First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1)
by David Sherman, Dan Cragg
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Book Summary Information
Author: Dan Cragg, David ShermanEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1997-08-30
ISBN: 0345406222
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Reviews of First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1)
Book Review: It Still Takes a Marine
Summary: 5 Stars
First to Fight (1997) is the first novel in the StarFIST series. The 31st Fleet Initial Strike Team is issued a new item of equipment, a Universal Positionator Up-Down link, that will replace the radios, geo position locators, and vector computers throughout the companies. The UPUD has been field tested only at Aberdeen, but passed with flying color. When Gunnery Sergeant Charlie Bass questions such tests and suggests that his company take its current equipment along as backup, he is told that the company has been ordered to immediately turn in all of it. In the field, the UPUDs don't work as advertised, resulting in a number of unnecessary deaths. Back at the base, Bass thoroughly damages the company rep, Daryl George, before he is pulled off. Daryl drops charges against Charlie when told his company could be charged with criminal negligence due to his misrepresentations. Charlie, however, is convicted of conduct unbecoming a noncommissioned officer, demoted one level, and re-assigned to the 34th FIST.
In this novel, Joseph F. Dean joins the Confederation Marine Corps and is sent to the training planet, Arsenault. After many weeks in Boot Camp and Advanced Infantry Training, Dean is assigned to the 34th FIST on Thorsfinni's World, with Charlie as his platoon sergeant. His first liberty is even more exciting than the training courses. And then the 34st is sent to Elneal to provide humanitarian aid.
This novel gets off to a slow start after the initial UPUD fiasco (which most ex-service types will find familiar -- except Charlie gets in a few good licks), dwelling on the nature and peculiarities of military training, Marine style, but starts picking up the pace after Dean arrives on Thorsfinni's World. The other characters -- McNeal, Chan, Claypoole, Schultz, etc. -- are probably composite archetypes based on people the authors have known; nobody could be such a total goofball as Claypoole seems in his first appearance.
This series concentrates on the riots, raids, insurrections, and other relatively small incidents handled mostly by the Marines in our own history. Although the Marines have always been involved in the larger conflicts, the FISTs are the kind of ready deployment force that is the first to fight in most smaller actions. And, in this novel, they soon find themselves in a nasty fight.
Some reviewers have wondered why the Marines are not equipped with more futuristic weapons. First, the Navy has the planet-busters if these become necessary. Second, the Army has the tactical nukes, heavy artillery, and heavy tanks if these become necessary. Third, there are people who want to continue living on the planet after the Armed Forces leave. Thus, the Confederation sends in the Marines, light infantry capable of maneuvering in virtually any terrain and armed with weapons capable of taking out anything they face. Minimum force for maximum effect.
Recommended for Sherman & Cragg fans and anyone who enjoys small-unit combat in a SF setting.
Summary of First to Fight (Starfist, Book 1)
"Marines, we have just become a low-tech deep recon patrol . . ."Stranded in a hellish alien desert, stripped of their strategic systems, quick reaction force, and supporting arms, and carrying only a day's water ration, Marine Staff Sergeant Charlie Bass and his seven-man team faced a grim future seventy-five light-years from home. The only thing between his Marines and safety was eighty-five miles of uncharted, waterless terrain and two thousand bloodthirsty savages with state-of-the-art weapons in their hands and murder on their minds.
But the enemy didn't reckon on the warrior cunning of Marines' Marine Charlie Bass and the courage of the few good men who would follow him anywhere--even to death. . .
"HARD TO PUT DOWN . . . Any book written by Cragg and Sherman is bound to be addictive, and this is the first in what promises to be a great adventure series. FIRST TO FIGHT is rousing, rugged, and just plain fun."
--Ralph Peters, New York Times bestselling author of Red Army
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