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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
This story detailing the events and heroes of Battle of Mogadishu is especially meaningful to me. In 2004, I had the honor to spend some time with Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durant, the Black Hawk pilot who was shot down and held captive for 11 days. I served as chauffeur for him between a few speaking engagements to US armed forces veterans.
Bowden’s account is concise and portrays the gruesome nature of the battle in Somalia; a country Bowden calls, “the world capital of things gone completely to hell.”
God bless our soldiers, their families, and the great country they give their lives to make free.
Bowden’s account is concise and portrays the gruesome nature of the battle in Somalia; a country Bowden calls, “the world capital of things gone completely to hell.”
God bless our soldiers, their families, and the great country they give their lives to make free.
Too poorly written to finish reading. Bowden jumps around povs, trying to identify and flesh out every single soldier involved, to the detriment of the story. The pov jumps wouldn’t be so bad if they were more linear/chronological/or just switched when they came to a natural stopping point. Instead it just felt like random jumping around. We’d be in the heat of battle, then all of a sudden backtrack to a politician months ago who supported the campaign, to a desk jockey dreaming of fighting weeks ago, to someone on the other side of the battlefield, to an enemy combatant, and so on.
The best part of the book was possibly unintentional - the rangers were so proud of themselves for being superior warriors compared to regular army and they felt so badass. Then the pov of the delta warriors disdaining the rangers as amateurs and pointing out specific examples making logical arguments. It really threw into light how despite all the training in the world, this is how all combat forces fuck up with the overconfidence needed to psych yourself up for battle, and the number of superhero level badass warriors is really quite low.
Reading this book felt very similar to watching the movie, where I basically had the same complaints. Alas, the book doesn’t have Josh Hartnett to save it.
The best part of the book was possibly unintentional - the rangers were so proud of themselves for being superior warriors compared to regular army and they felt so badass. Then the pov of the delta warriors disdaining the rangers as amateurs and pointing out specific examples making logical arguments. It really threw into light how despite all the training in the world, this is how all combat forces fuck up with the overconfidence needed to psych yourself up for battle, and the number of superhero level badass warriors is really quite low.
Reading this book felt very similar to watching the movie, where I basically had the same complaints. Alas, the book doesn’t have Josh Hartnett to save it.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
Grueling depiction of modern war. The writers inclusion of each characters personal background as the story progressed, split up the sequence of events well and had me rooting for each soldiers success and survival on a much deeper level. The rewind from jumping perspectives paced well in this.
War is just so, so awful. Each time Bowden described another death at the hands of this failed rescue mission, I got transported to the scene and imagine how a life, a full and complete life, ends suddenly for ultimately no reason at all.
I'm glad for everyone's sake the US occupation of Mogadishu halted after the events described here, but it makes the US's unwelcome and unnecessary presence in the Somalian Civil War all the more apparent.
I don't know why I expected it, but I wanted this book to be less one sided. In a setting where the US inserted themselves into a civil war, I wished the Somalian citizens were given a greater voice and not (outside of Aidid) nameless and faceless enemies.
I'm glad for everyone's sake the US occupation of Mogadishu halted after the events described here, but it makes the US's unwelcome and unnecessary presence in the Somalian Civil War all the more apparent.
I don't know why I expected it, but I wanted this book to be less one sided. In a setting where the US inserted themselves into a civil war, I wished the Somalian citizens were given a greater voice and not (outside of Aidid) nameless and faceless enemies.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
This was a great read. Obviously a little gory and has some F words (not as many as I thought their's be) and also sad, because its a true story. But I really enjoyed it.
This book provided a thoughtful and perceptive look into a battle that had cost so many lives. It was a fascinating insight to not only what occured during the battle, but a indepth look at how it effected the soldiers that were invloved. The book paints a grizzly view of war especially coming from frist hand accounts of the survivors. It gives the reader a better understanding of the horrors of war, especially with the vivid descriptions of gore and losses. I am left to wonder, if the commanders had a better connection and real time reports would things have gone better?
Overall it was a fascinating book, and kept the reader engaged. The pacing was really well thought out. The historical accuracy was highly impressive and made it easier to connect events. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys millitary history, historical studies, or books on the ugliness of war.
Overall it was a fascinating book, and kept the reader engaged. The pacing was really well thought out. The historical accuracy was highly impressive and made it easier to connect events. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys millitary history, historical studies, or books on the ugliness of war.
At times it does fall into that overly patriotic bit but it does do a fair bit of criticizing and I enjoyed reading from Somalians POV. Does read like fiction and there are probably liberties that go along with that but personally I don’t mind that, other non fiction books do it. You can see why they made a movie about it but it was not as riveting as the real thing.