The Battle for Hunger Hill: The 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment at the Joint Readiness Training Cente r [Hardcover]

Daniel P. Bolger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1997

At the JRTC, soldiers are trained for war in a setting so real you can almost smell the smoke.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bolger recounts his two experiences commanding the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment (part of the 101st Airborne) at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, Louisiana. There, the army's light-infantry units train against simulated guerrillas and other Third World types of opposition felt to be the most likely post^-cold war opponents. As his comprehensive and enthralling narrative admits, he and his battalion were often embarrassed during their first session together but made improvements and returned for a second, more successful visit to the center. Describing that process, Bolger paints a warts-and-all picture of today's army, its strengths (the people in it) and its weaknesses (command staff and systems) as well as a detailed portrait, worthy of Tom Clancy in his nonfiction mode, of an airborne rifle battalion. If Bolger is as good a soldier as he is a writer, he may become the first four-star general to also win a Pulitzer Prize. Roland Green

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Presidio Press (June 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891414533
• ISBN-13: 978-0891414537
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,622,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally valuable analysis of what works vs. guerillas, October 9, 1999

By 

1LT Stephen L. Parker, Light Infantry Platoon... (Fayetteville, AR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Battle for Hunger Hill: The 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment at the Joint Readiness Training Cente r (Hardcover)

"Hunger Hill" starts by showing how the "book solution" fails to deal with a guerilla warfare, just as it did in Viet-Nam. The second half of the book deals with a return to sound basics, and the discarding of much of the foolishness fostered upon us by Field Manuals. I took many valuable lessons from this book to apply when I go to JRTC, or, God forbid, when we fight for real.

Bolger's techniques eleminate many ways we make the enemy's job easier, and make us far more effective in killing them. His well-defined focus on interacting with the local populace is reminiscent of Mao (remember, Mao won).

The book's most valuable lesson is the thinking process and analysis Bolger applies to the problems he encounters, and the way he evaluates his tools, techniques, and doctrine, keeping and modifying some, casting away others, and adopting new ideas where necessary. This book is required reading for all officers in my light infantry battalion. I see why.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book But Not for General Consumption, June 26, 2000

By 

C. P. J. Millhouse "Christopher Millhouse" (Randwick, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battle for Hunger Hill: The 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment at the Joint Readiness Training Cente r (Hardcover)

The Battle for Hunger Hill is a battle for training that works. 1/327 Infantry Regiment visited the Joint Readiness Training Centre in Fort Polk Louisiana twice in the space of nine months. The first time they have their training blood sprayed liberally around the training area as they fight and die according to doctrine. On the second visit they have used the doctrine as the basis for a more effective way of fighting. As a consequence they are more effective than any unit to visit the facility up to that time.

Few units get the luxury of visiting Fort Polk twice with the same commander and similar orders of battle. Experience in professional military units is condemned to a short half life as individual careers and military bureaucracy cycle soldiers through units. The key lesson in this book is what you take away from 1/327's first visit. The second visit is verification that something was learned from the first. Appropriately the bulk of the book is devoted to the first visit.

Why is it not for general consumption? This book is a jargon and military concept rich environment. Check any page and it flies - 94-10, MILES, OPFOR, JRTC, "always a 90-degree bold flank", Cmd. Sgt. Maj., CLF... If you are not comfortable within this environment I suggest that this is not a book you will enjoy. To be honest I doubt that you will even be interested in it. If you are comfortable it is highly likely that you are serving or have served in the recent past. The book is written for serving soldiers.

Col Bolger's lessons will save lives if they are learnt by his target audience. That makes his book valuable in the library of any soldier.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required reading for all Light Fighters, July 17, 1999

By 

Michael Short (Owings, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Battle for Hunger Hill: The 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment at the Joint Readiness Training Cente r (Hardcover)

If Col. Bolger is a member of the US Army's brain trust, we're in pretty good shape. As an officer in a Light Infantry battalion, I have taken the Colonel's lessons to heart, and those lessons have enhanced my knowledge of Low Intensity Conflict. All officers assigned to light units, no matter their branch of assignment, should read his books, Hunger Hill especially.