Your Other Left!: Punch Lines from the Front Lines

Rating:
Summary: Don't laugh too hard; it'll give away your position
Review: Written by a former Army combat journalist in Vietnam, this book was utterly hilarious. Some of the adages I'd seen before on the Internet under the heading "Murphy's Laws of Combat," such as Body Count Math (3 guerillas + 1 probable + 2 pigs = 37 enemy KIA) and the inverse variation between a weapon's complexity and its user's intellect, but it introduced me to a whole new batch of jokes, like how former servicemen are easy to identify because they don't understand the fascination with wearing BDUs, driving Humvees and playing with guns all day, and how each service branch interprets the order "Secure the building" (the Army will guard it, the Navy will lock it up, the Air Force will try to buy it, and the Marines will occupy it). The best part is at the end, explaining how to recreate the living conditions of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in your own home (set up a tent in the most crime-infested part of town and tell the locals you're there to help them while wearing body armor and packing heat). Soldiers and civilians alike will enjoy it.