he Reserve Components of the Armed Forces of the United States play a vital role in our National Defense efforts. Reserve units and personnel of all branches of the military have proven their mettle during the first two decades of the 21st Century, not only protecting the Homeland, but also deploying an untold number of times to multiple theaters of combat, fighting our nation’s battles overseas so that we do not have to fight them at home. We have pursued a long and costly, but necessary, campaign to ensure the freedom and safety of the ones we love. Now, we are well into the third decade of this century, and while members of the Reserve Components are still being deployed on operational missions, a greater emphasis is being placed on resetting the force and preparing for the next military challenge to be faced by our nation. This shift of emphasis means a greater focus on training, and that’s where this book of devotionals comes in. Annual Training is a ritual, a rite of passage, and a challenge for the drilling member of the Reserve Components. It means two or more weeks away from home and loved ones, and it means conducting rigorous, challenging, and, from time-to-time onerous, training, operations, and equipment maintenance. Annual Training can simultaneously be both the highlight of the training year, as well as a thorn in the side of a Service Member. It is an event to be anticipated and also dreaded in just about equal measures. Annual Training is a unique experience which can only really be understood by someone who has "been there and done that.” The purpose of this book is simple: to provide daily devotionals from the Christian Bible for troops attending Annual Training. Depending on the Reserve Component one is assigned to and the location where it is conducted, an Annual Training period can be 14, 15, or 17 days long. Reserve Component units that train overseas can be on duty for as much as 21 days. To split the difference, this book provides 17 days of devotionals. Please note that I have chosen to use the King James translation of the Scriptures in this book for several reasons. First, the King James Bible has historically been the most commonly used translation among Protestants. In addition, the New Testaments provided to troops by the Gideons are usually in the King James Version and so this book will complement their efforts. Finally, according to the American Bible Society, the King James text is in the public domain, which resolves any copyright issues over its use in this book. Feel free, however, to read the focal passage of each day’s devotion in the translation of the Bible that best suits your needs. Some of the included devotionals will have a military theme, but not all of them do. However, all of them do have a basis in Scripture and in the tenets of the Christian faith. I trust that they will encourage and sustain the reader during the trials and triumphs of Annual Training. Every blessing, Chaplain Otis Corbitt

First time in paperback: A myth-shattering book on codes and codebreaking that "no one with the slightest interest in World War II or in the origins of the Cold War can afford to ignore."-Robin W. Winks

The “extraordinarily informed” account of how US cryptographers broke Japan’s Purple cipher to change the course of World War II (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Marching Orders tells the story of how the American military’s breaking of the Japanese diplomatic Purple codes during World War II led to the defeat of Nazi Germany and hastened the end of the devastating conflict. With unprecedented access to over one million pages of US Army documents and thousands of pages of top-secret messages dispatched to Tokyo from the Japanese embassy in Berlin, author Bruce Lee offers a series of fascinating revelations about pivotal moments in the war. Challenging conventional wisdom, Marching Orders demonstrates how an American invasion of Japan would have resulted in massive casualties for both forces. Lee presents a thrilling day-by-day chronicle of the difficult choices faced by the American military brain trust and how, aware of Japan’s adamant refusal to surrender, the United States made the fateful decision to drop nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hailed as “one of the most important books ever published on World War II” by Robert T. Crowley, an intelligence officer who later became a senior executive at the CIA, Marching Orders unveils the untold stories behind some of the Second World War’s most critical events, bringing them to vivid life. With this book, “many of the mysteries that have eluded historians since the end of the war are much clarified: the Pearl Harbor fiasco, D-Day, why the Americans let the Russians capture Berlin, and why the decision to drop the atomic bomb was made. This is the most significant publication about World War II since the recent series of books on the Ultra revelations” (Library Journal). It’s a story that, as historian Robin W. Winks said, “no one with the slightest interest in World War II or in the origins of the Cold War can afford to ignore.”