-
Fobbit
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $17.62
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
Fobbit 'fä-bit, noun. Definition: A U.S. soldier stationed at a Forward Operating Base who avoids combat by remaining at the base, esp. during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2003-2011). Pejorative.
In the satirical tradition of Catch-22 and M*A*S*H, Fobbit takes us into the chaotic world of Baghdad's Forward Operating Base Triumph. The Forward Operating base, or FOB, is like the back-office of the battlefield - where people eat and sleep, and where a lot of soldiers have what looks suspiciously like an office job. Male and female soldiers are trying to find an empty Porta Potty in which to get acquainted, grunts are playing Xbox, and watching NASCAR between missions, and a lot of the senior staff are more concerned about getting to the chow hall in time for the Friday night all-you-can-eat seafood special than worrying about little things like military strategy.
Darkly humorous and based on the author's own experiences in Iraq, Fobbit is a fantastic debut that shows us a behind-the-scenes portrait of the real Iraq war.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Good Soldiers
- By: David Finkel
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it "the surge". "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic Army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers.
-
-
Honest opinion folks
- By james on 11-06-11
By: David Finkel
-
Youngblood
- A Novel
- By: Matt Gallagher
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The US military is preparing to withdraw from Iraq, and newly minted lieutenant Jack Porter struggles to accept how it's happening - through alliances with warlords who have Arab and American blood on their hands. Day after day Jack tries to assert his leadership in the sweltering, dreary atmosphere of Ashuriyah. But his world is disrupted by the arrival of veteran sergeant Daniel Chambers, whose aggressive style threatens to undermine the fragile peace that the troops have worked hard to establish.
-
-
Great book about an unclear war
- By Benjamin D Douglass on 03-16-16
By: Matt Gallagher
-
We Were Soldiers Once... and Young
- Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
- By: Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In November 1965, some 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating.
-
-
The truth
- By Bobbyg on 10-08-19
By: Harold G. Moore, and others
-
Generation Kill
- By: Evan Wright
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were called a generation without heroes. Then they were called upon to be heroes. Within hours of 9/11, America's war on terrorism fell to those like the 23 Marines of the First Recon Battalion, the first generation dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam.
-
-
Politically Neutral??.....Not.
- By Brett on 11-26-12
By: Evan Wright
-
Nature Noir
- A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
- By: Jordan Fisher Smith
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A nature audiobook unlike any other, Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beat - a stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be flooded - brings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands.
-
-
Great read for future park rangers
- By Aly on 09-30-16
-
Bullwhip Days
- The Slaves Remember: An Oral History
- By: James Mellon
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Brad Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration commissioned an oral history of the remaining former slaves. Bullwhip Days is a remarkable compendium of selections from these extraordinary interviews, providing an unflinching portrait of the world of government-sanctioned slavery of Africans in America. Here are 29 full narrations, as well as nine sections of excerpts related to particular aspects of slave life, from religion to plantation life to the Reconstruction era.
-
-
Excellent
- By Norficia Overton on 10-23-17
By: James Mellon
-
The Good Soldiers
- By: David Finkel
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it "the surge". "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic Army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers.
-
-
Honest opinion folks
- By james on 11-06-11
By: David Finkel
-
Youngblood
- A Novel
- By: Matt Gallagher
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The US military is preparing to withdraw from Iraq, and newly minted lieutenant Jack Porter struggles to accept how it's happening - through alliances with warlords who have Arab and American blood on their hands. Day after day Jack tries to assert his leadership in the sweltering, dreary atmosphere of Ashuriyah. But his world is disrupted by the arrival of veteran sergeant Daniel Chambers, whose aggressive style threatens to undermine the fragile peace that the troops have worked hard to establish.
-
-
Great book about an unclear war
- By Benjamin D Douglass on 03-16-16
By: Matt Gallagher
-
We Were Soldiers Once... and Young
- Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
- By: Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In November 1965, some 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating.
-
-
The truth
- By Bobbyg on 10-08-19
By: Harold G. Moore, and others
-
Generation Kill
- By: Evan Wright
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They were called a generation without heroes. Then they were called upon to be heroes. Within hours of 9/11, America's war on terrorism fell to those like the 23 Marines of the First Recon Battalion, the first generation dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam.
-
-
Politically Neutral??.....Not.
