The Good Soldiers

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goodsoldiersby David Finkel

 

A sobering and very cleverly written book about an infantry Battalion on
the front lines in a particularly nasty neighborhood in Baghdad during
the 2007 surge.  The author, a reporter embedded with them for 8 of
their 15 month deployment meets them in Missouri as they prepare, in
Iraq where they fight and then back in the US where he visits wounded
soldiers and their loved ones.  Each chapter is headed with a quote from
President Bush reporting on the progress of the surge and then reports
what was happening on the ground from the point of view of everyone from
the optimistic Lt. Col in charge to the private in the thick of the
fight unable to see the big picture unfold.  Above all, it highlights
the extraordinary brotherhood that evolves among the men in combat.
A sobering and very cleverly written book about an infantry Battalion on the front lines in a particularly nasty neighborhood in Baghdad during the 2007 surge.  The author, a reporter embedded with them for 8 of their 15 month deployment meets them in Missouri as they prepare, in Iraq where they fight and then back in the US where he visits wounded soldiers and their loved ones.  Each chapter is headed with a quote from President Bush reporting on the progress of the surge and then reports what was happening on the ground from the point of view of everyone from the optimistic Lt. Col in charge to the private in the thick of the fight unable to see the big picture unfold.  Above all, it highlights the extraordinary brotherhood that evolves among the men in combat.