The Last Blue Mile (2007)

To most civilians, the U.S. military, with its attendant codes and rituals, remains as inscrutable as the Freemasons. Kim Ponders, a former fighter pilot who became one of the first females in combat during Desert Storm, writes fiction with the disciplined detail of a soldier and the vivid immediacy of a true storyteller. In The Last Blue Mile, a cheating scandal rocks the Air Force Academy, and a young female recruit struggles to reconcile her upper-middle-class upbringing with the rigid military culture she encounters in training. Some readers may wish for more levity, but Ponders' subject — and her insights — couldn't be more timely. B+