Customer Reviews

The Good Soldiers

5 star:		(93)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have embedded as a freelance photojournalist with US soldiers in Iraq three times, including a small part of the time that Finkel describes here, in 2007. At that time, and as excellently described here, the country was basically a hellstorm.

There are z-e-r-o images or anecdotes in this book that come across as anything less than powerfully true, and many of his observations mirror in some ways things I saw on a much smaller scale. So for me, the credibility was rock solid. I kept thinking to myself, "oh yeah, I remember when something like X happened."

But, the most factually accurate book won't work if it's not written well. That is NOT a problem here. He tells it straight and without a lot of florid adjectives and overwriting. It's a strong enough story to succeed on its own merits, without the author trying to make us notice him as well. I really respect how he keeps himself totally out of it. There's nothing wrong with an "I" biographical style, but it's good to see the soldier's stories told here with a minimum of editorializing. It just tells us what happened; a lot of it's pretty horrible, some of it is very funny, with plenty in between.

Dexter Filkins' "The Forever War," had been my most respected book about Iraq, but this surpasses it only because it focuses so closely on an individual unit and the men doing the job. Filkins does a lot more in his book, but I think the tight focus of "Good Soldiers" helps it stand even more apart.

I'm not even sure it could be summed up as what it's "about." It doesn't have a happy ending, there's no big defining battle, just a lot of fights that don't seem to add up to much. It's not pointless, because we know that the 'surge' the men suffered through actually did work to some extent (though no one knows the future), so we can look at the sacrifice of the men who died a lot differently.

It's not easy to read. It's not fun. It always seems like the audience wants these types of books to be either blatantly anti-any-war polemics, or rah-rah, wave-the-flag screeds. Iraq was neither of those places. It wasn't anything other than the worst place on earth, with a lot of bad things happening, and everybody telling a lot of funny stories while they were hoping to get home okay. Nobody really remembers or considers the soldiers who had to go out there, into that fight. They think they do, but they don't. This book will help you understand.

My son was in this battalion and is an admirer of the battalion commander, "Col K" as everyone calls him. I had heard many of the stories in this book but not in their totality. David Finkel has written an intense, compelling, and emotional account that succeeds in covering the war on so many facets simultaneously: strategic, operational, tactical, homefront, and the Iraqi perspective as well. A map would have been nice but this was not an account written to stop and reference maps, but to be read and felt. Every chapter has a chronologically correct statement from President Bush about the war. We read what is happening at home with the wives and in the hospitals where the severely wounded are recovering. We also learn about the Iraqis who work as translators for the battalion. We follow the soldiers home on leave from the war zone. It's the story of this battalion, its commander, some officers, and those wounded and killed during an extended deployment who just kept on giving and doing their duty. This book to quote Col K's motto, "it's all good."

In "A Note on Sources and Methods" at the end of this book, the author writes, "From the beginning, I explained to [the soldiers of the 2-16] that my intent was to document their corner of the war, without agenda." The result is the most intimate and touching story about the lives and deaths of American servicemen not just in Iraq, but in any other war for that matter, that I have ever come across. Other excellent books about the war in Iraq have achieved greatness in other ways, but this account is unique by virtue of the author's ability to open windows into the souls of the men who experienced the war - their hopes, dreams, nightmares, and fears - and to give readers unprecedented insight into the way the war has touched those men and the families they left behind when they deployed.

This book is neither pro-war nor anti-war. It does not represent an effort to glorify or demonize any person or policy. It is, quite simply, an honest account of the realities on the ground for one battalion of soldiers based in a hostile environment during one of the most crucial periods of the war. In meticulous and thoughtful detail, Finkel recounts the experiences of the individuals who served in the 2-16, from the early days of anticipation, to the final days of dealing with the realities of a complex and often frustrating conflict with no easy answers and no clean conclusion. Much of the book focuses on the confident and optimistic commander of the 2-16, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, but readers will also come to know dozens of other personalities from the battalion, running from the top to the bottom of the chain of command. In that sense the book achieves its goal of documenting the war on multiple scales, from the private thoughts of individual soldiers to the overall experience of the battalion.

Anyone with an interest in the war in Iraq or military affairs in general will benefit tremendously from reading The Good Soldiers. I felt at various times while reading it excited, impressed, or deeply sad, but always enlightened by the intimate details of the story. It is a powerful book that sets aside politics and ideology to reveal war for what it really is and how it affects those who are closest to it.

I wasn't with the 2-16, but after reading this book, I agree with another reviewer in that I felt like it was almost written about me and my unit. Loops around the FOB; an Ambien to sleep, and then another, and then another and then another; rearranging furniture, positioning yourself a certain way in the turret for when an EFP might hit so you'd still have one good leg. It's all real. This book was hard to read. I read it as I flew back from Iraq and in public, there were times I needed to put the book down, breathe deep, and thank God I have a Xanax prescription to go with the Ambien. Well told story, excellently written, and I recommend it to anyone with family or a loved one over there. This book writes about what a lot of us did over there, and how we dealt with it. It might help you understand them and why they act and do the things they do. As a soldier who's been there, I ask you to read it. Try and understand us better.

