It was 1950, the converted LSI was plowing the waters of the Pacific, heading towards Korea, when Robert Baker, an enlisted man aboard the ship, was summoned by a Chief Petty Officer to deliver messages to the Signal Officer in the ships ward room. And, it was a moment of truth for Baker. When ushered into the ships ward room Robert became painfully aware that he had somehow been assigned to the wrong part of the ship. The officers, that he was only hazily aware of during his day to day duties, were actually sitting at tables covered with linen table clothes, drinking their coffee from china cups while being served by a Philippine stewards mate. Baker, on the other hand, was eating off of a tin tray, one deck below and under very different circumstances. Different enough, that he decided to change his circumstances, for the better. That afternoon, Baker submitted his application for flight training with the U.S. Navy. He had always wanted to fly anyway. Baker had actually logged four or five hours a couple of years earlier during his assignment at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville Florida. He had only quit then because he could no longer afford it. After a lot of pain, blood and about ten days in the hospital wearing a kotex under his nose, he was finished with all the formalities. Now, it was just a question of waiting for the orders to arrive. The U.S. Navy, like any other military organization moves slowly. In this case, they didnt move fast enough. After months of waiting, with no answer to the application, frustration set in, along with the end of his enlistment in the Navy. Not easily deterred, Baker felt it was the Navys loss and some other services gain.

Standing above the Crowd will help you rise up above life's dramas, traumas, pettiness, negativity, and dozens more situational issues that tend to keep us down and hold us back from achieving our dreams and fulfilling our potential. Standing above the Crowd is jam-packed full of success strategies that I've used throughout my life in the areas of athletics, business and community. All are very straightforward and easy for anyone to implement. There's helpful advice from the team of wonderful people I've surrounded myself with throughout the years. I've always believed in a team concept approach, because we truly can't do it alone. The success I've had in sports, business, and community involvement has all been because of people and principles I've learned from during my journey.

Sensational eyewitness accounts from the most heroic and legendary American aviators of World War II, never before published as a book They are voices lost to time. Beginning in the late 1970s, five veteran airmen sat for private interviews. Decades after the guns fell silent, they recounted in vivid detail the most dangerous missions that made the difference in the war. Ed Haydon dueled with the deadliest of German aces—and forced him to the ground. Robert Johnson racked up twenty-seven kills in his P-47 Thunderbolt, but nearly lost his life when his plane was shot to ribbons and his guns jammed. Cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay was the Air Corps general who devised the bomber tactics that pummeled Germany's war machine. Robin Olds was a West Point football hero who became one of the most dogged, aggressive fighter pilots in the European theater, relentlessly pursuing Germans in his P-38 Lightning. And Jimmy Doolittle became the most celebrated American airman of the war—maybe even of all time—after he led the audacious raid to bomb Tokyo. Today these heroes are long gone, but now, in this incredible volume, they tell their stories in their own words.

A Seattle Times Best Book of the Year Okinawa, present day: Luz, a teenage military brat, has moved to the island’s U.S. Air Force base with her mother, a no-nonsense sergeant. Luz’s mother hopes that the move will reconnect them with the Okinawan branch of their family—and help them heal from the death of Luz’s beloved older sister. This is an island where departed spirits mingle with the living, and interwoven with Luz’s narrative is the story of an Okinawan girl, Tamiko Kokuba, who in 1945 was plucked from her high school and trained to work in the Imperial Army’s horrific cave hospitals. Both of these extraordinary young women are seeking peace, and as Luz digs deeper and deeper into her past, their quests will intersect. Above the East China Sea tells the entwined stories of two lives connected across time by the shared experience of loss, the strength of an ancient culture, and the power of family love.

A detailed look at the worst M&A deals ever and the lessons learned from them It's common knowledge that about half of all merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions destroy value for the buyer's shareholders, and about three-quarters fall short of the expectations prevailing at the time the deal is announced. In Deals from Hell, Robert Bruner, one of the foremost thinkers and educators in this field, uncovers the real reasons for these mishaps by taking a closer look at twelve specific instances of M&A failure. Through these real-world examples, he shows readers what went wrong and why, and converts these examples into cautionary tales for executives who need to know how they can successfully navigate their own M&A deals. These page-turning business narratives in M&A failure provide much-needed guidance in this area of business. By addressing the key factors to M&A success and failure, this comprehensive guide illustrates the best ways to analyze, design, and implement M&A deals. Filled with in-depth insights, expert advice, and valuable lessons gleaned from other M&A transactions, Deals from Hell helps readers avoid the common pitfalls associated with this field and presents them with a clear framework for thinking about how to make any M&A transaction a success.

For twenty years The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror has been recognized as the world's foremost annual showcase of horror and dark fantasy fiction. Now, with one story from each year in which it has been published, from 1989 to 2008, representing the work of dozens of authors, many of them acknowledged as the foremost practitioners of the genre, multi-award-winning editor Stephen Jones looks back on two decades of superb writing to bring readers the ultimate horror fiction anthology. With names such as Ramsey Campbell, Christopher Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Michael Marshall Smith, Paul J. McAuley and Lisa Tuttle, this collection represents a true landmark in horror fiction publishing. Praise for Stephen Jones: 'Horror's last maverick.' - Christopher Fowler 'Stephen Jones . . . has a better sense of the genre than almost anyone in this country.'- Lisa Tuttle, The Times Books 'The best horror anthologist in the business is, of course, Stephen Jones.' - Roz Kavaney, Time Out 'Edited by Stephen Jones, a member of that tiny band of anthologists whose work is so reliably good that you automatically reach out and grab hold of any new volume spotted if you are wise.'- Gahan Wilson, Realms of Fantasy 'One of the genre's most enthusiastic cheerleaders.' - Publishers Weekly 'Horror readers owe Stephen Jones a lot.' - Rue Morgue 'Edited by the prolific and reliable Stephen Jones.' - SFX Magazine 'Jones performs his usual exemplary job.' - Starlog (UK) 'A new horror anthology from Stephen Jones is always an event' - Dennis Etchison