Iron Bravo [Paperback]

Carsten Stroud (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (1980)
• ASIN: B000N797Z4
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The face of battle as seen by the NCO, January 1, 2001

By 

Michael J Edelman (Huntington Woods, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Iron Bravo: Hearts, Minds, and Sergeants in the U.S. Army (Mass Market Paperback)

In a modern high-tech army, where officers move from one comand to another as they move up the ranks, it is the NCOs who have become the repositories of the history and tradition of the military. Iron Bravo is a semi-fictional account of the history of the US infantry as seen and understod by one NCO- a lifer named Crane- through his knowledge of unit history, his memories of Vietnam and his experience in returning to war in the Gulf. Stroud spent a year with the 1st, and this book is a compilation of the experiences of various soldiers, retold as the story of Sgt. Crane.

There have been a great many books written about the experience of the infantryman through history, many of them excellent; what Carsten Stroud brings is a perspective over time. He's a combat veteran of Vietnam and a student of history, and he understands what it is that is common to the experience of the foot soldier throughout history. He takes pains to show how it it is that experiences of individual infantrymen through history constitute an unbroken thread across nations and through time. Stroud's description of the advance of the US 1st Armored Division through Iraq and his parallels to the WWII battle of the Kasserine Pass is particularly illustrative.

While not a scholarly history, neither is this the typical I-was-there story. It's a unique way of telling the infantryman's story, and as such, of interest to readers of both combat stories and military history.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Almost got it right., March 9, 2000

By 

Paul Graham (Kalispell, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Iron Bravo: Hearts, Minds, and Sergeants in the U.S. Army (Mass Market Paperback)

For the reader with military experience, this book is a tough read. The concept was good-tracking an NCO through his career from Viet Nam to Iraq- was right on the money. However, Stroud could have benefitted from an editor with military experience. There were so many technical errors, the storyline often gets lost. Wannabes will like like it. Soldiers won't.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An uncensored look into the life of the combat infantryman, January 10, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Iron Bravo: Hearts, Minds, and Sergeants in the U.S. Army (Mass Market Paperback)

Carsten Stroud does not glorify war nor does he belittle the
sacrifice and dedication of the men who have to fight them.
Honest, revealing and uncompromising, Stroud shows the reader
through the eyes of a seasoned combat soldier what life is
like for the American soldier. It is a life one cannot
understand unless he has lived it. Stroud helps the ordinary
civilian realize this and learn to appreciate the deep
sacrifice that men and women in uniform are sometimes
required to give.