Rating: 
Summary: VERY thorough.
Review: I have an enormous interest in the special forces, and armed forces. Out of all the books and literature that I have consumed on the subject, this is perhaps the most detailed and thorough piece of non fiction that I've ever read. I have read many of Clancy's thrillers, and was very pleased when I found out about his non-fiction work (Armored Cav, Carrier, etc). Marine takes the reader through the world of a marine expeditionary unit- from Parris Island to the Gulf War. Clancy takes every measure to ensure that he has missed nothing. If you are not big on the techincal aspects of war and weapons, stay away from this one. However, if hearing about the specs on an M-60 machine gun gets you excited, pick up Clancy's Marine.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on Marines ever-period.
Review: I'll make this short so you can spend more time on the book, but this book is the most in-depth book on the Marines ever
Rating:
Summary: Now I know why the first thing a President asks is where
Review: I'm a huge Tom Clancy fan and I have to say that the book was well researched. Now I know why the first thing a President asks during a crisis is, "Where is the nearest Carrier Group and where are the Marines?" My husband is an ex-Airborne vet in the Army and I always used to hear him complain about the Marines getting so much good press. Now I understand why this is so, because of Mr. Clancy. He seems to capture why the Marines are relied upon so much. It has to do with their warrior mentality and the great amount of training they do in order to get Special Operations Capable certified. Mr. Clancy also helps the reader understand why politically the MEU(SOC) is such a great tool for the President, because they don't require him to have to secure a nearby airbase or port which could escalate a crisis. They show-up with everything they need from from bullets and beans, to helicopters and airplanes, to tanks and SEALS. They don't need to rely on the other services in order to get most of the missions completed, pretty much avoiding command and control problems like the ones I read about in Blackhawk Down in Somalia, or from what my husband has told me in Grenada and Panama. I was also impressed how the Marine's new "over the horizon" strategy will help them surprise the enemy when they attack and help them avoid attacks to their ships similar to what the Brittish encountered in the Falklands. My husband would probably be mad at me for writing a good review about his hated rivals, but hey I'm a military wife and have learned to speak my mind :-). I like to tease him with the old line, "What? You're just jealous..." Just kidding, honey. Buy the book, it's very informative and will make you feel safer knowing that no matter where you travel in the world, these brave men & women will protect you.
Rating:
Summary: If you want to be a Marine!
Review: If you plan to be a Marine then you should plan on reading this before you join. Mr Clancy has done an outstanding job of portraying the USMC. As a member of the USA I found this book to be acurate and informative. This is also a great book to add to your home collection.
Rating: 
Summary: Marines
Review: If you want to be a Marine or if you just want to know everything about the Marine Corpse, then this is the book for you. It has all the informaton you could ever want!
Rating:
Summary: Lock and Load!!!!!
Review: Marine is, like the previous reviewer said, the best book written on Marines. I liked Clancy's interviews with Marines, and his depictions of USMC life at every level. I also really enjoyed the fictional scenarios at the end and especially liked the detailed descriptions of Marine equipment, including descriptions of the USS Wasp, AV-8B Harriers, M16A2's, MP-5's, M9's, M82A1's, and Claymore mines, among many other things
Rating:
Summary: Semper fi!
Review: Mr. Clancy never seems to run out of things to write about.
If you've read his other non-fiction works, this one takes a similar vein. Semper fi! is not only the Marines' motto, it can also refer to Mr. Clancy's style of presentation. He dispels the stereotype notion of the marine as a muscle-bound Rambo, and presents the truth about the all-American: a Marine is, after all, America. (Some may disagree, though.) I once met a Marine who visited the country. After reading Mr. Clancy's work, I then understood what he really was doing. He wasn't just going around the world on an all-expenses paid tour on a navy ship after all! Mr. Clancy takes the reader through the life of a Marine in training as well as in an expeditionary unit, he describes the weapons systems the Marines utilize, and he includes future weapons that will be acquired, provided the US Congress does not cut down on their budget. The work keeps you well-informed, and patriotic as well.
Rating:
Summary: Go Marines!!!
Review: People complain Tom Clancy gets too technical in his novels, well this time he can get as technical as he wants. This books gives you all the information you would ever want or need about the Marines. I hope Mr Clancy writes a similar book about the Navy SEALs.
