Behind the Blue Beret is my memoir of my military enlistment in the United States Air Force as a Security Forces Member. Not only have I been involved in a number of law enforcement situations, air base defense attacks in a location that only a select few service members have ever traveled in, and humorous personal situations to boot. But I received numerous injuries to my back, and psychological trauma that relates to several million newer and hundreds of millions of older veterans throughout the world. For years when I was in the military I experienced so much and had a feeling of honor, courage, and self worth. I want to transfer this into my book. I have lived my life as a military member and take with me the stories, comradery, feelings, and situations with every chapter of this book that my fellow veterans can take with them and identify in their readings.

Inspired by the wartime experiences of her late father-in-law, award-winning author Bobbie Ann Mason has written an unforgettable novel about an American World War II pilot shot down in Occupied Europe. When Marshall Stone returns to his crash site decades later, he finds himself drawn back in time to the brave people who helped him escape from the Nazis. He especially recalls one intrepid girl guide who risked her life to help him--the girl in the blue beret. At twenty-three, Marshall Stone was a U.S. flyboy stationed in England. Headstrong and cocksure, he had nine exhilarating bombing raids under his belt when enemy fighters forced his B-17 to crash-land in a Belgian field near the border of France. The memories of what happened next--the frantic moments right after the fiery crash, the guilt of leaving his wounded crewmates and fleeing into the woods to escape German troops, the terror of being alone in a foreign country--all come rushing back when Marshall sets foot on that Belgian field again. Marshall was saved only by the kindness of ordinary citizens who, as part of the Resistance, moved downed Allied airmen through clandestine, often outrageous routes (over the Pyrenees to Spain) to get them back to their bases in England. Even though Marshall shared a close bond with several of the Resistance members who risked their lives for him, after the war he did not look back. But now he wants to find them again--to thank them and renew their ties. Most of all, Marshall wants to find the courageous woman who guided him through Paris. She was a mere teenager at the time, one link in the underground line to freedom. Marshall's search becomes a wrenching odyssey of discovery that threatens to break his heart--and also sets him on a new course for the rest of his life. In his journey, he finds astonishing revelations about the people he knew during the war--none more electrifying and inspiring than the story of the girl in the blue beret. Intimate and haunting, The Girl in the Blue Beret is a beautiful and affecting story of love and courage, war and redemption, and the startling promise of second chances.

Sixteen biographies of extraordinary people--ranging from Sebastião Salgado to Björk and Greta Thunberg--who came of age fighting climate change Every person has a path in life, one that is intertwined with the fate of the earth. The life stories in this collection begin and end with that realization. First, as children, in different countries and eras, they witness how humans provoke environmental degradation. Each leads a life that not only minimizes their individual contribution to climate change at a local scale, but also that of their generation on a global scale. Then, as adults, they recognize the maturity and agency acquired at that moment which defined their lives. The biographies depict concrete initiatives that contribute to climate preservation, from a physicist who promotes organic farming techniques in India to a designer that only uses ecological fabrics and dyes in Italy. Rock climber Yvon Chouinard, biologist Rachel Carson, and designer Adriana Santanocito are included in this diverse cast of environmental activists. Together they show us that regardless of culture, class, or profession it is never too early or late to find your way to improve the world our children will inhabit. The stakes couldn't be higher: "Our house is on fire," as Greta Thunberg rightly said.

The trauma of hostile fire, roadside bombs, mines, and the ab- duction and death of comrades is told in vivid, unforgettable detail. ''''The fundamental and essential purpose of the United Nations is to keep the peace. Everything which does not further that goal, either directly or indirectly, is at best superfluous.'''' - Henry Cabot Lodge, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations From the 1950s to the present day, Canadian peacekeepers have been employed as a stabilizing force and an instrument of peace in every corner of the globe. In this first-hand account, Terry ''''Stoney'''' Burke paints a graphic picture of a peacekeeper's life in one of the most tumultuous and dangerous regions of the world. From the war-torn island of Cyprus, through his later missions in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria, we follow him as he weaves an intriguing narrative of life as a Canadian peacekeeper.

The men of the U.S. Navy's brown-water force played a vital but often overlooked role in the Vietnam War. Known for their black berets and limitless courage, they maneuvered their aging, makeshift craft along shallow coastal waters and twisting inland waterways to search out the enemy. In this moving tribute to their contributions and sacrifices, Tom Cutler records their dramatic story as only a participant could. His own Vietnam experience enables him to add a striking human dimension to the account. The terror of firefights along the jungle-lined rivers, the rigors of camp life, and the sudden perils of guerrilla warfare are conveyed with authenticity. At the same time, the author's training as a historian allows him to objectively describe the scope of the navy's operations and evaluate their effectiveness. Winner of the Navy League's Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Literary Achievement in 1988 when the book was first published, Cutler is credited with having written the definitive history of the brown-water sailors, an effort that has helped readers better understand the nature of U.S. involvement in the war.

Inside the Blue Berets looks at the origins of the Russian shock troops. It provides an exciting description of the harrowing Russian airborne assaults of World War II and the combat uses of these troops in the Cold War years as they took on an important new role as "imperial storm troopers" - the infantry that enforced Soviet power, first in Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia. By then paratroopers had become a true elite, with the best and brightest of the Red Army competing for the prized blue beret. In the 1980s, the VDV became trapped in the quagmire of Afghanistan. Bloodied and weary after ten years of brutal fighting, the paratroopers returned home and were immediately ordered to don their flak jackets and control the civil turmoil resulting from perestroika. Inside the Blue Berets offers the first lucid description of the murky situation that surrounded the breakup of the USSR.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An edge-of-your-seat thriller about a group of retired Green Berets who come together to save a former comrade—and 500 other Afghans—being targeted by the Taliban in the chaos of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In April 2021, an urgent call was placed from a Special Forces operator serving overseas. The message was clear: Get Nezam out of Afghanistan now. Nezam was part of the Afghan National Army’s first group of American-trained commandos; he passed through Fort Bragg’s legendary Q course and served alongside the US Special Forces for over a decade. But Afghanistan’s government and army were on the edge of collapse, and Nezam was receiving threatening texts from the Taliban. The message reached Nezam’s former commanding officer, retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann, who couldn’t face the idea of losing another soldier in the long War on Terror. Immediately, he sends out an SOS to a group of Afghan vets (Navy SEALs, Green Berets, CIA officers, USAID advisors). They all answer the call for one last mission. Operating out of basements and garages, Task Force Pineapple organizes an escape route for Nezam and gets him into hiding in Taliban-controlled Kabul. After many tense days, he braves the enemy checkpoints and the crowds of thousands blocking the airport gates. He finally makes it through the wire and into the American-held airport thanks to the frantic efforts of the Pineapple express, a relentless Congressional aide, and a US embassy official. Nezam is safe, but calls are coming in from all directions requesting help for other Afghan soldiers, interpreters, and at-risk women and children. Task Force Pineapple widens its scope—and ends up rescuing 500 more Afghans from Kabul in the three chaotic days before the ISIS-K suicide bombing. Operation Pineapple Express is a thrilling, suspenseful tale of service and loyalty amidst the chaos of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.