"Shoot" hollered Willie B. "Where" I screamed. "Shoot, Shoot." Screamed Willie B. Again. I clicked my rifle from safe to full auto and let it rip in the direction of the tracers from the other two guys. I fired one complete magazine. I had no idea what was happening. I changed magazines. I buried my face in the dirt attempting to make myself invisible. I was terrified. I lie there cowering by hiding my face in the dirt. I had no idea what to do. "Shoot" screamed Willie B. again . My rifle had a bi-pod attached to the front of it as it was a select fire. (Semi or full auto). I extended the bi-pod and again ripped off full auto rounds. My hands and fingers were moving too slow. It was as if I was moving in slow motion. I couldn't make my hands move any faster. I kept shooting like the other two . At what, I had no idea. My heart was pumping ninety miles an hour. I heard firing erupt from the NDP then stop. A piece of hot brass hit me in the neck and went down my fatigue shirt burning the hell out of me. I kept firing and trying to shake the hot brass out of my shirt at the same time. I had fired six magazines before I noticed the other two had stopped firing. I errently touched the barrel of my rifle and got a burn that bubbled up the skin. We all lie still. My mouth was so dry, I couldn't swallow. I was shaking badly and couldn't catch my breath. Again, I buried my face in the dirt in a futile attempt to escape. I didn't like any of this. This wasn't at all like playing soldier in the back yard as a kid.

Drafted when he was 37 years old, this is the story of Dale Hubley - his life and service during World War II as a member of the Seventh Armored Division in Patton's Third Army. Being drafted when he was older change his life in many way but he was never bitter. He would always say, "I was one of the lucky ones, I got to come home." This positive attitude is what shaped Dale's life.

For author Virginia Kiernan, February 2003 is a month, though more than ten years past, that remains vivid in her memory. It was the month her husband, Verner Kiernan, a father of six, was deployed with the 101st Airborne Division in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, only one month before the war with Iraq began. In Dear God, Please Keep Daddy Safe, Virginia narrates the trials and triumphs of a year of deployment. She discusses the struggles army families face as she provides insight into the unknown world of army life in one of the nation's top units-including a deadly grenade attack on her husband's unit, the emotion of attending heart-wrenching memorial services, and the family crisis that becomes compounded with separation. A compelling true story written by a mom raising six children while her husband was deployed during the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Dear God, Please Keep Daddy Safe chronicles the highs and lows of events both overseas and on the home front, showing that the often overlooked issues at home can sometimes be as stressful as serving in uniform.

"Don't Thank Me, Thank Your Recruiter" is a story of a US Army Soldier who served for over 9 years as a Human Resources Specialist. During this time he traveled to a total of 14 countries to include Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, and Afghanistan. Through the years he met various people from all walks of life. During his journey he learned a lot about himself and the world as a whole. This is a story of true perseverance and courage. "Don't Thank Me, Thank Your Recruiter" teaches the lesson that it is never too late, nor is it ever wrong to stand up for yourself despite impeccable odds. A true depiction of the Human Spirit, this book is sure to show the world that despite your chosen profession you could still face challenges in life, and work to overcome them. It's not about the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that matters.

To borrow a hackneyed phrase, Nigeria has had a chequered political history before and since independence from British colonial rule on October 1, 1960. Two sets of actors - the civilian politicians and the military politicians - have been on the national political stage since January 15, 1966. General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida was one of them. In his eight years in power as president, or perhaps more correctly as military president, he affected the course of Nigeria's events, for better or for worse, in a way that few, if any, before him did. It is not possible to tell Nigeria's story without Babangida's part in it. The book is the story of IBB, the little orphan from Minna, Niger State and his meticulous rise to the top of his profession and the leadership of his country. Perhaps, more importantly, it is the story of Nigeria, its post-independence politics and power, told from the perspective of the actions and decisions of one of the main actors on the country's political stage. The events that shaped the Babangida era did not begin on August 27, 1985, the day he staged a palace coup against General Muhammadu Buhari. They began long before that. This book is the definitive story of the military, politics and power in Nigeria. ______________________________ Dan Agbese holds degrees in mass communications and journalism from the University of Lagos and Columbia University, New York, respectively. He is a former editor of The Nigeria Standard, the New Nigerian as well as former general manager of Radio Benue. Agbese was one of the founders of the trail-blazing weekly newsmagazine in Nigeria, Newswatch. He was until April 2010 the Editor-in-Chief of the magazine. He is the author of several acclaimed books, including Nigeria their Nigeria, Fellow Nigerians, The Reporter's Companion, Style: A Guide to Good Writing and The Columnist's Companion: The Art and Craft of Column Writing. Agbese is also a highly-regarded newspaper columnist.

