Military Audiobooks | Biography & Memoir

David Bellavia (Author), John Bruning, Ray Porter (Narrator)

Audiobook

Immediate Action is a no-holds-barred account of an extraordinary life, from the day Andy McNab was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy's Hospital to the day he went to fight in the Gulf War.As a delinquent youth he kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 SAS Regiment he was at the centre of covert operations for nine years - on five continents.Recounting with grim humour and in riveting, often horrifying, detail his activities in the world's most highly trained and efficient Special Forces unit, McNab sweeps us into a world of surveillance and intelligence-gathering, counter-terrorism and hostage rescue.There are casualties: the best men are so often the first to be killed, because they are in front.By turns chilling, astonishing, violent, funny and moving, this blistering first-hand account of life at the forward edge of battle confirms Andy McNab's standing in the front rank of writers on modern war.

Andy McNab (Author), Paul Thornley (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Life and Legend of Chris Kyle: American Sniper, Navy SEAL

New York Times bestseller The life story of Chris Kyle, the American Sniper Journalist Michael J. Mooney reveals the life story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the American Sniper, from his Texas childhood up through his death in February 2013. A brutal warrior but a gentle father and husband, Kyle led the life of an American hero and legend. His heroism and reputation in the military service earned him the nickname "the devil" among insurgents and the nickname The Legend among his SEAL brethren, but his impact extended beyond that after he came home, through his work with fellow veterans. Mooney also sheds light on the life of the suffering fellow veteran who killed Kyle and interviews those closest to the late SEAL. The Life and Legend of Chris Kyle is an honest portrayal of the life of a man whose memorial service brought thousands of people to Cowboys Stadium--the most celebrated war hero of our time. [86 pages]

Michael J. Mooney (Author), Brian Troxell (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Pacific

The New York Times bestselling official companion book to the Emmy(r) Award-winning HBO(r) miniseries. Between America's retreat from China in late November 1941 and the moment General MacArthur's airplane touched down on the Japanese mainland in August of 1945, five men connected by happenstance fought the key battles of the war against Japan. From the debacle in Bataan, to the miracle at Midway and the relentless vortex of Guadalcanal, their solemn oaths to their country later led one to the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot and the others to the coral strongholds of Peleliu, the black terraces of Iwo Jima and the killing fields of Okinawa, until at last the survivors enjoyed a triumphant, yet uneasy, return home. In The Pacific, Hugh Ambrose focuses on the real-life stories of five men who put their lives on the line for our country. To deepen the story revealed in the HBO(r) miniseries and go beyond it, the book dares to chart a great ocean of enmity known as the Pacific and the brave men who fought. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Hugh Ambrose (Author), Mike Chamberlain (Narrator)

Audiobook

Transformed: A Navy SEAL's Unlikely Journey from the Throne of Africa, to the Streets of the Bronx,

What are the odds? Statistics tell us that African American males who grow up in a single-parent household are nine times more likely to drop out of high school and twenty times more likely to end up in prison than any other demographic. But what would it take for one young man not only to rise above those statistics but also become a Navy SEAL, actor, entrepreneur, writer, and successful husband and father? In Transformed, Remi Adeleke takes you back to stories from his childhood, from living as Nigerian royalty to losing his father early in life and being stripped financially of everything by the Nigerian government. He delves into being raised by a single mother in the Bronx and doesn't shy away from his illegal activities as a young man that threatened to derail his future. At every turn, including throughout his naval career, Adeleke found a way to overcome the odds, even when it didn't make sense. His is an inspiring story of true personal transformation.

Remi Adeleke (Author), Remi Adeleke (Narrator)

Audiobook

SEAL of God

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." - John 15:13. Just days before Chad Williams was scheduled to report for basic training at the Great Lakes naval base, he turned on the television and was greeted with the horrifying image of his mentor and training partner, US Navy SEAL Scott Helvenston, being brutally murdered in a premeditated ambush on the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. Steeled in his resolve, Chad committed himself to completing the US military's most difficult training to become a Navy SEAL, and avenge his friend's death. One of only thirteen out of a class of 173 to make it straight through to graduation, Chad went on to serve on SEAL Teams 1 and 7, completing tours of duty in the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and finally Iraq. There, Chad's journey came full circle when his team was ambushed by enemy machine gunners; close to the same road where his hero had been killed five years earlier. SEAL of God follows Chad's extraordinary journey through twenty-five grueling weeks of BUD/S training and onto the hostile streets of Al Anbar Province, Iraq, where he witnessed the horrors of war up close. Along the way, Chad shares his own radical conversion story and discovers the true meaning of ultimate sacrifice.

