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witchofthemountains 's review for:
I honestly did not expect to like this book. I initially ordered it from my library as a mistake. By misreading the book's summary, I thought I was getting a book about the impact things like Captain America has had on our current generation and their willingness or reluctance to go to war. Instead I got an inside look at the first wave of the war in Iraq.
I will admit I'm a bit biased. My husband is a vet and was actually in the same place as the men in this book for a while: an amusement park outside Baghdad. But he is not pro-war. He's a patriot, but neither of us think the war in Iraq was the right thing for America. And if we needed to go abroad at that time, we did it in entirely the wrong way.
That being said, the military jargon and connection between the men in this book was fascinating and in some ways familiar and comforting. My parents are both air force and, though it's been a long time since I was on a military base, the men reminded me of some I had known when I was a child.
It was fascinating to get a look into the opinions and trials of some of the men who were over there, among the first to go through.
The book reminds us that not all the men were raping or murdering locals, despite the pop culture image of this. And it reminds us that some men didn't like what they were doing, while others liked it too much. It's a human look at the inhumane arena of war. It's unlike anything I've read before and, while I'm not about to start reading military works as a general rule, it has inspired me to look with more humane eyes at our military members.
They aren't heroes, but they aren't monsters. They're people, as varied and nuanced as anyone in your life. The only difference is where they've been and what they've seen.
I will admit I'm a bit biased. My husband is a vet and was actually in the same place as the men in this book for a while: an amusement park outside Baghdad. But he is not pro-war. He's a patriot, but neither of us think the war in Iraq was the right thing for America. And if we needed to go abroad at that time, we did it in entirely the wrong way.
That being said, the military jargon and connection between the men in this book was fascinating and in some ways familiar and comforting. My parents are both air force and, though it's been a long time since I was on a military base, the men reminded me of some I had known when I was a child.
It was fascinating to get a look into the opinions and trials of some of the men who were over there, among the first to go through.
The book reminds us that not all the men were raping or murdering locals, despite the pop culture image of this. And it reminds us that some men didn't like what they were doing, while others liked it too much. It's a human look at the inhumane arena of war. It's unlike anything I've read before and, while I'm not about to start reading military works as a general rule, it has inspired me to look with more humane eyes at our military members.
They aren't heroes, but they aren't monsters. They're people, as varied and nuanced as anyone in your life. The only difference is where they've been and what they've seen.