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skitch41's review
5.0
This is an incredible book of combat and the "fog of war." The book reads like such great fiction that if he didn't mention it you wouldn't realize that the author was there for the whole thing. The narratives of combat are enthralling, sobering, and thought-provoking. Two of the most fascinating things about this book are: (1) the "fog of war" aspect, where even though these soldiers are incredibly eager to get into combat, when they do they seem disillusioned by the fact that, sometimes, the people that they kill are civilians and they aren't always sure if they killed good guys or bad guys. Wright, without ever trying to do some ham-handed psychoanalysis, shows how all the soldiers deal with the horrors of war. (2) Wright's afterword in the 2008 reprint and, specifically, Corporl Person's criticism of the comments that the actors of the HBO miniseries of the same title that no one, not even actors who are suppose to portray the rigors of battle to American audiences, can never truly understand what it is like to fight unless they've been there. Truly, this is one of the best accounts of war I've read since Black Hawk Down.
muninn972's review
4.0
I watched the HBO mini series before I read this. While there are some differences they stayed relatively on focus with what was being said. I enjoyed read this book and the follow up with a few of the situations that were going on. I appreciate that he came at it with a straight shot and didn’t try to completely water it down. I also like that he didn’t get all preachy about some of the things that happened. It is so easy to judge situations when you are safe but things are no always so cut and dry in the thick of it. What our men and women go through in the middle of a war zone we will never full understand unless we ourselves experience it.
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