- By Brett on 11-26-12
By: Evan Wright
-
Nature Noir
- A Park Ranger's Patrol in the Sierra
- By: Jordan Fisher Smith
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A nature audiobook unlike any other, Jordan Fisher Smith's startling account of fourteen years as a park ranger thoroughly dispels our idealized visions of life in the great outdoors. Instead of scout troops and placid birdwatchers, Smith's beat - a stretch of land that has been officially condemned to be flooded - brings him into contact with drug users tweaked out to the point of violence, obsessed miners, and other dangerous creatures. In unflinchingly honest prose, he reveals the unexpectedly dark underbelly of patrolling and protecting public lands.
-
-
Great read for future park rangers
- By Aly on 09-30-16
-
Bullwhip Days
- The Slaves Remember: An Oral History
- By: James Mellon
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Brad Sanders
- Length: 15 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration commissioned an oral history of the remaining former slaves. Bullwhip Days is a remarkable compendium of selections from these extraordinary interviews, providing an unflinching portrait of the world of government-sanctioned slavery of Africans in America. Here are 29 full narrations, as well as nine sections of excerpts related to particular aspects of slave life, from religion to plantation life to the Reconstruction era.
-
-
Excellent
- By Norficia Overton on 10-23-17
By: James Mellon
-
Hue 1968
- A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke.
-
-
I KNEW This Book Would Sting Me . . . .
- By Rum Runner on 07-28-17
By: Mark Bowden
-
The Fifth Act
- America's End in Afghanistan
- By: Elliot Ackerman
- Narrated by: Elliot Ackerman
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and later as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities for years now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families.
-
-
A painful but necessary read
- By Tom Hanks on 08-22-22
By: Elliot Ackerman
-
The Man Who Laughs
- Oasis Classics
- By: Victor Hugo
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 22 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Man Who Laughs (“L’Homme qui Rit”) was called by its author “A Romance of English History,” and was written during the period Hugo spent in exile in Guernsey. Like The Toilers of the Sea, its immediate predecessor, the main theme of the story is human heroism, confronted with the superhuman tyranny of blind chance. As a passionate cry on behalf of the tortured and deformed, and the despised and oppressed of the world, The Man Who Laughs is irresistible.
-
-
Great performance, dreadful book
- By Salwesab on 06-16-23
By: Victor Hugo
-
Places and Names
- On War, Revolution, and Returning
- By: Elliot Ackerman
- Narrated by: Elliot Ackerman, Mark Deakins
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Toward the beginning of Places and Names, Elliot Ackerman sits in a refugee camp in Turkey, across the table from a man named Abu Hassar, who fought for al-Qaeda in Iraq, and whose connections to the Islamic State are murky. At first, Ackerman pretends to be a journalist, but after establishing a rapport with Abu Hassar, he takes a risk by revealing to him that in fact he was a Marine special operation officer. Ackerman then draws the shape of the Euphrates River on a large piece of paper, and his one-time adversary quickly joins him in the game of filling in the map.
-
-
A crazy ride through the Mideast.
- By Kent Prochazka on 12-05-19
By: Elliot Ackerman
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
Patient Zero
- The Joe Ledger Novels, Book 1
- By: Jonathan Maberry
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week there’s either something wrong with your world or something wrong with your skills - and there’s nothing wrong with Joe Ledger’s skills. And that’s both a good and a bad thing. It’s good because he’s a Baltimore detective who has just been secretly recruited by the government to lead a new task force created to deal with the problems that Homeland Security can’t handle....
-
-
Yes! It IS that good. Five stars and more.
- By Kim Venatries on 10-05-12
By: Jonathan Maberry
-
The Famished Road
- By: Ben Okri
- Narrated by: Hugh Quarshie
- Length: 19 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use. He is born into a world of poverty, ignorance and injustice, but Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Despite belonging to a spirit world made of enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the Living: to feel it, endure it, know it and love it. This is his story.
-
-
Too many supernatural elements for my taste
- By Merlin on 10-08-22
By: Ben Okri
-
Last Professional
- By: Ed Davis
- Narrated by: Ed Davis
- Length: 6 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is a story of America! An older man, near the end of his days, sees his way of life and the code he follows in danger of disappearing. A younger man, on the brink of a new beginning, cannot embrace it without confronting the traumas of his past. And a maniac is intent on destroying them both. Bonds are formed, secrets exposed, sacrifices made, trusts betrayed - all against a breathtaking American landscape of promise and peril. Three unforgettable characters, hurtling toward a spellbinding climax where pasts and futures collide and lives hang in the balance.
