Product Description

'I couldn't see the tank. I couldn't see it... Someone was screaming over the radio. "Scream all you want, I still can't see it," I said to my pilot. The next explosion was so close it lifted my chest armour off my body in the shock wave. The noise brought me back to my awful reality. I looked out of the sight to see the shattered cockpit glass. The next one would be it and we knew it.'
     Lieutenant Commander James Newton survived and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery. In a career that has seen him on operations over Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland and most recently Iraq, Newton is no stranger to being shot at. He has flown all the aircraft the Navy has and even ones it doesn't. Thrilling, fast-paced and an adrenaline-fuelled adventure, Armed Action is a fascinating insight into life in the air.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #156052 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review

'An unprecedented account'

'Read Armed Action and get a taste of what battle's all about'

'[A] highly readable account'

About the Author
Lieutenant Commander James Newton has flown in the Royal Navy since 1991. He flies all types of aircraft, including the Sea King helicopter, which he flew for the Maritime Counter Terrorist missions. He has flown Prime Ministers and all the current military commanders. He flew the Lynx in the disaster relief following Hurricane Mitch and was involved in the handover in Hong Kong. He is still a serving Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy.

Customer Reviews

ARMED ACTION FROM A WOMAN'S VIEW POINT
I bought and read this book,because James Newton married my husband's niece, Donna (see acknowledgements).

I had absolutely no idea of how much I would feel and learn from his book.

I basically know very little about war. I've read the odd book such as Black Hawk Down, but otherwise am fairly clueless (unless you count John Wayne films).

This is an amazing story because you feel right from the beginning that no Ghost Writer was involved. This is a personal story, written with great feeling, truth, horror and humour.

I couldn't put it down either.. It was like having a window into the truth. What it really feels like to be confined in close quarters with so many people and so little room. The boredom and yet the terror of what is to come, for yourself and the men under you. He writes of his compassion for the basic Iraqi soldiers he must kill. Hovering above the battle while trying to take aim and shoot before being shot. The numb stuper of fighting, then going out and fighting again.

He makes you feel as if you were in the helicopter with him. His feelings for the men he fought and lived with. The realization that all the years training and preparing were going to be put to the test.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is searching for some truth, in these days of cover up, or just because you want something really worth reading.

I sincerely hope I am able to meet him one day. It would be a great honour.

Tina

A great account
The book covers the training, fighting and feelings of a modern day helicopter unit.

The first half of the book leads up to the unit being deployed, and gives a good insight into how well trained these boys are (they undergo the same E&E course as the SAS).

Following on from there, the unit is deployed to Iraq and becomes embroiled in numerous contacts. This isnt all bravado and the author speaks of their fears and how the things they witnessed haunt them.

My only slight criticism is that the author has a tendency to use long sentences with a lot commas. This can sometimes be a little difficult to read.

How ever on the whole this is worth every one of the four stars!

A great account of modern warfare
I bought this book for 4 reasons - 1) I am a voracious reader 2) I enjoy reading books by real people who have interesting experiences 3) I have a passing aquaintance with the author 4) I too was in the FAA and flew the Lynx (albeit the Naval variant).

The book starts well and the pace continues throughout. As is usual with this type of book, it opens with some action, then back tracks to a little bit of history... in this instance it only back tracked 10 years to the Combat Survival training Lt Cdr Newton endured (as all Naval aircrew do). These types of books quite often go all the way back to describe a wayward, broken childhood (at least, special forces ones tend to!) so it was good to not have to endure another 'standard issue' service book.

The action is well desrcibed with the author immersing the reader into the story with a good use of technical and non technical descriptions. It would have been so easy for Lt Cdr Newton to use terms beyond the knowledge or understanding of the layman, something which is avoided in this book.

Overall, the book reads very well and is a real page turner. The only criticism I have of it is his description of the Combat survival (E&E and R2I), which unfortunately does not paint a 100% true picture of what happens on the course and is, in fact, subject to some embellishment. It's a shame as the Survival course is an ordeal (albeit enjoyable and very rewarding) and needs no padding out, it is true what the author says about it being the toughest Survival course that regular forces undergo, not quite up to the beasting that special forces get, but very similar.

To that end some of the infactual writing on subjects I know about and have experienced left niggling doubts in my mind as to the rest of the writing relating to experiences I have not had (I never flew in combat, and flew a different varient of Lynx therefore I could not comment on the voracity of the authors writing in these circumstances).

The experiences that Lt Cdr Newton had and his role in the conflict are truly inspiring - the award of the DFC to Naval aircrew is rare - therefore it's a real shame, in my eyes, that the author chose to embellish parts of his story - the Survival training needs no embellishment, yet he chose to do so, thus somewhat spoiling the rest of the book for me.

Having said all of the above, I would not hesitate to recommend the book, it is a great story of bravery and is an insight, albeit a small one, into modern aerial warfare. If you have no experience of military training, the book will prove to be a great read. If you have a military background, the book is still worth buying - the minor discrepancies do not spoil the overall reading experience.