Customer Reviews

My War: Killing Time in Iraq

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Colby Buzzell has candidly written one of the most interesting pieces of work in print today about the real life war in Iraq. This is not some "view from the top" but a look at the war from someone who fought it as a young soldier with mixed feelings about the military establishment and with solid feelings for America and our purpose there. His writing is refreshing, his humor is laugh out loud and his insight is immediately identifiable from those of us who have served our country in the military. I served 4 years on active duty with the Marine Corps from 1970-74 and left the Marines as a newly promoted Captain. Mr. Buzzell was the kind of thinker I'd loved to have had in my platoon. When presented with the mission, he gave it 100% every time, never losing his humanity and morals. For those who want to know the truth (and can handle the truth), this book is highly recommended and will come to be recognized as one of the best books to come out about this war from an infantry soldier's viewpoint. He has my respect.

I recently read Anthony Swofford's review of My War, by Colby Buzzell. Swofford, a former Marine sniper and Gulf War veteran, is the author of Jarhead, the successful memoir of his Gulf War experience, which has recently shown up on the Hollywood big screen as a top box office seller.

All in all, I think Jarhead was a fairly good read. Criticisms abound regarding the manner in which Swofford portrays the Marines-which for the most part seem to stem from people who cling to the sentiment and disillusion that all things military must be John Wayne like. There is though, an annoying overtone of whining in his account, and an even more annoying hint of supplication to the cultured academic elite (which seems to be his intended audience), as if with a wink and a nod he readily validates that echelon's misguided and misinformed perceptions and stereotypes of the military, and in particular, all-male combat culture they so disdain.

The most redeeming quality of his memoir, which was illuminated even better in the movie, is Swofford's honest portrayal of having never squeezed the trigger. In the first Gulf War, there was absolutely no substantial role for light infantry, let alone snipers. While Jarhead may be the defining account of a sniper's role in the Gulf War, it is not the defining account of the war-which will be better served by someone who directly participated in the armored blitzkrieg of a slaughter that it was (i.e., someone from the 1 out of every 14 Gulf War soldiers who actually did squeeze the trigger).

I'm not here though to focus on Jarhead, I'll leave that to the sophomore at Brown or Amherst or Dartmouth...as a former dirt soldier of the first Gulf War, I'm here to zero in on My War. I found Swofford's review of My War to not only be, pardon the pun, entirely off the mark, but startlingly offensive. The crux of his review seems to be a critique that Buzzell's writing is not seasoned and is not "literary" enough, and comes off more like a collection of blog entries...again, more supplicating, or shall I say sucking up, to his Columbia Journalism Review audience.

Buzzell's writing is indeed not seasoned, it is charred and sizzling meat plucked straight out of the fire-it'll burn you while it nourishes you. Buzzell's writing does perhaps lack some kind of literary flourish-but so what? Again, when I read Jarhead, I'm reading the witty, dry prose of a University of Iowa Writers Workshop project-when I read My War, I'm back on O.P., in the foxhole with a fellow two year enlistee dog, discussing life the way that only dirt soldiers do. When I read Jarhead, I'm sitting in a freshman creative writing class being forced to listen to a young professor read his own writing to the class in a painstakingly obvious effort to get into the pants of the freshman girls. When I read My War, its right after the last formation and I'm up on the third floor of the barracks, with my BDUs still half on but with a bottle of Mad Dog hoisted to my lips...

Swofford's various critiques are rather pointless, trifling, and somewhat irrational. He mocks the fact that Buzzell was a "typical Northern California stoner kid" who joins the Army in a typical way, complete with taking pains to pass the piss test and marrying for the extra cash...he mocks the precise beauty of this book-it's unflinching and non-judging look at the everyday realities of the common junior soldier. Who the hell does Swofford think joins the Army (or Marines for that matter)?