-
-
Fascinating insight into a lost world of those who rode the rails
- By Todd Sagin on 05-29-23
By: Ed Davis
-
War Flower
- My Life After Iraq
- By: Brooke King
- Narrated by: Christine Lakin
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brooke King has been asked over and over what it's like to be a woman in combat, but she knows her answer is not what the public wants to hear. The answers people seek lie in the graphic details of war - the sex, death, violence, and reality of it all as she experienced it. In her riveting memoir War Flower, King breaks her silence and reveals the truth about her experience as a soldier in Iraq.
-
-
Wow!
- By Dennis Strubhart on 02-28-20
By: Brooke King
-
Catch-22
- By: Joseph Heller
- Narrated by: Jay O. Sanders
- Length: 19 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy - it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he's assigned, he'll be in violation of Catch-22.
-
-
Stop randomly adding music
- By Kenneth S. Clark on 08-31-18
By: Joseph Heller
-
No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor
- A Memoir of a Mortuary Affairs Marine
- By: GySgt L. Christian Bussler - Ret.
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An autobiographical account of one US Marine Reservists tours as a Mortuary Affairs Marine. His story begins in 2002 as an everyday postal letter carrier in Springfield, Ohio when he gets the call to muster. In the next three years, his life is thrust onto the world stage as an active participant in combat. His unique experiences as an MA (Mortuary Affairs) Marine puts him and his teammates directly into the path of war. Told in first person view, hear what it was like to witness a regime crumble, walk the streets of terrorist-held cities, go on Search and Recovery missions, and more.
-
-
Emotional Roller Coaster That Is Deployment
- By brandon becker on 08-03-18
-
Flowertown
- By: S. G. Redling
- Narrated by: Tanya Eby
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seven years ago, a chemical spill brought the U.S. Army to rural Penn County, Iowa, where soldiers established a long-term, medically maintained quarantine. Officially, it’s called the PennCo Containment Area. But to the people trapped inside, their bodies tainted with chemicals that give off a sweet smell, it’s known simply as Flowertown. The quarantine was supposed to save their lives, but many of the survivors have grown suspicious of the government’s real motives. But not Ellie Cauley - her rage long ago burned down to hard, cynical pessimism. When a series of deadly events forces Ellie out of her apathy, she must prepare to face an enemy powerful enough to unleash her greatest nightmare.
-
-
My favorite new smart-aleck heroine
- By GremlinGrrl on 06-13-12
By: S. G. Redling
Critic reviews
Related to this topic
-
The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell
- An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq
- By: John Crawford
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Crawford joined the Florida National Guard to pay for his college tuition; it had seemed a small sacrifice to give up one weekend a month and two weeks a year in exchange for a free education. But one semester short of graduating, and newly married, he was called to active duty, to serve in Kuwait, then on the front lines of the invasion of Iraq, and ultimately in Baghdad. While serving in Iraq, Crawford began writing short nonfiction stories, his account of what he and his fellow soldiers experienced.
-
-
An honest, real account of the Iraq War
- By Michael J. Mountain on 09-07-05
By: John Crawford
-
Without Warning
- By: John Birmingham
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the U.S. invasion of Baghdad, as the world waits for war, a miles-high energy wave cordons a vast area from southern Canada to northern Mexico. In a moment, 99 percent of the U.S. population has been wiped from the face of the earth.
-
-
Language in book is a bit over the top.
- By John R. Dritenbas on 07-07-10
By: John Birmingham
-
Paradise General
- Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq
- By: David Hnida M.D.
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A family doctor with limited surgical experience, Dr. Dave Hnida volunteered for two tours of duty in Iraq - first as a battalion surgeon with a combat unit and then as trauma chief at the busiest Combat Support Hospital (CSH) during the Surge. Like a modern-day M*A*S*H, Dr. Hnida and his team conducted surgery under terrible conditions in a series of tents connected to the occasional run-down building.
-
-
Fans of M*A*S*H will enjoy this book!
- By Elle Kay on 06-18-16
By: David Hnida M.D.
-
Eat the Apple
- A Memoir
- By: Matt Young
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gut-wrenching, beautiful memoir which explores toxic masculinity and the devastating consequences of war on one impressionable young soldier Matt Young joined the Marine Corps aged 18, after a drunken night that culminated in him crashing his car into a fire hydrant. The teenage wasteland he fled followed him to the training bases of California. Young survived training and then three deployments to Iraq as an infantryman.