I was very impressed at how well David Finkel captured the emotion of this deployment that I was a part of. The frustration, contradiction, and common humanity he describes brought back quite a few memories and put them into words with freshness and bluntness.

And while I appreciate his powerful listening skills, representing the viewpoints of the soldiers, perhaps the author overplays his cards. The angle he seems to be coming at it with is that these fourteen months in Iraq were so intense that nobody else could understand it other than those who were there. To a degree, that may be true, but if there was not enough common emotion between soldiers and civilians, then the book itself would be pointless.

Those who have never been to war may not understand the soul-shattering depths of combat, but the assumption that soldiers cannot relate to civilians, in my estimation, leads to many of the tragedies that occur after soldiers return from war. We as soldiers are told that noone can understand us, so many turn to new cars, video games, and alcohol to drown away our memories... and that does not work.

Soldiers may not be able to explain everything they feel to those who haven't been there, but if people take the time to listen to what we choose to share instead of instantly saying "thank you for your service" before driving away in a car with a "support the troops" sticker, then a bridge begins to form. These surface-level signs of support build more barriers (again, in my estimation) than tear down.

And despite seeming to realize all this, Finkel overplays the isolation. He illustrates the absurdity of the pain and death in this war and then scoffs off peacemakers trying to make these connections to the population back in America that is usually only connected to the war by "updates" on the bottom of their cable tv screens. There are some activists that create even more divisiveness, but since being back, I have found that the overwhelming number that I have met are seeking to serve the troops and reconcile the pain that this country--at home and abroad--has experienced. As I type this, I am working with a community peace group who is working to learn as much as they can about the needs of returning veterans because a national guard unit in their town is coming home in a few months. I have found that most of the time those who are quickest to say "support the troops" are also the quickest to create an atmosphere where soldiers feel they cannot share how they really feel.

As a listener, Finkel is superb. And while capturing the emotion, he leaves out many of the things that created such intense emotion. Perhaps unaware, perhaps trying to be non-controversial, the book doesn't describe events like when Bravo Co. moved into the factory in Kamaliyah, how the local community came out to nonviolently protest our prescence in their neighborhood. He doesn't mention any of the reasons why 2-16 was regularly under investigation. There is nothing about the list of informants that we lost out on patrol, many of whom wound up dead or that many times, when Iraqis did risk their lives to help us and wound up dead in the back of an Iraqi Police truck, American soldiers would poke at the bodies and take pictures. There was so much confusion and contradiction there, but many of the reasons behind it were left out.

He also leaves out many less than "humanitarian" descriptions about Kauzlarich... probably because he wasn't there for most this, but a more complete picture of the man would include things like calling my one African-American friend "my little tar-baby", or telling another friend that he was on his list of "bad soldiers" and "20% of the names on that list are no longer living". While the book mentions the compassion he shows to Sgt. Emory when visiting him in the hospital, it doesn't tell about what he said behind his back; we had a picture on our wall of Sgt. Emory in the hospital, wearing a helmet to hold his head together... "oh! there's Sgt. Emory and his duh-duh-duh helmet" Kauzlarich said as the soldiers in the room had to restrain themselves from unleashing their anger on him. And the most important thing Kauzlarich said that was left out was his policy (not an uncommon one) that whenever an IED went off, we were authorized to shoot anyone in the area. This policy was one of the hugest contributors to the emotion that Finkel captured so well in his book.

Overall it is a very powerful read. I realized he had limited space and knowledge about some of the things that went on, but on an emotional, gut level, if you really read between the lines, this book will help you understand a little bit of the isolation and absurdity that so many soldiers experience.

What I think is the most odd about this book, for me anyway is that I was in it. I recieved a call from one of the guys I was in 2nd Platoon B co with and sure enough there I was, even quoted. the long loops around the FOB certainly happened.

Although the chapter in question deals mostly with March until I read it I had no idea he'd done what he'd done. Unfortunatly he took two VERY dramatic events and condensed them. The death of Andre Craig was a sad affair but there was a lot more to it, as well as the Death of James Harrelson.

To be honest I'm not sure the photo used was approriate, people do not want to see a burning Humvee and a soldier dragged away from it. I was there and I don't even want to see it. It crosses into the relm of "does the public have a 'right' to know?"

I will say that his depiction of "lost Kauz" was excellent. "killer K" as we called him was very good at demotivating the troops even as he struck an upbeat speech. One incident that always stuck out in my mind was the ham sandwich being ordered by the BC (Battalion COmmander) on battalion Net not an hour after Craig was declaired KIA.

I'll be honest it was very difficult to read this book. It forced me to relive the events, but I would recomend that if you really want to know "what it's like" over there, this is a good place to start.

Disclaimer: I know both the author and principle character, Lt. Col. Kauzlarich, but I learned a great deal about the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment in this tremendously well-written and moving book which provides an accurate snapshot of the grim reality of war and one unit's experiences in Baghdad during the surge in 2007-08.

