by far the bloodiest of the entire war. When it ended, the American debate was never again about winning, only about how to leave. Hue 1968 is a gripping and moving account of this pivotal moment.

Marching orders

The untold story of how the american breaking of the japanese secret codes led to the defeat of nazi germany and japan
The "extraordinarily informed" account of how US cryptographers broke Japan's Purple cipher to change the course of World War II ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review). Marching Orders tells the story of how the American military's breaking of the Japanese diplomatic Purple codes during World War II led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and hastened the end of the devastating conflict. With unprecedented access to over one million pages of US Army documents and thousands of pages of top-secret messages dispatched to Tokyo from the Japanese embassy in Berlin, author Bruce Lee offers a series of fascinating revelations about pivotal moments in the war. Challenging conventional wisdom, Marching Orders demonstrates how an American invasion of Japan would have resulted in massive casualties for both forces. Lee presents a thrilling day-by-day chronicle of the difficult choices faced by the American military brain trust and how, aware of Japan's adamant refusal to surrender, the United States made the fateful decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hailed as "one of the most important books ever published on World War II" by Robert T. Crowley, an intelligence officer who later became a senior executive at the CIA, Marching Orders unveils the untold stories behind some of the Second World War's most critical events, bringing them to vivid life. With this book, "many of the mysteries that have eluded historians since the end of the war are much clarified: the Pearl Harbor fiasco, D-Day, why the Americans let the Russians capture Berlin, and why the decision to drop the atomic bomb was made. This is the most significant publication about World War II since the recent series of books on the Ultra revelations" ( Library Journal ). It's a story that, as historian Robin W. Winks said, "no one with the slightest interest in World War II or in the origins of the Cold War can afford to ignore.".

A war away

An american woman in vietnam, 1967-1974
Tess Johnston has spent her life seeking adventure and excitement and she had plenty of that in Germany before the Wall came down and in China for more than thirty years. But the pinnacle of her experiences was seven years in Vietnam, 1967-74, during the war, where she found even Saigon too tame and snared a job with one of the most famous (or infamous) American wartime leaders, John Paul Vann. In her latest book, Tess recounts stories of her Vietnam years, including her eye-witness account of the Tet Offensive, and what it was like to be one the few American women there during those harrowing years.

Richard nixon and the vietnam war

The end of the american century
President Richard Nixon's first presidential term oversaw the definitive crucible of the Vietnam War. Nixon came into office seeking the kind of decisive victory that had eluded President Johnson, and went about expanding the war, overtly and covertly, in order to uphold a policy of "containment," protect America's credibility, and defy the left's antiwar movement at home. Tactically, politically, Nixon's moves made sense. However, by 1971 the president was forced to significantly de-escalate the American presence and seek a negotiated end to the war, which is now accepted as an American defeat, and a resounding failure of American foreign relations. This book, by accomplished foreign relations historian David F. Schmitz, is intended to provide an up-to-date analysis of Nixon's Vietnam policy in a concise and accessible way. Schmitz addresses the main controversies of Nixon's Vietnam strategy, and in so doing manages to trace back the ways in which this most calculating and perceptive politician wound up resigning from office a fraud and failure. Finally, the book seeks to place the impact of Nixon's policies and decisions in the larger context of post-World War II American society, and analyzes the full costs of the Vietnam War that the nation feels to this day.

U.S. Coast Guard

2024
ALWAYS READY: Learn about the Coast Guard and the men and women who battle hurricanes, pirate gangs, pollution, and other threats at home and around the world.
Cover image of U.S. Coast Guard

U.S. Marine Corps

2024
FIRST TO FIGHT:The U.S. Marines help defend the country whenever and wherever they are needed they are ready to go!.
Cover image of U.S. Marine Corps

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