Aviation good reads
For something non-military, go for a book called 'Propellerhead' by an Enlish guy named Antony Woodward - very funny book. This is one review I found:
Anthony Woodward was never remotely interested in flying. And you don't have to be either to enjoy Woodward's book Propellerhead which tells the story of the author's hilarious and foolhardy attempts to learn to fly a microlight. The main motivation behind Woodward's determination to get his wings is to get the girls. Ever since his mate Richard had returned from Africa having learnt to fly, women seemed to flock to him. Richard had become "a person of deeper substance; tinged with a romantic whiff of intelligence, wealth and daring. Or so the girls plainly seemed to think." Incredulously, and infuriatingly, the bank manager had become a babe magnet. Having gone through long periods of unrelieved celibacy Woodward decides to join a flying syndicate (comprising of Richard and an eccentric Norfolk landowner and his son) and spends the weekends with his head in the clouds and his heart in his mouth. A kind of Those Magnificent Men Behaving Badly in Their Flying Machines, Propellerhead recalls one astonishing aeronautical escapade after the other--such as the time Woodward finds himself slap-bang in the middle of the flight path of a Battle of Britain fly-past. As you read about the hapless pilot's close shaves, near misses and direct hits don't be surprised to find yourself instinctively adopting the crash position........"