Finkel set out to write a newspaper story on one unit participating in President Bush's "surge" strategy in Iraq and ended up crafting a book because the Rangers had such a compelling odyssey to relate. Few reporters have the kind of extended access and time on the ground with the troops that Finkel did, and I feel he does a terrific job of capturing the challenges and frustrations that we face in Iraq, dealing with the vast gulf between the cultures, the sheer complexity of kinetic and non-kinetic operations there, and the fascinating interaction of personalities that you see, especially with "Muqqadam K" and his Soldiers as well as his Iraqi counterparts in the military, government and tribal circles.

I'm grateful for the service, sacrifice and contributions of the Rangers and their families. Finkel, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his groundbreaking series on Yemeni tribalism, approaches the project as a true professional, leaving out his own politics or views on the war, and instead focusing on the Soldiers in the fight and at home, as many are left to pick up the pieces and sort through the agony of physical and emotional wounds, most of which will never fully heal. I knew two of the Soldiers from the battalion who did not return, and so the book hit home to me on a much deeper personal level, and I think Finkel did a good job of helping the reader to know them a little bit. These men who made the ultimate sacrifice will always be remembered.

What should also not be forgotten is that these men and women took on some of the most vicious fighters in the JAM and made 9 Nissan a better place than when they arrived. Whether or not the Iraqis can maintain that momentum and progress is up to them, but the cost of the progress and improved security is laid bare by Finkel and heartbreaking.

Was it worth it? That is for the reader to decide. But, if you're looking for the best possible depiction of the Iraq War from a battalion/company perspective, then this book has no peer. It makes and excellent companion to David Bellavia's "House To House" memoir of the Iraq War from 2004-05. This book gets a full five stars from me not only because it tells an important story, but because the men and families of the 2-16 IN Rangers deserve no less.

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel

Scribe Publications Pty Ltd ISBN: 9781921640063 [...]

David Finkel is an editor, journalist with The Washington Post and the author of The Good Soldiers. He is a Pulitzer Prize winner for his explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series of stories about U.S. funded democracy efforts in Yemen.

Finkel was embedded with the 2-16th Infantry Battalion based in Baghdad. They were to be part of President George W. Bush's "surge" in 2007. Finkel's account of the new strategy of the war in Iraq is told through his eight month involvement with the 2-16 Battalion soldiers, in the U.S. and the highly volatile and unpredictable roadside bombs of Baghdad.

He captures the feelings of the pre deployed soldiers with their ideals of hope, honor, love of their country and winning the war. Finkel grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck with his no holds barred description of events that change these soldier's lives forever. Actions that occur in Baghdad which the newspapers report as horrific, is the normal day to day routine for these soldiers. This is due to their crazy environment they now live in. Finkel describes how these young men are robbed of their youth as they learn very early on in Baghdad about death, fear and destruction.

Finkel was able to capture the heartache and difficulties that the families and soldiers faced when they returned home. As one soldier wrote in his last journal entry, `I've lost all hope. I feel the end is near for me, very, very near. Day by day my misery grows like a storm, ready to swallow me whole and take me to the unknown. Yet all I can fear is the unknown'. His wife mentioned `that he was turning into a zombie and their marriage was dying'.

The Good Soldiers is beautifully written and is difficult to put down. This book is not just for soldiers. Families that have had family members deployed to Iraq would find Finkel's book to be an inroad to the minds of their loved ones. Like this comment on how his soldiers felt, "They're angry. Very angry," he said of the platoon, which of course included himself. "How can anybody kill and function normally afterward? It's not the humane response."

The Good Soldiers is the best book I have read on the Iraq War.

Reviewed by Gordon Traill
Australian Iraq Veteran
Editor: www.peacekeepers.asn.au

I would not normally be interested in a military type book, but I read this because it was a gift and it had gotten numerous excellent reviews. I believe this is the best book I have read all year! I learned so much I didn't know about the war in Iraq and especially from the perspective of the soldiers right there in the middle of it. This book had a profound effect on me and I developed new-found respect for our soldiers in Iraq. I had no idea how difficult every single day is over there. The best thing about this book is it is extremely readable and is hard to put down once you start it! It will give you so much to think about and be grateful for!

David Finkel has written a superb book, that is also troubling to read. The author was an embedded journalist with the 2-16 Ranger battalion for a year of the Baghdad surge in 2007. It is an unvarnished, firsthand account of what 800 infantrymen experienced trying to bring order to one of the worst neighborhoods in Baghdad.

The sector assigned to the 2-16 had no working sewers or trash systems since the war began and it was a disgusting mess. Rivers of raw sewage ran down the sides of the streets. The entire place was chaos. Some of the soldiers were hit with as many as a dozen IED explosions during their tour. The battalion was constantly harassed by rockets, mortars, sniper fire, IEDs, ambushes, and "lob bombs". Lob bombs were propane canisters wrapped in ball bearings with a rocket booster attached to the bottom. A nearby truck is used to launch them into the forward operating base and wreak havoc on everything.

Some of the book was deeply disturbing, some of it is just sad, some of it was funny. If you decide to read this book keep in mind, it doesn't hold back in anything. The language is Army real, which is to say completely profane. And the descriptions of the wounded soldiers trying to recover are heart-breaking. It is a tough book to read, but the reward is in getting a better understanding of what is really required of the American soldier today and the human cost of war.