- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Michael Joseph; First Edition edition (6 Aug 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0718154746
- ISBN-13: 978-0718154745
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 268,341 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
'Gutsy and authentic. You can practically feel the tracer whipping past. It's a great read.' DAN MILLS, author of SNIPER ONE
--SGT DAN MILLS, author or SNIPER ONE
--SGT DAN MILLS, author or SNIPER ONE
Product Description
2006 in Helmand saw British forces engaged in the most ferocious fighting since the Korean War. For much of the time they were hanging on by their fingertips, holed up in remote platoon houses, outnumbered, facing relentless assault and nearly overwhelmed. Only the Chinooks kept them in the game. But that meant their crews putting down in hot LZs, exposing their aircraft to withering attack from an enemy for whom downing one of the big helos would be the ultimate prize.
They had been lucky. So far. Then they launched their biggest operation yet: a complicated, high-risk airborne assault that launched a fleet of heavily armed helicopters into the Afghan Heart of Darkness. And then a report came over the net that one of the Chinooks was down . . .
In Immediate Response, Major Mark Hammond, a Royal Marine flying with the RAF, tells the gripping inside story of the Chinook squadrons' war for the first time. It's a visceral, unputdownable combination of hi-tech and old-fashioned grit; an action-packed story shot through with a mix of aviation fuel and cordite ...
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Last year, I read Ed Macy's "Apache", the story of an attack helicopter pilot in Afghanistan, which is an exceptional book. I thought that "Immediate Response" would be very similar, albeit being about pilot who flies transport helicopters.
Yes, the subject matter is similar, but it is the difference in writing style that sets the two books apart, and "Immediate Response" suffers in the comparison. The main problem is the excessive use of jargon and abbreviations - I found the narrative difficult to follow as a result, and reading the book turns into hard work as a result. (And that's coming from someone with a technical background, a pilot's license, and who has flown helicopters himself.) There are too many occasions where jargon is used and not explained until several pages later, if at all, and as a result, the overall sense the reader is left with is confusion.
To someone with Forces experience, or similar, this is almost certainly a great read, but if you lack the relevant experience (as most readers will), "Apache" is far more approachable.
Yes, the subject matter is similar, but it is the difference in writing style that sets the two books apart, and "Immediate Response" suffers in the comparison. The main problem is the excessive use of jargon and abbreviations - I found the narrative difficult to follow as a result, and reading the book turns into hard work as a result. (And that's coming from someone with a technical background, a pilot's license, and who has flown helicopters himself.) There are too many occasions where jargon is used and not explained until several pages later, if at all, and as a result, the overall sense the reader is left with is confusion.
To someone with Forces experience, or similar, this is almost certainly a great read, but if you lack the relevant experience (as most readers will), "Apache" is far more approachable.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is an excellent, amazing, humorous, insightful, intelligent, considered, realistic and spot on account of what the boys and girls whop fly the RAF's Chinook Helicopters have achieved over there. It has been a long time telling and Hammond's book is the first account of Chinooks fighting in that war.
From the seat of your pants start to the clever and amusing ending it is a roller coaster read. With terrifying accounts of missions deep into the heart of the Taliban strongholds with RPG and tracer flying around (and sometimes through) the helicopters - like a scene from Star Wars, to the belly laughs of stealing the American HUMMER's or freezing a colleagues pistol in a block of ice, this book keeps you gripped from start to finish. It is genuinely difficult to put this book down (it took me a day and a half to read it from cover to cover). Not only does it put you in the cockpit of 20 tons of heavy machinery, but it makes you feel like you are the one being shot at! These people are real and are doing an incredible job and they have been done justice, I believe. Finally, I noticed on the inside back cover that a percentage of the profits is being donated to Help For Hero's who support our wounded Service Men and Women. A very worthy cause.
I commend you to buy it and make up your own mind, but you won't regret it. A modern classic, with a big thumbs up!
From the seat of your pants start to the clever and amusing ending it is a roller coaster read. With terrifying accounts of missions deep into the heart of the Taliban strongholds with RPG and tracer flying around (and sometimes through) the helicopters - like a scene from Star Wars, to the belly laughs of stealing the American HUMMER's or freezing a colleagues pistol in a block of ice, this book keeps you gripped from start to finish. It is genuinely difficult to put this book down (it took me a day and a half to read it from cover to cover). Not only does it put you in the cockpit of 20 tons of heavy machinery, but it makes you feel like you are the one being shot at! These people are real and are doing an incredible job and they have been done justice, I believe. Finally, I noticed on the inside back cover that a percentage of the profits is being donated to Help For Hero's who support our wounded Service Men and Women. A very worthy cause.
I commend you to buy it and make up your own mind, but you won't regret it. A modern classic, with a big thumbs up!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In the current vein of 'what its like' books coming out of the conflict in Afghanistan 'Immediate Response' stands head and shoulders alongside other previous books. The story has a boys own quality - Marine Major flies RAF Chinook and wins DFC, if it were a Hollywood script you'd probably walk right by but with this book in your hand time passes at speed while you can't wait to turn the page. The action is frantic and adult, but if you want to know what the Chinook crews in Afghanistan are doing in support of the troops on the ground then you just have to read this. If that doesn't convince you to put your hand in your pocket, the fact that 5% of the proceeds of this book go to Help for Heroes should.
The final line of text inside the front cover reads - 'an action packed story shot through with a mix of aviation fuel and cordite....'
Read it you'll be pleased you did.
The final line of text inside the front cover reads - 'an action packed story shot through with a mix of aviation fuel and cordite....'
Read it you'll be pleased you did.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Awful
This book is awful. It is poorly written in "he said she said" phrasing and lists to starboard or is it port. Painful. Not worthy of a minute of your time. Read more
Published 7 months ago by lct1119
great read
Could not put this book down until it was finished, easy to read and has you on the edge of your seat. Read more
Published 11 months ago by diggerrus
Brits in The 'Stan!!
It's easy in the United States to overlook the robust British effort in Afghanistan - but "Immediate Response" goes a long way in setting the record straight. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Andrew Lubin
Simply...perfect.
This is my firt review and, probably after a couple of hundred books ordered in amazon in the last 5 years I agree that probaly this book is one of the best books written about... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ekaitz
Fan bloody tastic
About time someone wrote what was really going on out there. Descriptive, no fancy glossy media overviews, political nonsense. By the way funny to, great military humour. Read more
Published on 29 Oct 2009 by Mr. Philip Hillson
An excellent read
This is a great book to read even if you are female. There is also an excellent glossary at the back for those less used to Armed Forces acronyms and it gives an excellent account... Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by J. Finch
Raw and unadulterated
If you like your war stories immediate, visceral and pulling no punches this is the book for you. Major Mark Hammond is a veteran of longstanding, and in this tale we hear of his... Read more
Published on 8 Oct 2009 by Mrs. K. A. Wheatley
A great book from one of the unsung heroes of the Afghan Conflict
I read this book in a very short space of time, and could not put it down. I was attracted to reading it in the first place as I wanted to gain a greater understanding of the... Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2009 by M. Vallance
Breathtaking story of combat flying in Afghanistan
This is a brilliant book about flying Chinook helicopters on combat operations in Afghanistan. More specifically it deals in great detail about the Immediate Response teams tasked... Read more
Published on 5 Oct 2009 by Mark Time
immediate response
Just finnished reading this great book. It does show the great courage of a chinook pilot and his crew.in unbelievable situations. Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2009 by G. Holton
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