-
-
Annoying and smug
- By Charlie on 01-03-19
By: Matt Young
-
Pashtun
- A Military Thriller
- By: Ron Lealos
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Company has a special secret operation planned for one of their top agents: the leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist groups are hiding out in Pashtun country, and they must be eliminated. The job falls to a man they have named Frank Morganan agent who stood out as a recruit at Quantico and whose skills resemble those of the legendary Vietnam assassin. The other soldiers claim Frank’s abilities as a sniper and a tracker border on the supernatural and are more than willing to complete this mission with him.
-
-
Anti-American Leftist Propaganda.
- By Donald N on 10-09-14
By: Ron Lealos
-
Fields of Fire
- By: James Webb
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They each had their reasons for being a soldier. They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo - Death Before Dishonor - before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....
-
-
Awesome Read! of course I am Prejudiced
- By Autoteacher on 07-30-15
By: James Webb
-
The Last True Story I'll Ever Tell
- An Accidental Soldier's Account of the War in Iraq
- By: John Crawford
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Crawford joined the Florida National Guard to pay for his college tuition; it had seemed a small sacrifice to give up one weekend a month and two weeks a year in exchange for a free education. But one semester short of graduating, and newly married, he was called to active duty, to serve in Kuwait, then on the front lines of the invasion of Iraq, and ultimately in Baghdad. While serving in Iraq, Crawford began writing short nonfiction stories, his account of what he and his fellow soldiers experienced.
-
-
An honest, real account of the Iraq War
- By Michael J. Mountain on 09-07-05
By: John Crawford
-
Without Warning
- By: John Birmingham
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On the eve of the U.S. invasion of Baghdad, as the world waits for war, a miles-high energy wave cordons a vast area from southern Canada to northern Mexico. In a moment, 99 percent of the U.S. population has been wiped from the face of the earth.
-
-
Language in book is a bit over the top.
- By John R. Dritenbas on 07-07-10
By: John Birmingham
-
Paradise General
- Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq
- By: David Hnida M.D.
- Narrated by: George K. Wilson
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A family doctor with limited surgical experience, Dr. Dave Hnida volunteered for two tours of duty in Iraq - first as a battalion surgeon with a combat unit and then as trauma chief at the busiest Combat Support Hospital (CSH) during the Surge. Like a modern-day M*A*S*H, Dr. Hnida and his team conducted surgery under terrible conditions in a series of tents connected to the occasional run-down building.
-
-
Fans of M*A*S*H will enjoy this book!
- By Elle Kay on 06-18-16
By: David Hnida M.D.
-
Eat the Apple
- A Memoir
- By: Matt Young
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gut-wrenching, beautiful memoir which explores toxic masculinity and the devastating consequences of war on one impressionable young soldier Matt Young joined the Marine Corps aged 18, after a drunken night that culminated in him crashing his car into a fire hydrant. The teenage wasteland he fled followed him to the training bases of California. Young survived training and then three deployments to Iraq as an infantryman.
-
-
Annoying and smug
- By Charlie on 01-03-19
By: Matt Young
-
Pashtun
- A Military Thriller
- By: Ron Lealos
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Company has a special secret operation planned for one of their top agents: the leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorist groups are hiding out in Pashtun country, and they must be eliminated. The job falls to a man they have named Frank Morganan agent who stood out as a recruit at Quantico and whose skills resemble those of the legendary Vietnam assassin. The other soldiers claim Frank’s abilities as a sniper and a tracker border on the supernatural and are more than willing to complete this mission with him.
-
-
Anti-American Leftist Propaganda.
- By Donald N on 10-09-14
By: Ron Lealos
-
Fields of Fire
- By: James Webb
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They each had their reasons for being a soldier. They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo - Death Before Dishonor - before he got the uniform. And Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. They were three young men from different worlds plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on each other, and were each reborn in fields of fire....
-
-
Awesome Read! of course I am Prejudiced
- By Autoteacher on 07-30-15
By: James Webb
-
The Death Trust
- Vin Cooper, Book 1
- By: David Rollins
- Narrated by: Mel Foster
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Amid the dust, death, and chaos of Iraq, an American soldier on a routine patrol is killed by an unseen enemy. It's a tragedy but not a crime - until it's linked to the bizarre death of a decorated four-star general who happens to be the dead man's father...and the son-in-law of history's most feared and powerful U.S. vice president.
