Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel


2010 Alex Award Winner!


Some of you may remember the book Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green where I started a blog comment war with a friend of the author. I just couldn't stand the attitude of the writer and didn't believe that it was a true memoir. I just didn't think that the war in Afghanistan was really what he said. So I wasn't looking forward to reading this novel by a Pulitzer Prize winning author, because I figured it would be another liberal take on why war is bad.

But, oh, I was wrong. This is one of the finest pieces of war journalism I have ever read. I cried, I laughed, and I felt like I was truly in the head of the commander of the Second Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. Finkel was with the unit from the start of their fifteen-month tour in Kansas to their homecoming. The chapters were headed with quotes from President Bush, as the battalion helped enforce "The Surge" in Iraq. Their biggest enemy? IEDs. The 2-16 is constantly attacked on patrols and always on the lookout for explosives. The photographs throughout the book bring the reader closer to the soldiers.

Mr. Ogle took the book to read and I can't wait to hear his prospective since he served a tour in Iraq a few years ago.

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