Officially endorsed by the Skyhawk Association and including first-hand accounts from veteran pilots who flew one of the greatest attack aircraft ever, Peter Mersky provides an insightful account of some of the most thrilling aerial combat missions that took place during Vietnam and the pilots who flew them. The first book to focus on the A-4’s Vietnam service, this title is supported by previously unpublished colour and black and white photographs with 30 detailed colour profiles.

The Writing Guide is ideally suited for the person who:

* Is new to the art of writing (and understanding) EVALS & FITREPS.
* Wants to maximize the use of allowable space.
* Wants to gain a competitive edge in “passing” all selection boards.
* Doesn’t like to continually start writing EVAL and FITREP narratives from “scratch”.
* Doesn’t quite know how to word or document performance or potential.
* Wants to submit good, effective write-ups to impress the “boss”.

This Guide Contains:

* Instruction, direction, and guidance (with precisely worded samples) on how to submit smooth, finished Evals and Fitreps in the format and style that will positively influence selection boards.
* 200+ pages of examples bullet statements tailored toward the new Eval/Fitrep system.
* Almost 500 of the most popular, descriptive adjectives used in Evals.
* LDO/CWO Candidate information with 20+ Command Endorsement samples.
* CPO, SCPO, & MCPO SELECTION BOARD information (& worksheet samples).

In a delightfully absorbing prose rare for such studies, Robert Albion relates these pivotal issues throughout the two-hundred-year period that saw most of the greatest naval wars of the Age of Sail, from the First Dutch War of 1652 to the introduction of the ironclad early in the American Civil War. The author explores how the timber supply problem affected other European maritime powers and their far-flung colonies, explains how it was driven by the conservatism and corruption of official bureaus and rapacious landowners conducting the business, and offers a fascinating portrait of the contemporary logging and timber transport industries.

An introductory essay has been written for this new Classics edition by Timothy Bean, a lecturer at the department of war studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and a specialist in early eighteenth-century naval history. His essay examines Albion’s unique contributions to the understanding of the relationship between the military and commerce and applies Navy timber supply issues to twentieth-century problems with oil supplies.

The descriptions of bravery read like the scripts of Hollywood action films, but these are actual events about real people. Readers will be awestruck by the incredible courage shown by the Marines and Sailors during hellish firefights against the insurgents in Baghdad, Nasiriyah, Fallujah, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Kandahar. Yet the recipients remain modest about their actions, saying they were merely doing their duty as would any other Marine or Sailor. Among the recent Navy Cross recipients included are Chief Petty Officers Stephen Bass and Britt Slabinski, both Navy SEALs, and the “Fallujah Seven” Marines: Capt. Brent Morel, Sgt. Willie L. Copeland III, 1st Sgt. Bradley Kasal, Sgt. Robert J. Mitchell, Cpl. Jeremiah Workman, Sgt. Jarrett Kraft, and Lance Cpl. Dominic D. Esquibel.

This is a book which will delight the many enthusiastic readers of accounts both true and fictional of the Royal Navy in the great days of sail-the days of Nelson and other great captains who fought the navy of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. This is the story of a very ordinary seamen-extraordinarily written by his own hand-who was pressed from the merchant trade into a fighting ship of the Royal Navy-HMS Hussar. Captained by a tyrant-even by the standards of the day-this is an account of hardship, cruel punishment, battle action before the mast and ultimately shipwreck. The crew of the Hussar are eventually taken as prisoners of war by the French and there follows a further harrowing account of endurance which only ends as the crew meet the advancing British Army in the South of France in the days leading to the abdication of the Emperor.

The book opens with a brief overview of the functions of navies and then is divided chronologically into the following chapters: Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, Iberian Global Empires, Dutch Naval Mastery, the French Naval Challenge, British Naval Supremacy, the War of the American Revolution, the Age of Nelson, the British Pax, the American Civil War, Naval Strategists and Arms Races, World War I, Naval Arms Control, World War II in the Atlantic, World War II in the Pacific, and the American Pax. The narrative is enhanced by essays on such special topics as life at sea, the advent of steam and steel, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Principal naval leaders are highlighted. Illustrations and diagrams of selected naval battles and warships, maps, and a list of suggested readings add to the text.

This book investigates the difficulties of weapon system procurement within the context of strategic realities, interservice rivalry, and constrained defense budgets. It also looks at an alternative weapon system that the Navy saw as a means of extending its conventional reach and as a complement to the carrier and land-based bomber used for nuclear deterrence. That weapon, however, proved unsuccessful in the end. The author helps the reader understand that while conceptual and operational flaws kept the Seaplane Striking Force from achieving the goals set for it, the idea of a mobile weapon system capable of long-range attacks from the sea remains valid. Other books touch briefly on the subject, but this is the first to examine the concept in depth.

The main focus of the book is a detailed examination of China’s navy, its organization and its submarines, ships, and airplanes that form the heart of the sea-going force. The book also takes into account the officers and sailors who man the growing fleet and Beijing’s efforts to train and educate them to be both professionally capable and politically reliable. China’s future plans for its navy, including doctrine and operations, are fully discussed. In his conclusion, the author places China’s naval developments within the context of national goals and plans as well as in the international arena. He asserts that Beijing will continue as a continental power with a maritime strategy and a navy focused on specific, limited goals, while reminding readers that the reunification of Taiwan is an objective that may well involve the United States.