Furthermore, and more importantly, Swofford seems to diminish the profundity of My War. He should know better. Many a Gulf War soldier left the theatre with a nagging and certain knowledge that their experience was but a prelude of something way bigger to come...we knew we'd be back. We knew that "next time" we'd be going to Baghdad. The common rejoinder was "next time, dog, it ain't goin' to be no joke." And it has not been a joke. For those of us who did grind up Iraqi lives in our track treads the first time around, My War is captivating in a way that Jarhead never could be...we knew the desert slaughter was giving birth to the surreal urban nightmare that our soldiers now find themselves in, and Buzzell documents it for us in a language we well know.

In time, history students and lovers of the literary will look to My War as a defining first person account of the overall Army experience in the Middle East, while Jarhead will rightly be passed off as some kind of Tim O'Brian wannabe. Swofford's review reads like a severe case of penis envy.

My War Rocks.

I'm a baby boomer from Colby's Dad's generation. a long-haired, small L libertarian in the Ted Nugent mold. I was a daily reader of his war blog. When he closed it down, I sent him an e-mail thanking him for his service. A few week's ago, Colby replied thanking me for my e-mail a year after the fact. That's it. Nothing about his book. I decided to try his old blogsite on a whim and that's how I found out about "My War".

I read this book at my office. I didn't even put it down when my boss stuck his head in the door unless he needed something specific from me, immediately. As others here have said, Buzzell's writing style is unique. It's clear and concise, blunt at times. It's not a lot of fluffy wordsmithing. You really can't classify Buzzell or his writing. You have to experience it for yourself. I can't say I "enjoyed" this book because It's not fiction. I did learn from it. I feel better about the generation following mine if there are a lot of Colby Buzzell's in it.

Wow! What a GREAT read! I laughed out loud and I cried. For me, this book made me feel like I am hearing the TRUTH about Iraq...not some twisted biased media report. Mr. Buzzell is a very unique, interesting, and colorful character. He is compassionate, hysterical, sobering, and blatantly honest. I read the book in a day and will read it again. I found his work to be educational as well at thought provoking...and inspiring. He brought to light what our men and women serving our country endure on a daily basis. An Interview with an Iraqi and in Service of the Queen were profoundly moving. If you like to read a good story and want to hear some truth about Iraq from a Soldier's perspective I highly recommend it. Thank you Mr. Buzzell for serving our country and for sharing your story with us. God Bless.

A common fallacy prevalent in America today is that the best way to support the troops is to slap a yellow ribbon magnet on our cars and attend political fundraisers. I'm not one who subscribes to those notions. In order to best support our currently deployed troops, one has to understand what's really happening to them, and how they perceive not only the events unfolding around them but also their own actions. This is why I started reading CB's blog. I have yet to encounter another soldier who is willing, able, and/or allowed to convey those messages as vividly as CB. The blog on which this book is based has recently become the gold standard for other soldiers currently keeping milblogs.

While CB's experiences are personal and consequently unique in many aspects, this book does teach the reader quite a bit about universal soldier life in Iraq today. For example, it illustrates what wearing a full kit in desert heat really feels like, soldiers' opinions of war reports in the press, the ways in which the latrine walls have become a forum for political commentary, the surprising sites found in a rare Iraqi Christian neighborhood, troops' reaction to voting and writing home regularly, which camp has a reputation for its STD rate, the gradual desensitization to mortar attacks, the important role books and music play not only during downtime but also in battle, and most importantly, what's really going through soldiers' heads. Also of special interest is the reaction CB's chain of command had to his blog once it was discovered. The higher ups' personal vs. official public views of the blog did not always mesh.

I read My War solely for educational purposes, to help me get a grip on what soldiers are thinking and feeling but may not share with me. I never expected to be entertained, but I was. This book is a fast paced page-turner that's difficult to put down. CB's gift for storytelling is so masterful that his daily reports are at times hysterically funny, at others heart wrenching, yet always fascinating. I recommend it to everyone-- those who are clueless about military life, currently deployed troops, and especially Mom and Dad back home.

And finally, kudos to CB for the surprisingly relevant Black Flag references.

