War

I find that whenever I lack for a topic to post on, I can always write a bit on what book I'm reading.

This inevitably makes me look way smart and impresses my more dimwitted readers (not you, the other guy) whose lips are moving as they read this.

So what tome am I presently perusing?

How To Make War by James F. Dunnigan.

Amazon kept recommending it over and over, probably because of my subscriptions to Soldier of Fortune, Guns & Ammo and Ranger Rick.

The book landed with a heavy thunk on my desk. Damn, I didn't realize it was so big, weighing in at more than six hundred pages. Can't I learn the basics of how to kill my fellow humans in large numbers in fewer pages than that? I'm not looking for a Cliffs Notes or anything, but wow, 600 pages is a lot.

But I dug in anyway and it's turning to be really interesting. It's written in a pretty casual style that while not exactly award-winning prose is hardly dry textbook fare either.

I'm learning all kinds of new stuff. I thought I was pretty up on the latest battlefield techniques. I watched "Saving Private Ryan", and I played all the way through "Full Spectrum Warrior" on the Xbox, too.

But did you know that you can't really pull a grenade pin with your teeth? Not unless, as Dunnigan advises, you have handy access to a dental surgeon.

Also, if you're a "pro" soldier, you probably walk around with a condom over your rifle barrel to keep dirt and grit out. That's right. You see a dude with a rubber on his M-16, you better run the hell away because he means business.

Hey, it's 11:48 already. I've used up all my blogging overtime.