Grunt

A New York Times / National Bestseller "America's funniest science writer" (Washington Post) Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war. Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries—panic, exhaustion, heat, noise—and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper. She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds. At Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, in east Africa, we learn how diarrhea can be a threat to national security. Roach samples caffeinated meat, sniffs an archival sample of a World War II stink bomb, and stays up all night with the crew tending the missiles on the nuclear submarine USS Tennessee. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks? How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit? Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks? Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you’ll never see our nation’s defenders in the same way again.

What is an orc? An orc is an 18 stone fighting machine, made of muscle, hide, talon and tusk, with a villainous disposition and a mean sense of humour. And, of course, an orc is a poor dumb grunt - the much abused foot soldier of the Evil Horde of Darkness. The usual last battle of Good against Evil is about to begin. Orc Captain Ashnak and his war-band know exactly what they can expect. The forces of Light are outnumbered, full of headstrong heroes devoid of tactics - but the Light's still going to win. Orcs - the sword fodder in the front line - will die by the thousands. Life's a bitch.

True Grunt is not about a Vietnam battle or a Vietnam journal/ memoir. It is a response to seeing short "Vietnam War 50 years later videos" on TV. These videos show two sides of the infantry in Vietnam. One side depicts the infantry fighting heroically and the other depicts the infantry committing some kind of atrocity. I served on the front lines with the infantry/grunt in 1970-1971. With many grandchildren, I don't want this mixed message to be my legacy. In those years, the infantry especially became the most maligned soldiers in our country's history. We were known as the baby killers and monsters of Vietnam. Those names continue to haunt us today. By seeing and experiencing my life as infantry-"grunt"-at that time, I hope the reader of True Grunt sees the infantry as moral men of intelligence and courage. They fought in some of the worst conditions of war. It is also a story of hope as one Vietnam Veteran regains his life, overcomes personal tragedies, and even disease from Agent Orange. It's time to project "50 years later videos" with just one message. Thousands of Vietnam grunts like myself were true to ourselves, our morals and our country. We won a great Victory in Vietnam. No asterisk needed.

"Previously distributed as a masters thesis by the same title"--T.p. verso. Includes index. Chaplains, Military -- Biography.

THE INVASION IS OVER. THEY ARE ALREADY AMONGST US. Benjamin Carter Mason died last night. Maybe he threw himself off a bridge into Los Angeles Harbor, or maybe he burned to death in a house fire in San Pedro; it doesn’t really matter. Today, Mason’s starting a new life. He’s back in boot camp, training for the only war left that matters a damn. For years, their spies have been coming to Earth, learning our weaknesses. Our governments knew, but they did nothing—the prospect was too awful, the costs too high—and now, the horrifying and utterly inhuman Cray are laying waste to our cities. The human race is a heartbeat away from extinction. That is, unless Mason, and the other men and women of Task Force OMBRA, can do anything about it. This is a time for heroes. For killers. For Grunts.

The fourth book in the hilarious series from Roald Dahl Funny Prize winning author Philip Ardagh and illustrator of The Gruffalo, Axel Scheffler. Over the years, the Grunts have made more than a few enemies. But fortunately they're all safely behind bars. Or are they? There's been a prison break-out, and three of them are after REVENGE. It's time for the Grunts to go On the Run... This last book brings back some familiar faces from the series and solves a couple of mysteries too...

The second in the hilarious series from Roald Dahl Funny Prize winning author Philip Ardagh and illustrator of The Gruffalo, Axel Scheffler. Mr Grunt's a man with a mission. He has to get a Person of Great Importance (or POGI) to someone called Mrs Bayliss by the twenty-fifth. Alive and well. And he can't tell anyone more than that, not even his lovely wife, Mrs Grunt, because there will be people trying to snatch the POGI and so the POGI must be transported in secret. It's an exciting adventure, but what interests Mr Grunt most are the silver coins he's been promised at the end of it. The Grunts' stolen son, Sunny, has a few questions. Who is the big-earringed cyclist? Why does the POGI have to wear a barrel all the time? Is Rodders Lasenby a lovely person or simply the rudest man on the planet? And how long will it be before they find themselves All At Sea?