Military Family Resources

From a decorated veteran of the Iraq and Afghan Wars, and White House Fellow, a stirring debut novel about a young Afghan orphan and the harrowing, intractable nature of war. Aziz and his older brother Ali are coming of age in a village amid the pine forests and endless mountains of eastern Afghanistan. There is no school, but their mother teaches them to read and write, and once a month sends the boys on a two-day journey to the bazaar. They are poor, but inside their mud-walled home, the family has stability, love, and routine. When a convoy of armed men arrives in their village one day, their world crumbles. The boys survive and make their way to a small city, where they sleep among other orphans. They learn to beg, and, eventually, they earn work and trust from the local shopkeepers. Ali saves their money and sends Aziz to school at the madrassa, but when US forces invade the country, militants strike back. A bomb explodes in the market, and Ali is brutally injured. In the hospital, Aziz meets an Afghan wearing an American uniform. To save his brother, Aziz must join the Special Lashkar, a US-funded militia. No longer a boy, but not yet a man, he departs for the untamed border. Trapped in a conflict both savage and entirely contrived, Aziz struggles to understand his place. Will he embrace the brutality of war or leave it behind, and risk placing his brother--and a young woman he comes to love--in jeopardy?

On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand. So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters--Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians--as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power. Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings- 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the reader a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.

1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate Bletchley Park, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla is the girl who has everything--beauty, wealth, and the dashing Prince Philip of Greece sending her roses--but she burns to prove herself as more than a society girl, and puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Both Osla and Mab are quick to see the potential in local village spinster Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, and soon Beth spreads her wings as one of the Park's few female cryptanalysts. But war, loss, and the impossible pressure of secrecy will tear the three apart.

Special operative Eric Steele must stop a foreign assassin targeting top-tier U.S. military personnel and derail a strike aimed at the heart of America in this third electrifying military thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of All Out War, perfect for fans of Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, and Tom Clancy.

Through fiction of dazzling skill and astonishing emotional force, Siobhan Fallon welcomes readers into the American army base at Fort Hood, Texas, where U.S. soldiers prepare to fight, and where their families are left to cope after the men are gone.

FBI Special Agent Irene Rivers is horrified to learn that because of mistakes made by agents under her command, a murderer and child molester will walk free. When Irene's own daughters become the monster's next targets, she reaches out in desperation to an elite Special Forces operator. His name is Jonathan Grave. For Grave, results matter more than procedures. Together, they discover a new kind of justice—and a new breed of evil. . .

Vienna, 1914. Lucius is a twenty-two-year-old medical student when World War I explodes across Europe. Enraptured by romantic tales of battlefield surgery, he enlists, expecting a position at a well-organized field hospital. But when he arrives, at a commandeered church tucked away high in a remote valley of the Carpathian Mountains, he finds a freezing outpost ravaged by typhus.

All the things you need to know when you're putting the military in your rear view  In Military Transition For Dummies, you'll talk a walk through how to transition from active military service to civilian life as smoothly and easily as possible. You'll discover how to make the nuts-and-bolts changes to reach your potential in your new lifestyle. From finding a job you love to navigating educational opportunities and keeping yourself mentally strong, this vital book shows you how to:  Find your next career, including how to write an effective resume and conduct a thorough job search  Protect your mental and physical well-being by seeking out and accessing the supports you want and need  Manage your money and make the financial adjustments that are necessary for succeeding in the civilian world  Perfect for active service members who are expecting to transition out of the military in the near future, Military Transition For Dummies is also ideal for anyone who's recently left the service and hopes to make the most of their new life. 

Mission Transition is an essential career-change guide for any transitioning veteran that wants to avoid false starts and make optimal career choices following active duty....This book will: Guide you through the process of discovering what path you want to take going forward Teach you the strategies that will make your résumé stand out Provide suggestions to help you prepare for and ace the interview Discuss ways to acclimate to your new organization's culture and pay it forward to other veterans Each chapter includes advice from other veterans, illustrations of key concepts, summaries, and suggested resources.

After completing military service, veterans can have a difficult time finding employment when returning to civilian life. Out of Uniform, Second Edition is designed to help all transitioning military personnel, regardless of service, branch, rank, rating, time in service, time in grade, or specialty. Although all service members share common denominators, each individual brings something unique to the job market. Not only does this book cover the basics--search techniques, networking, interview preparation, résumés, negotiation, and a new chapter on social media--it also offers guidance on topics that are often overlooked, specifically the central issues of self-knowledge, interviewing empathy, and the power of questions.

Operation Job Search is the ultimate guide for US military veterans seeking employment after discharge. It provides information about the civilian workforce, rubrics for navigating one's career, and a list of essential resources to consult during the job search. Also included are sections dedicated specifically to suggestions and resources available to female veterans.

Each year nearly 250,000 servicemembers and their families leave the military. While a few (10 percent) go into full-time retirement, most expect to work for at least another 10, 20, or 30 years. So, what kind of employment decisions will they make? Where will they live? When and where will they retire? Faced with numerous forks in the road, most transitioning military want to make smart re-careering, relocation, and retirement decisions. They welcome useful advice. Like a good friend, Military-to-Civilian Success for Veterans and Their Families is designed to help anyone achieve transition success in the less structured and more chaotic civilian world.

Military veterans prepare for the next mission in their careers Written by veterans who have successfully made the transition, Down Range offers career planning guidance to U.S. military veterans coming off active duty. This is NOT simply a guide to transitioning from the military to the civilian world. This is NOT a guide to getting a job. This book IS a guide to developing a post-military career, not just for the first few days, weeks, or months after active duty, but for the rest of your employed life.