The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq [Hardcover]

Joshua Key (Author), Lawrence Hill (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2007

In the first ever memoir from a young soldier who deserted from the war in Iraq, Joshua Key offers a vivid and damning indictment of what we are doing there and how the war itself is being waged. Key, a young husband and father from a conservative background, enlisted in the Army in 2002 to get training as a welder and lift his family out of poverty. A year later, Key was sent to Ramadi where he found himself participating in a war that was not the campaign against terrorists and evildoers he had expected. He saw Iraqi civilians beaten, shot, and killed for little or no provocation. Nearly ever other night, he participated in raids on homes that found only terrified families and no evidence of terrorist activity. On leave, Key knew he could not return so he took his family underground, finally seeking asylum in Canada. The Deserter’s Tale is the story of a patriotic family man who went to war believing unquestioningly in his government’s commitment to integrity and justice, and how what he saw in Iraq transformed him into someone who could no longer serve his country.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

*Starred Review* In 2002, Key, a good ol' Oklahoma boy with a wife and two children (but no money), enlisted in the U.S. Army so he could learn a trade and provide for his family. He was assured that he would be sent to a "non-deployable" military base: he would never see combat. Instead, he was sent to Iraq to hunt for terrorists, a mission that involved beating civilians, kidnapping innocents, and destroying homes and families (all of which he relates in precise, damning detail). Stateside, on a two-week furlough, Key decided he couldn't go back to Iraq, couldn't participate in what he decided were mindless atrocities being committed in the name of world peace. Thus, he did what so many Vietnam protestors did: he took his family to Canada, where he now lives, a wanted man in his own country. This memoir, which can fairly and accurately be called a searing indictment of America's "war on terror," is vividly written ("Hayes slammed her in the face with the stock of his M-16"), but as difficult as it sometimes can be to read, we respect Key's courage to tell the story without sugarcoating. The book is timely, important, and haunting. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 237 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (January 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0871139545
• ISBN-13: 978-0871139542
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,854,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Reader Deserts the Deserter, September 17, 2007

By 

Debra L. Brown "I eat books for dinner" (Lyndhurst, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I have a son in the armed forces who has already been to Afghanastan and is scheduled to go to Iraq in Dec '07. I wanted to get a feel for what my son might go through by seeing Iraq through another soldiers eyes. This soldier purports himself to be a true American, would die for his country, and so on. What he did after 5 and a half months was walk away from his Company, and his Country and not only became a war criminal, but turned his wife and four children into criminals. Nowhere in the book could I find one resonable excuse for what he did. Military life is hard, service in Iraq in the early days was often shameful, but he had other avenues, and he should have explored those before going to Canada. So far Canada has turned him down for political aslyium, and I hope his appeal is turned down as well. Keys need to come back and face those he left behind. I'm also sorry that the money I spent on the book is helping to support him even a little.

Oh, I did talk to my son about the concerns I had in the book, he told me that someone was lying. So, if you do go ahead and read this book, keep that in mind.

Other "facts" I found disturbing is how he was able to use his own name and not once, but twice, file and receive a tax return. The "facts" in the book are not facts at all. I talked to my son about what I read, and he did not have to sign a paper stating he would be shot by firing squad if he went AWOL. He was also never beaten with a sock, and never asked to beat anyone with a sock. He's had 13 troops in his division go AWOL, and some took their punishment and stayed or took their punishment and left. There was no need for Keys to jump the border.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Crap, crap and more crap, November 8, 2010

By 

Instinct - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (Paperback)

The only thing about this piece of fecal matter that is correct is the authors name, the rest of it is garbage that only exists in the mind of a individual who is only trying to become a media darling for the left.

He makes claims that he witnessed atrocities while in Iraq, but then he never reported them to higher command. He claims a soldier in his command was given half months pay for six months because he asked a question and yet the UCMJ only allows an article 15 to dock a soldier for two months.

I could go on and on about the inaccuracies and outright lies, but there are plenty of milbloggers who have already taken it apart so you can reference them. This book was clearly written just to give the left exactly what they wanted to hear and the truth be damned.

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Steaming Pile of Lies, January 28, 2009

By 

J3 "j3" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (Hardcover)

When a person shows his utter lack of honesty, character or courage, by violating his oaths, deserting the military and hiding out in another country, only an imbecile would believe him capable of telling the truth. Yes, some Americans have been so propagandized into self-loathing that they will buy anything which reinforces their hatred for their country - but even these would, hopefully, have enough still functioning brain cells to recognize a crapfest of lies when they stumble across one.
In this case, the meaningless and inaccurate terminology, the complete ignorance of the simple names of everyday military armament, the lack of even a basic grasp of the titles of military officers and non-coms, is so pathetic that it is unworthy of even an unresearched Hollywood TV movie.
The garbage about a guy trying to commit suicide with a rifle grenade is hysterically funny, since anyone who even makes it out of basic knows that the grenade will not arm for detonation until it travels a set distance beyond the soldier... and it is NOT fired from an M-16.
Oh - and you don't have 'gunnies' in the Army.
The drivel about bloody fetuses scattered around the floor might make for entertaining reading for campfire stories told to brain damaged psychopaths - or brain-dead publishers - and the stories of the crazed US soldiers kicking around severed heads like soccer balls, is lifted directly from Hamas propaganda.
All in all, if a person is cursed with an IQ below 30, needs to get rid of some money in a hurry, and wants to help a scumbag deserter with no honor and no capacity for truth, then he or she could buy this book and gratify their America-bashing, military hating hearts in their own little corner of some demented universe. But a better buy would be a giant 12 roll pack of really nice toilet tissue. It would be softer, more honest, and more comfortable than the pages of this book, and suited for the same purpose.