Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
|
Cargando... The crossroad (2013)por Mark Donaldson
  
Ninguno Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.  mbmackay | Sep 25, 2017 |  sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Premios
On 2 September 2008, in a valley in eastern Afghanistan, Trooper Mark Donaldson made a split-second decision that would change his life. His display of extraordinary courage that day saw him awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia, making him the first Australian to receive our highest award for bravery in wartime since Keith Payne in 1969.Yet Mark's journey to those crucial moments in Afghanistan was almost as exceptional as the acts that led to his VC.He was a rebellious child and teenager, even before the death of his father - a Vietnam veteran - when Mark and his brother were in their mid-teens. A few years later, their mother disappeared, presumed murdered. Her body has never been found.Mark's decisions could have easily led him down another path, to a life of self-destructiveness and petty crime. But he chose a different road: the army. It proved to be his salvation and he found himself a natural soldier, progressing unerringly to the SAS, the peak of the Australian military.From his turbulent early years to the stark realities of combat in the mountains and valleys of Afghanistan, Mark's book is the frank and compelling story of a man who turned his life around by sheer determination and strength of mind. No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
 Google Books — Cargando...GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)355.0092Social sciences Public Administration, Military Science Military Science Biography And History BiographyValoraciónPromedio: (3.73)
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1
An autobiography of a young man from a difficult background, and going spectacularly off the rails as a teenager/young adult, who joins the army to try to get into the SAS. Against the odds, he does so, and becomes a highly regarded member of this elite group, and goes on to be the first Australian Victoria Cross winner since the Vietnam war.
The book makes no reference to a ghost writer, although one of the first personal credits at the end is to a journalist/non-fiction writer, so he may have had some assistance. The writing is tight, and the voice is authentic. Donaldson has views about senior officers, strategy and policy that make it clear that it is not a volume authorised by the Defence Dept as a promo following the VC.
In the end, it is a very human story, and compelling. Donaldson manages to tell you enough about him and his life to make you feel that you know him, without crossing that vague line where he would be telling you more than you want to know.
I am glad that there are people like Donaldson, willing to risk their lives in their roles in the armed forces, but still cannot understand how anyone can repeatedly put their life at such fundamental risk.
Read Sept 2017 (