With the all volunteer military it is not often that the average American even knows someone, who knows someone, fighting our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is very easy to just put them out of mind. Colby Buzzell paints a realistic picture, for those that care to see it, of the day to day life of the average combat soldier in Iraq. He has a good eye for the small details that make all of his accounts ring true. It's not over the top action packed, it's just real. Sometimes funny, often sad, occasionally harrowing. The kind of things that I think that if you have loved ones in Iraq you'd wish they could tell you about. How many times have I heard from pundits not to except the media accounts of the war, but find out what the soldiers who are fighting it think. Well here was my chance and it was very much worth my time.

My son is currently serving with the U.S.Army in the Infantry in Iraq. It's hard...on those serving our country abroad...and on their families and friends. I purchased this book to hopefully help with my coping...bring me closer to what he's going thru and also wanting to learn the military jargon that I'm unfamiliar with. I started reading and COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!! It is such a heartfelt, personal...in your face, up close look at what our troops are experiencing in Iraq. I learned so much...and could almost see my son reacting in some of the situations as Colby did. THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS BOOK! The surprise to me was that it displaced the anger and worry that I had with my son being deployed (ok, so I'm a mom....that's what we do) I was strangely comforted by the book...I felt as if I were there and could finally relate to what my son is experiencing. My son can't communicate to me what he is experiencing because of security reasons...I just hear..."don't worry I'm ok". So it was nice getting this prospective. I've never "reviewed" a book I've read but I felt compelled to review this one. If you want a true, honest look at what our troops are going through I highly recommend this read!!

I started reading CB's blog about two years ago. Wow... two years! His style was unique. I could almost hear him saying "Oh yeah? Well let me tell you THIS story" and he would just break out into storytelling mode. Reading CB's words was like sitting around a campfire swapping stories. I was so sad when he had to take his blogsite down. Every once in a while, we'd get a teaser. Then finally.... THE BOOK!

I knew it was coming, and I knew it would be out in October, but man... to actually get the book and be able to read those stories again- priceless. As a reader of his blog, I was happy to see that the old posts were there, as well as some biographical information and supplemental posts. Have you ever read a story, fiction or non, and felt like you were being talked to by the author? Reading "My War" is like attending a one-man Broadway show- a highly entertaining, conversational evening told first-person.

"My War" is not fiction. It's a first-hand account of what leads young men to sign up for the military, and how war affects their lives. It's about fighting for your life, and the lives of others in a foreign country. The language is raw- so consider yourself warned if you are easily offended. It's also not meant for someone looking to glorify war or someone looking for a disgruntled Reservist's criticisms about the war. It's a talk with a war veteran. Enjoy it.. open your eyes and ears, and learn from it.

Wow, reading Buzzell's words is like having your most animated buddy tell the best story of his life. It's straight, mercifully free of purple prose and self indulgence (which is a paradox in the world of 'blogging). I finally got a chance to devote a whole evening to this book after sneaking it into work only to shun lunchtime shmoozing to read it at my desk. Let me tell ya the signifance I drew from this book: Had it been written 20 years from now, something would have been lost in the impact of looking at the world knowing this is happening RIGHT NOW to the kid that just graduated high school, your neighbour's spouse, and some child's parent. I found Buzzell's book to be dichotomous in the laugh-out-loud hilarity and sobering depictions, freedom and censorship, and most of all his painting a picture so that you THINK you might know what it's like and realizing how deeply you will never know what it's like unless you were there and have a "shoebox" with a lid closed tight. I'm glad I got the hard back because this will be a book I will thumb again and place alongside "Fields of Fire"(James Webb), "Guns Up"(Johnnie Clark) and "COPS: Their Lives in their Own Words"(Mark Baker)

This book is the best I've ever read. My husband, like Colby, is in Mosul with the 172nd Stryker Brigade and this book made me feel closer to him. It tells you what's really going on overseas, unlike the news. I've never read a book in one day, but I did with this one. I could not put it down. Big thumbs up to Colby for writing this.