-
-
An action book with out much action...
- By Susan on 07-13-10
By: David Rollins
-
The Hundredth Man
- Carson Ryder/Harry Nautilus #1
- By: Jack Kerley
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When bizarre and cryptic messages are found on a pair of corpses in Mobile, Alabama, junior police detective Carson Ryder and veteran cop Harry Nautilus find themselves in a mysterious public-relations quagmire pitting public safety against office politics. With the body count growing, Ryder must confront his family's terrifying past by seeking advice from his brother, a violent psychopath convicted of similarly heinous crimes.
-
-
Definitely a case for Matthew McConnaghey
- By Cheryl on 08-19-14
By: Jack Kerley
-
I, Who Did Not Die
- A Sweeping Story of Loss, Redemption, and Fate
- By: Zahed Haftlang, Najah Aboud
- Narrated by: Mikael Naramore
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Khorramshahr, Iran, May 1982 - It was the bloodiest battle of one of the most brutal wars of the twentieth century, and Najah, a 29-year-old wounded Iraqi conscript, was face to face with a 13-year-old Iranian child soldier who was ordered to kill him. Instead, the boy committed an astonishing act of mercy. It was an act that decades later would save his own life.
-
-
- By jennie on 04-10-24
By: Zahed Haftlang, and others
-
Going After Cacciato
- By: Tim O'Brien
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the 1979 National Book Award, Going After Cacciato, a classic novel of Vietnam, captures the peculiar mixture of horror and hallucination that marked that strangest of wars. In a blend of reality and fantasy, this novel tells the story of a young soldier who one day lays down his rifle and sets off on a quixotic journey from the jungles of Indochina to the streets of Paris.
-
-
Shadow Sculpture Built out of War's Debris
- By Darwin8u on 05-16-14
By: Tim O'Brien
-
Where Cowards Go to Die
- By: Benjamin Sledge
- Narrated by: Bradford Hastings
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While serving a portion of his time under the Special Operations Command, Benjamin Sledge fought to keep his humanity amid the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. But war never leaves its participants unscathed. In Where Cowards Go to Die, Sledge reveals an unflinchingly honest portrait of war that few dare to tell.
-
-
Couldn't stop listening
- By Matthew Orlandi on 07-29-22
By: Benjamin Sledge
-
Superheroes
- By: Peter S. Beagle, Daryl Gregory, James Patrick Kelly, and others
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman, Joe Barrett, Christina Delaine, and others
- Length: 17 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Modern gods and goddesses, remote, revered - and like the pantheon of heroes and heroines of ancient myth - possessing great power tempered with flaws. Now, find within this anthology great tales by gifted and award-winning authors who move superheroes from the four-color panels of comic books to the fantastic pages of fiction, stories that will remind anyone who ever wanted to wear a cape or don a cowl of the extraordinary powers of the imagination!
-
-
Pretentious tired old concepts
- By BookofJoy on 12-29-14
By: Peter S. Beagle, and others
-
The Runner
- By: Christopher Reich
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 16 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
American lawyer and former police detective Judge Devlin is in Europe sifting through evidence of Nazi atrocities. He is part of the International Military Tribunal, but his agenda is personal. He hopes to convict SS member and former Olympic sprinter Eric Seyss, the man responsible for his military chaplain brother’s death. When Judge learns Eric has just escaped from an American POW camp, the American sets off in a desperate race for vengeance.
-
-
this story just went on and on and on
- By Stevie on 09-07-12
-
The Last Policeman
- The Last Policeman, Book 1
- By: Ben H. Winters
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s the point in solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace has faced this question ever since asteroid 2011GV1 hovered into view. There’s no chance left. No hope. Just six precious months until impact. The economy spirals downward while crops rot in the fields. Churches and synagogues are packed. People all over the world are walking off the job—but not Hank Palace. He’s investigating a death by hanging in a city that sees a dozen suicides every week—except this one feels suspicious, and Palace is the only cop who cares.
-
-
Not your regular mystery
- By Victor @ theAudiobookBlog dot com on 09-20-16
By: Ben H. Winters
-
Way of the Wolf
- The Vampire Earth, Book 1
- By: E. E. Knight
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel, E. E. Knight (Introduction)
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Louisiana, 2065. A lot has changed in the 43rd year of the Kurian Order. Possessed of an unnatural and legendary hunger, the bloodthirsty Reapers have come to Earth to establish a New Order built on the harvesting of enslaved human souls. They rule the planet. They thrive on the scent of fear. And if it is night, as sure as darkness, they will come.