Chad Williams, David Thomas (Author), Chad Williams, David Thomas (Narrator)

Audiobook

Perfectly Wounded: A Memoir About What Happens After a Miracle

The incredible true story of former Navy SEAL Mike Day, who survived being shot twenty-seven times while deployed in Iraq. On the night of April 6, 2007, in Iraq's Anbar Province, Senior Chief Mike Day, his team of Navy SEALs, and a group of Iraqi scouts were on the hunt for a high-level al Qaeda cell. Day was the first to enter a 12x12 room where four terrorist leaders were waiting in ambush. When the gunfight was over, he took out all four terrorists in the room, but not before being shot twenty-seven times and hit with grenade shrapnel. Miraculously, Day cleared the rest of the house and rescued six women and children before walking out on his own to an awaiting helicopter, which flew him to safety. While in the hospital, the Navy SEAL lost fifty-five pounds in two weeks. It took almost two years for Day to physically recover from his injuries, although he still deals with pain. Like so many veterans, doctors diagnosed Day with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury -- the invisible wounds of war. Perfectly Wounded is the remarkable story of an American hero whose incredible survival defies explanation, and whose blessed life of service continues in the face of unimaginable odds.

Mike Day (Author), Mike Day (Narrator)

Audiobook

Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Co

The true story of the friendship'and rivalry'among the greatest American generals of World War II Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, General George S. Patton, and General Omar N. Bradley engineered the Allied conquest that shattered Hitler's hold over Europe. But they also shared an intricate web of relationships going back decades. In the cauldron of World War II, they found their prewar friendships complicated by shifting allegiances, jealousy, insecurity, patriotism, and ambition. Meticulously researched and vividly written, Jonathan W. Jordan's book recounts the battle for Europe through the eyes of these three legendary generals. For the first time in such detail, the bonds between them are explored, and readers are treated to an insider's view of life at the summit of raw, violent power. Throughout three years of hard, bloody warfare, Eisenhower, the Alliance's great diplomat, sought victory in the fighting qualities and tactical genius of his most trusted subordinates, Bradley and Patton. They, in turn, owed their careers to Eisenhower. Yet their friendship would be put to the ultimate test as life-and-death decisions were thrust upon them, and honor and duty conflicted with personal loyalty. Brothers, Rivals, Victors is drawn from the candid accounts of its main characters and strips away much of the public image of 'Ike' (Eisenhower), the 'GI's General' (Bradley), and 'Old Blood and Guts' (Patton) to reveal the men behind the legend. Adding richness to this story are the words and observations of a supporting cast of generals, staff officers, secretaries, aides, politicians, and wives, brought together to produce a uniquely intimate account of a relationship that influenced a war. The story of how these three great strategists pulled together to wage the deadliest conflict in history, despite their differences and rivalries, is marvelously told in this eye-opening narrative that is sure to become a classic of military history. 'A truly compelling narrative'A masterly, exciting study of character and tactics in World War II.''Kirkus Reviews

Jonathan W. Jordan (Author), William Hughes (Narrator)

Audiobook

Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall, written and read by Spike Milligan. A voice is calling across the land, 'Bombardier Milligan.''Bombadier Milligan is dead,' I replied in a disguised voice.The voice replied, 'Then he's going to miss his breakfast.' The fourth volume of Spike Milligan's legendary account of his time in the army during World War Two begins as he and his regiment land in sunny Italy in 1943 ('The ship touched the beach very gently, so gently I suspect it's not insured'). After a bout of Sandfly Fever, from which he soon recovers ('I'm ready to be killed again'), our plucky hero is piddled on by a farm dog ('Mussolini's revenge?') before forging his way inland towards the enemy and the sound of guns ('We're getting near civilisation'), where matters suddenly take a dark turn ('I was not really me any more') ...

Spike Milligan (Author), Spike Milligan (Narrator)

Audiobook

Whispers In The Tall Grass

On his second combat tour, Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu, CCN. This unit was part of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group), or Studies and Observations Group as it was innocuously called. The small recon companies that were the center of its activities conducted some of the most dangerous missions of the war, infiltrating areas controlled by the North Vietnamese in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The companies never exceeded more than thirty Americans, yet they were the best source for the enemy's disposition and were key to the US military being able to take the war to the enemy. This was accomplished by utilizing both new and innovative technology, and tactics dating back to the French and Indian Wars. This small unit racked up one of the most impressive records of awards for valor of any unit in the history of the United States Army. It came at a terrible price, however; the number of wounded and killed in action was incredibly high. Those missions today seem suicidal. In 1970 they seemed equally so, yet these men went out day after day with their indigenous allies-Montagnard tribesmen, Vietnamese, and Chinese Nungs-and faced the challenges with courage and resolve. Whispers in the Tall Grass is the second volume of Nick's riveting memoir of his time with MACV-SOG.