Rating: 
Summary: Brown nosing to sell books
Review: The most damning criticism of Clancy is his shameless "brown nosing" of his pet areas of the U.S. military--not just because its a true indictment, but because it can masquerade as a serious source of information for life/death defense policy. TC has never been in uniform and is thus subject to being deceived by such bureaucracies as the marines. When you read this book you realize Clancy has not done a lick of common sense reflection on the fact that a mere 3 battalions (not together but in a different ocean) out of 172,000 marines is hardly any "bargain" for America at the cost of billions and billions of dollars. Just one Army Division does better than this---out of 12,000 an entire Brigade (3 Battalions plus) in a single entity is ready to deploy to anywhere in the world within a matter of hours. What are the 165,000 other marines doing in CONUS? Posing for pictures and interviews for gullible media folks like Clancy? The meu is merely a taxi service to evacuate Americans for the State department when our sea-based posturing and showboating fails. When was the last time a meu did an amphibious assault in combat? Try NEVER. The closest was some small-scale landings in Vietnam (we know how "successful" these were) and these were done by maus not meus. The meu is a masquerade for a military force, its really a saber-rattling and evacuation service not a fighting force, regardless of how Clancy thinks reflecting back on the allegedly tough Mc basic training changes things. A bunch of people in tiny sizes in a ship thousands of miles away from the action, that can move at a snail's pace are nothing to be praised as an epitome of fighting efficiency. Maybe that's what we want, to posture and pretend like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", not actually warfight; the AF will "win" the wars for us by long-distance bombing with the media reporting with "pin-point" accuracy the results. Had Clancy written a real book on marines he would have explored the fact that we have not done a major amphibious landing since Korea and that was an accident---and he of all people who made his name by naval warfare--should know that all surface ships are easily targeted from space by their wakes and hit by anti-ship missiles, denied access to landing sites by cheap coastal mines (remember why marines couldn't land in Desert Storm? Remember the ships that struck Iraqi mines?) and would be easily sunk with massive loss of American lives? It looks to the seasoned observer that Clancy put "blinders" on and has written a bunch of feel-good fluff in order to sell books to the marine/navalist market; it will sell well in the exchanges but it sells America short with its myths and distortions.
Rating:
Summary: Brown nosing to sell books
Review: The most damning criticism of Clancy is his shameless "brown nosing" of his pet areas of the U.S. military--not just because its a true indictment, but because it can masquerade as a serious source of information for life/death defense policy. TC has never been in uniform and is thus subject to being deceived by such bureaucracies as the marines. When you read this book you realize Clancy has not done a lick of common sense reflection on the fact that a mere 3 battalions (not together but in a different ocean) out of 172,000 marines is hardly any "bargain" for America at the cost of billions and billions of dollars. Just one Army Division does better than this---out of 12,000 an entire Brigade (3 Battalions plus) in a single entity is ready to deploy to anywhere in the world within a matter of hours. What are the 165,000 other marines doing in CONUS? Posing for pictures and interviews for gullible media folks like Clancy? The meu is merely a taxi service to evacuate Americans for the State department when our sea-based posturing and showboating fails. When was the last time a meu did an amphibious assault in combat? Try NEVER. The closest was some small-scale landings in Vietnam (we know how "successful" these were) and these were done by maus not meus. The meu is a masquerade for a military force, its really a saber-rattling and evacuation service not a fighting force, regardless of how Clancy thinks reflecting back on the allegedly tough Mc basic training changes things. A bunch of people in tiny sizes in a ship thousands of miles away from the action, that can move at a snail's pace are nothing to be praised as an epitome of fighting efficiency. Maybe that's what we want, to posture and pretend like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", not actually warfight; the AF will "win" the wars for us by long-distance bombing with the media reporting with "pin-point" accuracy the results. Had Clancy written a real book on marines he would have explored the fact that we have not done a major amphibious landing since Korea and that was an accident---and he of all people who made his name by naval warfare--should know that all surface ships are easily targeted from space by their wakes and hit by anti-ship missiles, denied access to landing sites by cheap coastal mines (remember why marines couldn't land in Desert Storm? Remember the ships that struck Iraqi mines?) and would be easily sunk with massive loss of American lives? It looks to the seasoned observer that Clancy put "blinders" on and has written a bunch of feel-good fluff in order to sell books to the marine/navalist market; it will sell well in the exchanges but it sells America short with its myths and distortions.
|
