This weekend, I finished the second of two accounts of small unit combat that are reviewed below. One is set in Iraq, the other Afghanistan. One is about Marines, the other soldiers. Both are thoughtful and provocative. Few Americans these days have any direct contact with our military and know little about who they are and what they do. Let authors Craig Mullaney and Donovan Campbell introduce you to some of today's Greatest Generation.
The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education, by Craig M. Mullaney. Penguin, $28.95 (400 p) ISBN 978-1-59420-202-5
Every soldier who has ever marched off to war has wondered how he will acquit himself when the shooting starts. Stephen Crane parlayed that elemental question--fight or flight?--into the classic American war novel: The Red Badge of Courage. Crane's protagonist, Henry Fleming, was a private. In this excellent memoir, Craig Mullaney asks the universal question again, but from a different perspective: that of an untested leader entrusted with the lives of young soldiers.
For Lieutenant Mullaney—West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar, and Airborne Ranger—the answer came on a barren ridge along the Afghan-Pakistan border in 2003. A platoon leader with the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Mullaney's patrol was ambushed and one of his soldiers was killed. In that terrible "unforgiving minute," under withering fire, Mullaney answered the dreaded question affirmatively. Gathering himself—pushing aside the noise and chaos; tamping down the fear—he led his men in repulsing the attack.
Later, Mullaney would reflect that his training—including the "harassing recitations of Plebe Knowledge" at West Point and the deprivations of Ranger School—had indeed prepared him for his baptism under fire.
Mullaney's earnest memoir of "one soldier's education" takes him from his working-class background in Rhode Island through West Point, Ranger School, Oxford University, and combat in Afghanistan. His descriptions of his West Point experience—from an "anxious, exhausted, and terrified" first day to a joyous and proud Graduation Week—and the rigors of Ranger School will surprise the 99% of the population who have little direct contact with America's military.
Mullaney left the Army after his five-year service obligation ended and served as an adviser to the campaign of President Obama. With that in mind, one of his lingering questions regarding Afghanistan takes on increased significance. "Could we ever win," he asks, "as long as Pakistan offered implicit sanctuary to the Taliban and al-Qaeda?"
Mullaney has penned a thoughtful and honest memoir of a military education and the ultimate graduation exercise: war. It deserves a wide audience.
**************************************************************
Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, by Donovan Campbell. Random House, $26 (336p) ISBN 978-1-1400-06773-2
Joker One is, in many ways, a companion volume to The Unforgiving Minute. Both, at their core, endeavor to explain what it's like to lead an infantry platoon in combat. There are differences, of course: Mullaney was a soldier, Campbell, a Marine; Mullaney fought in Afghanistan, Campbell in Iraq. But, when the shooting starts, it's the similarities, not the differences, that stand out.
Campbell, a Princeton grad, deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment from March to September 2004. A platoon leader in Golf Company's first platoon—dubbed Joker One after its radio call sign—Campbell spent seven bloody months patrolling the streets of Ramadi, one of "Iraq's most dangerous places."
Campbell cared deeply about his men and his mission and questioned his ability to discharge his duty honorably and effectively. On the eve of entering Iraq, he prayed, "'Dear God, please don't let me screw up and get everybody killed.'"
When he finally lost a Marine in combat, it came as "a severe shock" and he was paralyzed for a time by a "deep depression." He raged against "the whole miserable city of Ramadi for forcing us to make horrible choices, day in and day out." But, his men's love for each other finally helped him recover. Leadership, he concluded, "meant serving others to an increasingly great degree."
What Campbell and Joker One encountered in the streets of Ramadi was "a classic urban counter-insurgency," and his description of the fighting is intense, compelling, and often painful. In the end, Joker One's Marines acquitted themselves with honor.
Campbell stumbles only rarely in what is an excellent account of small-unit combat, and those missteps usually occur when he ventures from the grunt's-eye view of war to larger issues.
Mostly though, Campbell's memoir is a moving tribute to a remarkable band of [Marine] brothers.
The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education, by Craig M. Mullaney. Penguin, $28.95 (400 p) ISBN 978-1-59420-202-5
Every soldier who has ever marched off to war has wondered how he will acquit himself when the shooting starts. Stephen Crane parlayed that elemental question--fight or flight?--into the classic American war novel: The Red Badge of Courage. Crane's protagonist, Henry Fleming, was a private. In this excellent memoir, Craig Mullaney asks the universal question again, but from a different perspective: that of an untested leader entrusted with the lives of young soldiers.
For Lieutenant Mullaney—West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar, and Airborne Ranger—the answer came on a barren ridge along the Afghan-Pakistan border in 2003. A platoon leader with the Army's 10th Mountain Division, Mullaney's patrol was ambushed and one of his soldiers was killed. In that terrible "unforgiving minute," under withering fire, Mullaney answered the dreaded question affirmatively. Gathering himself—pushing aside the noise and chaos; tamping down the fear—he led his men in repulsing the attack.
Later, Mullaney would reflect that his training—including the "harassing recitations of Plebe Knowledge" at West Point and the deprivations of Ranger School—had indeed prepared him for his baptism under fire.
Mullaney's earnest memoir of "one soldier's education" takes him from his working-class background in Rhode Island through West Point, Ranger School, Oxford University, and combat in Afghanistan. His descriptions of his West Point experience—from an "anxious, exhausted, and terrified" first day to a joyous and proud Graduation Week—and the rigors of Ranger School will surprise the 99% of the population who have little direct contact with America's military.
Mullaney left the Army after his five-year service obligation ended and served as an adviser to the campaign of President Obama. With that in mind, one of his lingering questions regarding Afghanistan takes on increased significance. "Could we ever win," he asks, "as long as Pakistan offered implicit sanctuary to the Taliban and al-Qaeda?"
Mullaney has penned a thoughtful and honest memoir of a military education and the ultimate graduation exercise: war. It deserves a wide audience.
**************************************************************
Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood, by Donovan Campbell. Random House, $26 (336p) ISBN 978-1-1400-06773-2
Joker One is, in many ways, a companion volume to The Unforgiving Minute. Both, at their core, endeavor to explain what it's like to lead an infantry platoon in combat. There are differences, of course: Mullaney was a soldier, Campbell, a Marine; Mullaney fought in Afghanistan, Campbell in Iraq. But, when the shooting starts, it's the similarities, not the differences, that stand out.
Campbell, a Princeton grad, deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment from March to September 2004. A platoon leader in Golf Company's first platoon—dubbed Joker One after its radio call sign—Campbell spent seven bloody months patrolling the streets of Ramadi, one of "Iraq's most dangerous places."
Campbell cared deeply about his men and his mission and questioned his ability to discharge his duty honorably and effectively. On the eve of entering Iraq, he prayed, "'Dear God, please don't let me screw up and get everybody killed.'"
When he finally lost a Marine in combat, it came as "a severe shock" and he was paralyzed for a time by a "deep depression." He raged against "the whole miserable city of Ramadi for forcing us to make horrible choices, day in and day out." But, his men's love for each other finally helped him recover. Leadership, he concluded, "meant serving others to an increasingly great degree."
What Campbell and Joker One encountered in the streets of Ramadi was "a classic urban counter-insurgency," and his description of the fighting is intense, compelling, and often painful. In the end, Joker One's Marines acquitted themselves with honor.
Campbell stumbles only rarely in what is an excellent account of small-unit combat, and those missteps usually occur when he ventures from the grunt's-eye view of war to larger issues.
Mostly though, Campbell's memoir is a moving tribute to a remarkable band of [Marine] brothers.
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