(Admin. Note: This Veterans Day I decided to celebrate by puting to work one of my favorite "Army guys", as my nephew who is now an Army guy and war veteran himself used to call them. Andrew Ballenger has served the country in the military for over 20 years as both an enlisted man and an officer. He's a veteran of both Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and a voracious consumer of military writing.

He's also the brother of my favorite veteran, my husband Jesse. RB)

By Major Andrew Ballenger

In keeping with our nation's celebration of Veterans Day, I offer recommendations of four books of a military genre. I made huge omissions to limit the list to four as some of the best military texts were written by foreign soldiers. In keeping with our own holiday, I've kept it strictly to U.S. military subjects, but added a movie title bonus.

My favorite military book of all time is Five Years to Freedom, by Nick Rowe. Published in 1971, Five Years to Freedom is the author's account of his time as POW with the Viet Cong. This incredibly brave, intelligent and tough officer suffered inhuman cruelty at the hands of his captors for years and made a daring escape to freedom. Nick Rowe was later killed by communist guerrilas in Manila, Philippines, on April 21, 1989 while serving as the U.S. Defense Attache to that country.

Another great military autobiography is About Face, published in 1989, by retired Col. David Hackworth. Hackworth was a renegade Mustang officer (meaning he was given a battlefield commission, not through West Point, ROTC or Officer Candidate School) who had a knack for fighting and for leading troops in battle. For the last twenty plus years of his life he was America's most decorated living soldier. Hackworth had plenty of critics, most of whom say that he is especially adept at self promotion. No doubt this is true, but his acts of gallantry on the battlefield and his strong and unique leadership techniques speak for themselves. Hackworth died in Mexico in 2005 of cancer.

For a contemporary view of the combat arms units fighting today, one of the best to come out so far is House to House, by Army Staff Sgt. David Bellavia. This book is strictly from the soldier's point of view. Staff Sgt. Bellavia successfully brings the reader into the battle of Fallujah in 2004, and it highlights the tactical challenges that U.S. forces face when battling insurgents in close quarters where U.S. technology is not always applicable.

There is one recently published fictional book I'd recommend, The Lazuras Covenant. It was written by Army Special Forces Col. John Fenzel and is loosely based on his experiences in the Balkans intervention in the mid-1990s. Through it the reader learns to understand the violence, intruige and sadness of civil war. Col. Fenzel is still serving at the Headquarters, Department of the Army staff.

Finally, I offer a movie 12 O'Clock High, released in 1949. Too many people not of that era refuse to watch these old black and white films and that's a shame -- especially in this case. 12 O'Clock High is the story of U.S. Army Air Corps pilots in England during the early part of World War II. In order to increase their bombing accuracy, the high command made the decision to start flying daytime bombing missions over Germany, radically increasing the danger to U.S. pilots and crews as the German air defenders and fighter pilots could pinpoint American bombers. As with many great military stories, this is one about leadership and it is still shown today at the Army's Command and General Staff College as a case study.

Thank you for allowing me to share my recommendations. I wish everyone a happy Veterans Day.

(Another pesky Admin Note: From Luke Air Force Base where he's working as a civilian, Jesse recommends the book Killer Angels, which he read in a class he took with Andrew, and Catch 22. Happy Veterans Day Andrew, Jesse, and all the men and women who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and their families.)