Customer Reviews

Iron Bravo

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have to disagree with the previous review. This book does capture the essence of what soldiering is all about. Yes there are several technical errors, but I did not find them to detract from the power of the story. This book reveals the love/hate relationship that so many have with the Army, any Army I dare say. Having departed the institution only a few months ago I feel confident in saying this. There is so much to hate about the profession of arms, but there are those few rare moments - sometimes they occurred years ago - that you still treasure.Somehow those moments can keep one going when everything is at it's worse. That is what Carsten Stroud does in Iron Bravo. The book has wonderful atmosphere - one of Stoud's strengths as a writer - and presents the mind of the professional soldier beautifully. This book dosen't place the soldier on a platform, it merely shows them warts and all. And in my opinion the soldier comes out shining.

OK, so I was at my Pops house last night, and he passed me this and another book. "Iron Bravo" looks quite good, from the jacket and praise heaped upon it on its back cover.

I began to read, and managed over a hundred pages before I simply could not take any more. It is a novel, supposedly well writtten, by an accomplished author. . .

It was so filled with in-accurate details. First, it goes on about the character "Crane" who is some sort of Sergeant. It says that he is 49 yo, and has issues with sleeping, etc., resulting from his service in Vietnam. OK, this is not an unknown condition. Traumatic events, such as those which occur in combat are not easy to forget, or let go and manifest themselves in many ways. The author leaves the reader to believe that the character, his ertswhile girlfriend and the doctors she works for have no idea what it could be?

Next, the author goes into minute detail about the founding of Ft. Riley, Kansas, and the troops that were stationed there. He starts in 1853, stating that the Non-Commisioned officers of the time were all Civil War veterans. The point in time he is elaborating on is 1853, 8 years BEFORE the Civil War. OK, that was the first slip I overlooked, giving the book a chance.

The next thing, the main character, this 49 yo "Sgt Crane", what does he do? What is his billet within his unit, which is identified as "Baker" company, a mechanized infantry company. OK, using "Baker" as a phonetic for "B" went out decades ago. In 1990, the proper use would be "Bravo", as in the books title. Next, he describes "Baker Company" as having 240 men, in four platoons, a weapons company and an anti-tank company. OK, now I am starting to think the author just started writing, using a list of military terms, without regard to their actual meaning. First, I have serviced in an infantry company, a mechanized infantry company that was composed of three platoons, and a company headquarters, totalling about 110 men.

It went on from there. And then more.

So that was it for me. I put it down, and went to sleep.

I am a fan of historical fiction, Tom Clancey, Harold Coyle, Ralph Peters, WEB Griffin. This was no where near that class of fiction.

A little research, some proofreading and maybe checking of facts included in the text to set the context would have served this book and any reader quite well. Alas, I see none of that in this work.

So to paraphrase Chapelle's Rick James, "I wish I had more hands, so I could give this book four thumbs down!"

So many technical errors that it should be labled as a fairy tale. Cannot be believe it was printed! I paid a dime for the book at a yard sale and feel ripped off!