Nick Brokhausen (Author), George Spelvin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Pale Horse: Hunting Terrorists and Commanding Heroes with the 101st Airborne Division

The preface is read by the author, Jimmy Blackmon. Pale Horse is the remarkable never-before-told true story of an army aviation task force during combat in the Afghan War, told by the commanding officer who was there. Set in the very valleys where the attacks of 9/11 were conceived, and where ten Medals of Honor have been earned since that fateful day the war began, the narrative races from ferocious firefights and bravery in battle to the quiet moments where the courageous men and women of Task Force Pale Horse catch their breath before they take to the skies again. Jimmy F. Blackmon writes with a power and hard-hitting honesty that leaps off the page. He has the respect of the men and women of his brigade, and a command of the narrative to tell their story. From pilots of lethal Apache attack helicopters who strike fear in their enemies to the medevac soldiers who risk their lives daily, these are warriors from a variety of backgrounds who learned selflessness and found the closest brotherhood they ever knew through the crucible of war. Pale Horse both honors and commemorates the service of this elite task force from the unique vantage point of the commander who led them in battle.

Jimmy Blackmon (Author), Brian Troxell, Jimmy Blackmon (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945

The extraordinary story of the World War II air, land, and sea campaign that brought the U.S. Navy to the apex of its strength and marked the rise of the United States as a global superpower One of America's preeminent military historians, James D. Hornfischer has written his most expansive and ambitious book to date. Drawing on new primary sources and personal accounts by Americans and Japanese alike, here is a thrilling narrative of the climactic end stage of the Pacific War, focusing on the U.S. invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944 and the momentous events that it triggered. With its thunderous assault into Japan's inner defensive perimeter, America crossed the threshold of total war. From the seaborne invasion of Saipan to the stunning aerial battles of the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, to the largest banzai attack of the war and the strategic bombing effort that led to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Marianas became the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender-with consequences that forever changed modern war. These unprecedented operations saw the first large-scale use of Navy Underwater Demolition Teams; a revolution in the fleet's ability to sustain cross-hemispheric expeditionary warfare; the struggle of American troops facing not only a suicidal enemy garrison but desperate Japanese civilians; and the rise of the U.S. Navy as the greatest of grand fleets. From the Marianas, B-29 Superfortresses would finally unleash nuclear fire on an enemy resolved to fight to the end. Hornfischer casts this clash of nations and cultures with cinematic scope and penetrating insight, focusing closely on the people who rose to the challenge under fire: Raymond Spruance, the brilliant, coolly calculating commander of the Fifth Fleet; Kelly Turner, whose amphibious forces delivered Marine General Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith's troops to the beaches of Saipan and Tinian; Draper Kauffman, founder of the Navy unit that predated today's SEALs; Paul Tibbets, who created history's first atomic striking force and flew the Enola Gay to Hiroshima; and Japanese warriors and civilians who saw the specter of defeat as the ultimate test of the spirit. From the seas of the Central Pacific to the shores of Japan itself, The Fleet at Flood Tide is a stirring and deeply humane account of World War II's world-changing finale. Advance praise for The Fleet at Flood Tide "This is a masterful account of the barbaric last year of the Pacific War, combining original scholarship, engaging prose, excellent historical judgment, and empathy for the soldier, to explain why defeating the Japanese proved so costly-and how American military forces performed so effectively and, in the end, humanely. The Fleet at Flood Tide is, quite simply, popular and scholarly military history at its best."-Victor Davis Hanson, author of Carnage and Culture, senior fellow in classics and military history, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University "We have here a carefully researched and well-written account of key stages and events in the final portion of the war in the Pacific that includes a careful look at the Japanese side as well as the American. The campaign in the Marianas and the background and reality of the atomic bomb are exceptionally thoughtfully presented."-Gerhard L. Weinberg, author of A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, professor emeritus of history, University of North Carolina From the Hardcover edition.

James D. Hornfischer (Author), Pete Larkin (Narrator)

Audiobook

Military Audiobooks in Biography & Memoir