The First World War was a turning point for modern globalised warfare. It involved the inclusion of women in 'war efforts', the homefront becoming the warzone, and produced millions of wounded and disabled men. At the same time, it incited an extraordinary arsenal of gendered discourses, practices and beliefs in the service of militarism, power structures and personal agency. This insightful collection of interdisciplinary essays, by a wide-ranging team of experts, draws out critical themes emanating from 1914. Spanning the First and Second World Wars, through to the Vietnam War, the 'War on Terror' and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the volume asks what has changed and what has continued? Ana Carden-Coyne demonstrates adeptly how understanding gender during periods of conflict has ongoing relevance across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

This is the story of how one man was protected by God through the war in Vietnam and the lawless living and imprisonment back home until God brought him in.

Intelligence comes from ignorance as wisdom comes from naivete and there is nothing like gathering both from people who represent a diverse swath of nations throughout the world. As cultures require contact with each other in order to grow and remain viable, and not succumb to atrophy, man too requires contact with men of different beliefs and practices. No one nation or culture or religion has a hold on logic or is immune to extremism. I feel blessed that I've had the opportunity to absorb and learn about aspects of life that I'm sure I wouldn't have learned otherwise. In fact, my whole belief system was changed over the past forty-five years through this contact. I began to do some research on my family and what I learned, coupled with what I had experienced in my life, literally brought me to tears in gratitude and admiration, and hopefully in wisdom. If you like to sit down and listen to stories told by, say, an old friend, an uncle, or a person with wrinkles on his face, grey in his hair, and a sparkle of wisdom in his eyes, coupled with a smile on his face, then you should so bother. If you don't, then stop right here and go pick up and read a book on vampires or love's lost or whatever turns your fancy. My life has been tragic and wondrous and I have what I call life lessons that I believe you will find helpful in your life. I'll even go so far as to say that, given even a fraction of introspection in you, your life will be significantly altered after you've read this book. I know that doesn't sound humble but I also know this to be true. I have learned, forgot, and made up many a good story. Keep this in mind when you read these chapters (stories) compiled within this book. Are they all true? Mostly, with only the most embarrassing events removed. An old retired Air Force fighter pilot once told me "I have secrets only God and I know - and that's the way it will remain."

This Book attempts to deduce regulatory standards that can close the gaps between the Promises made and the Outcomes secured by the United Nations in relation to its use of force. It explores two broad questions in this regard: why the contemporary legal framework relevant to the regulation of force during Armed Conflict cannot close the gaps between the said Promises and Outcomes and how the 'Unified Use of Force Rule' formulated herein, achieves this. This is the first book to coherently analyse the moral as well as legal aspects relevant to UN use of force. UN peace operations are rapidly changing. Deployed peacekeepers are now required to use force in pursuance of numerous objectives such as self-defence, protecting civilians, and carrying out targeted offensive operations. As a result, questions about when, where, and how to use force have now become central to peacekeeping. While UN peace operations have managed to avoid catastrophes of the magnitude of Rwanda and Srebrenica for over two decades, crucial gaps still exist between what the UN promises on the use of force front, and what it achieves. Current conflict zones such as the Central African Republic, Eastern Congo, and Mali stand testament to this. This book searches for answers to these issues and identifies how an innovative mix of the relevant legal and moral rules can produce regulatory standards that can allow the UN to keep their promises. The discussion covers analytical ground that must be traversed 'behind the scenes' of UN deployment, well before the first troops set foot on a battlefield. The analysis ultimately produces a 'Unified Use of Force Rule', that can either be completely or partially used as a model set of Rules of Engagement by UN forces. This book will be immensely beneficial to law students, researchers, academics and practitioners in the fields of international relations, international law, peacekeeping, and human rights.

After the end of the Cold War, it seemed as if Southeast Asia would remain a geopolitically stable region within the American imperious for the foreseeable future. In the last two decades, however, the re-emergence of China as a major great power has called into question the geopolitical future of the region and raised the specter of renewed of great power competition. As the eminent China scholar David Shambaugh explains in Where Great Powers Meet, the United States and China are engaged in a broad-gauged and global competition for power. While this competition ranges across the entire world, it is centered in Asia, and in this book, Shambaugh focuses the ten countries that comprise Southeast Asia. The United States and China constantly vie for position and influence in this enormously significant region-and the outcome of this contest will do much to determine whether Asia leaves the American orbit after seven decades and falls into a new Chinese sphere of influence. Just as importantly, to the extent that there is a global "power transition" occurring from the US to China, the fate of Southeast Asia will be a good indicator. Presently, both powers bring important assets to bear. The US continues to possess a depth and breadth of security ties, soft power, and direct investment across the region that empirically outweigh China's. For its part, China has more diplomatic influence, much greater trade, and geographic proximity. In assessing the likelihood of a regional power transition, Shambaugh at how ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and the countries within it maneuver between the United States and China and the degree to which they align with one or the other power. Not simply an analysis of the region's place within an evolving international system, Where Great Powers Meet provides us with a comprehensive strategy that advances the American position while exploiting Chinese weaknesses.