On this pitiless world, the indomitable spirit of mankind still breathes in Lieutenant David Valentine.
-
-
Its what you expect, and thats not a bad thing.
- By Kevin McLaughlin on 11-26-08
By: E. E. Knight
-
You Know When the Men Are Gone
- By: Siobhan Fallon
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Fort Hood housing, like all army housing, you get used to hearing through the walls. You learn too much. And you learn to move quietly through your own small domain. You also know when the men are gone. As Siobhan Fallon shows in this collection of loosely interconnected short stories, each woman deals with her husband's absence differently.
-
-
You know when you've got a great read!
- By Pamela Harvey on 01-22-11
By: Siobhan Fallon
-
Bill, the Galactic Hero
- The Planet of the Robot Slaves
- By: Harry Harrison
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A sequel to the author's Bill, the Galactic Hero, published over 20 years ago, this book is the first of a new series of novels featuring Bill. With two right arms, an artificial foot, and a set of surgically implanted tusks, Bill sets out to find the source of Chinger-controlled metal dragons.
-
-
Not the stainless steel rat
- By Virtual DD on 07-22-15
By: Harry Harrison
-
A Case of Exploding Mangoes
- By: Mohammed Hanif
- Narrated by: Paul Bhattacharjee
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There is a saying that when lovers fall out, a plane goes down. A Case of Exploding Mangoes is the story of one such plane. Why did a Hercules C130, the world's sturdiest aircraft, carrying Pakistan's military dictator General Zia ul Haq, go down on 17 August, 1988?
Was it because of: mechanical failure; human error; the CIA's impatience; a blind woman's curse; generals not happy with their pension plans; the mango season? Or could it be your narrator, Ali Shigri?
-
-
Time Capsule
- By Rishi C on 11-13-17
By: Mohammed Hanif
What listeners say about Fobbit
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bruce
- 10-09-12
Not the new Catch-22
Would you try another book from David Abrams and/or David Drummond?
Yes, I felt the author did a good job in describing life in Iraq with the US military.
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
Disappointed, seemed a little to deus ex machina.
What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Narrator was good, no recommendations.
Could you see Fobbit being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
Yes, no recommendations on stars.
Any additional comments?
This book was billed as the Iraq war's catch-22. Admittedly, Its been a long time since I read Catch-22 but I do remember it as being way more humorous than this book. Admission, I spent a year in Iraq with my National Guard unit. Maybe due to this experience, some of the things that may seem absurd and therefore very funny to some people didn't seem as funny to me because it was my reality for a year of my life. I did find the author's description of life in the combat zone spot on, and yes we did have the whole Fobbit culture at the base I was at. However, since I was flying all over Iraq in a Blackhawk Helicopter, I was able to see most of the bases, especially the Baghdad bases and found his descriptions very accurate, even though he obviously changed the names of the Bases. Just by his description, I knew the "Triumph" from having been there. I did enjoy the book, but like I say the characters were maybe too real to people I met over there to seem outrageous to me. Overall, if you were not deployed on Operation Iraqi Freedom, I would recommend this book just to get a feel of what it was like for the soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen who served in Iraq.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Randy
- 12-24-12
The Ensign Roberts of the Iraq War
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
The book was entertaining and had some excellent parts. The pace was a little slow and the ending seemed forced.
How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?
I am not a writer.
Would you listen to another book narrated by David Drummond?
Yes. He is an interesting narrator.
Was Fobbit worth the listening time?
Yes but in some ways it was a single point of view book.
Any additional comments?
It was fund but in some ways it was an insiders book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jena C. Melancon
- 05-24-22
Odd story
Reader was fantastic, great voices etc. Story was odd. Tried too hard to be both Catch-22 and profane. I’d pass, all in all
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amal
- 02-25-13
Mordern Catch-22
This is the Iraq war version of Catch-22, with laughs and connections to current life. I laughed at the idea that even half of this book might be true. While I thought Catch-22 went on and on about the craziness of WWII this book get to the craziness in a funnier way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Doug
- 09-15-12
A Salute to the Spineless
What a great friggin’ read! First off, I would like to point out that this book is NOT a critique on all U.S. soldiers. I have read several other books on U.S. soldiers serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan and read the gut-wrenching tales of serious sacrifice and real bravery. Not here though. Instead, the author shifts the focus away from the front lines of a lethal insurgency…all the way back…to the cushy Forward Operating Base (FOB). Here, the author exposes us to the nauseous culture that evolves from the unheroic personalities that nest at these FOB’s. The details and scope of the book smack of first-hand experience with fobbits. They are creatures of comfort who daydream often, who privately bask in guilty pleasures, romanticize their roles, and avoid risk with an almost pathological efficiency...only to put everyone else at risk.
