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eely225's review against another edition
4.0
I acquired this book as a last act of bureaucratic subterfuge. In my last few months on active duty in the army, I had a desk in a forgotten back corner of a tiny station in Iowa. In my forgotten corner, I found a forgotten bookshelf. Someone used to care about these books. They had labels. It seemed like someone trying to create a resource for professional development. Then they left and everyone forgot, but the books stayed.
Looking through what was available, much of it was either out of date, painfully business-oriented, or overly jingoistic. This title seemed to be the exception, an attempt to deal frankly with the realities of military service, in and out of combat. I had the feeling that I was going to want to read things like this to mentally outprocess from the service. So I took it.
The book is effectively a survey of written sources from [a:Xenophon|14805|Xenophon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224374051p2/14805.jpg] to [a:Tim O'Brien|2330|Tim O'Brien|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232136886p2/2330.jpg], as well as interviews conducted by the author, addressing the fundamental components of military life and combat from several points of view. Holmes does tend to rely on European and American sources, likely as a product of his own background in military history. It's also worth noting that the age shows at points, considering that the Falklands War is his representative case study of modern combat.
Overall, I appreciated his approach. There was a lot of myself I could see in the anecdotes he used as reference points. It's helpful to feel reflected as a way of understanding my own experience. It also gives words to a lot of feelings and inclinations that I hadn't been able to label. Outside of veterans, I think it's worth reading for those looking to gain some perspective on the various experiences and outcomes of military life and why people talk about it the way they do. A little slow going at times, but worth the effort.
Looking through what was available, much of it was either out of date, painfully business-oriented, or overly jingoistic. This title seemed to be the exception, an attempt to deal frankly with the realities of military service, in and out of combat. I had the feeling that I was going to want to read things like this to mentally outprocess from the service. So I took it.
The book is effectively a survey of written sources from [a:Xenophon|14805|Xenophon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1224374051p2/14805.jpg] to [a:Tim O'Brien|2330|Tim O'Brien|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1232136886p2/2330.jpg], as well as interviews conducted by the author, addressing the fundamental components of military life and combat from several points of view. Holmes does tend to rely on European and American sources, likely as a product of his own background in military history. It's also worth noting that the age shows at points, considering that the Falklands War is his representative case study of modern combat.
Overall, I appreciated his approach. There was a lot of myself I could see in the anecdotes he used as reference points. It's helpful to feel reflected as a way of understanding my own experience. It also gives words to a lot of feelings and inclinations that I hadn't been able to label. Outside of veterans, I think it's worth reading for those looking to gain some perspective on the various experiences and outcomes of military life and why people talk about it the way they do. A little slow going at times, but worth the effort.
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