I must say, though, for each eyebrow-raising LOL, there was also a simultaneous cringe of disgust. These goofy characters may be amusing in their incompetence, but their actions also evoke the terrible specter of cowardice. It’s real. There is something tragic about human beings who become so skilled at meaningless action, at savoring worthlessness. To them, risk is something like a flu bug they dutifully outsmart at every turn. What David Abrams has truly sketched out for us in his book is the VERY REAL culture of cowardice. It’s only funny when you realize what you are looking at. However, inside the bubble the participants can no longer distinguish common sense from cowardice; there is only the cozy charm of feeling safe and comfortable. After all, hard work is for suckers and only fools take risks.
Great book! Brilliant, sarcastic, and right on the money!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mel
- 10-05-12
Puts the FU-nny in FUBAR
Wildly funny with a sarcastic wit so sharp, you could shave a gorilla. Abrams writes from his own 20 years with the Army as a journalist. The inhabitants of Fobbit are a handful of whacked characters with different backgrounds and personalities -- all described as spineless (or more accurately...Abrams describes the northern migration of their testicles), all only doing their best for God and country to stay out of the war. It will take someone who has been there and done that to actually judge this book; from someone just observing...this read like Laurel and Hardy meet al Qaeda, or a book that has decided to just lay it out there and define FUBAR. The really unfunny thing is...this is based on reality.
Abrams' writing is clever and unforgiving; he has a talent for describing characters we can relate to because we've all flubbed something up beyond repair, and we've all been less than noble at one time or another. He often attacks even the most *sacred* with his sharp cynical wit...the officer locked in his quarters with his hoarde of *care boxes*, sifting through the letters from grade school children (one where a child says he hates his teacher but that's okay because even his dad says shes a bitter old washed up woman), reading (awful, flowery) poetry from a woman in a bad marriage, stockpiling an overabundance of Wet Wipes and socks.
The plot is a bit weak, overshadowed by such strong characters and their in-the-moment snafus. It reminded me of listening to a M*A*S*H*-a-thon, except you liked (and could admire) Hawkeye and Trapper. The Fobbit's aren't so likeable, and unless you can admire the guy that sneaked a duke in the Colonel's helmet...
Lots of reviews said this was comparable to Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five, and that comparison pointed out the weakness of this book to me. Those books clearly expressed how horrible the wars were, the toll on the people involved. Fobbit keeps you too entertained with the antics, you don't really stop to think about the real impact of war. But that doesn't mean this won't have an impact! I think what Abrams has to say is more controversial than the Navy Seal's book that dropped last month -- it certainly says more about who's incharge. Glad journalists don't sign disclosure statements--this was great fun.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Reading Reney
- 04-28-13
Funny in a twisted-way!
What did you love best about Fobbit?
I liked that Fobbit was a "real" story - hey, not everyone is cut out to be a hero! Doesn't that make the heroes among us even more special, anyway? I did find myself fully engrossed in this book. The tale had more emotion than I expected despite it's humorous approach. Also, I must say - even the "Fobbits" of this world do a difficult job during times of war. I ended up feeling their pain (if not actual physical pain, well - at least, mental anguish and boredom, punctuated by moments of sheer terror!) It's a good story with an easy-going approach and I think there are some moments of real surprise!
What does David Drummond bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
This story is so character-driven - I can't imagine NOT listening to it!
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Absolutely - held my interest all the way through.
Any additional comments?
Get it - excellent for those who like off-beat characters, satire or military tales.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Christopher Brown
- 12-22-12
whiner ........ very hard to listen to.
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
this is for someone who likes to listen to a whiner.... kind of like what i am doing here. I did not care for the writing. I am not a writer so am not sure how it could be improved. Holy smokes did it get old. no real central character, kind of goes all over the place. I would start to listen then stop. in order to start to listen again i would forget how bad it was...... good luck. this is not a "MASH"
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!