Customer Reviews

Sniper One: The Blistering True Story of a British Battle Group Under Siege

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was very fast paced and a fantastic read. I cannot believe the story of Al-Amarah wasn't printed in any of the newspapers. The writer provides a detailed account of the conditions the soldiers had to endure at the front-line and the hostilities faced by the Al-Sadr Shia militias.

The soldiers are constantly living under the barrage of mortar fire at temperatures of up to fifty-degrees, and surrounded by very heavily armed militias. It also provides some great photographs of the compound, the surrounding area, and of the soldiers themselves.

This book is incredibly inspiring and I have complete and utter respect for all the soldiers fighting for the security of Iraq. To be honest I am not doing any justice to this book with this review, it is that good.

Whatever the views you may have of the Iraq war, this book is a MUST read.

Straight away you are in his team, living the terrible dream. What I loved about this book was the comradeship of, & in, his team. Every negative that these guy's come across, was turned into a positive. I found this book to be very real, honest, & breath taking in places. The courage these guy's have, has to be respected. When reading this book, you are in the war. The rights & wrongs are not discussed in this book, nor should they be. This is action, real action. Sgt Dan Mills takes us inside Iraq & fortunately, takes us back out again. If you enjoy factual war books, then you will love this book. A MUST READ.

Head over to 'amazon dot co dot uk' ( not sure if I can do links here ), enter 'sniper one' in the search then read the reviews on that site, vast numbers of 5-star reviews. Amazon really need to make their english-language databases join together better.

Seriously, this book is incredible.

Written by a the Platoon Sgt from the sniper platoon of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales Royal Regiment of the British Army about a deployment of his unit to Iraq in 2004, most specifically to the city of Al Amarah in Southern Iraq, this book gives an excellent account of modern combat from the ground. The body of the work represents the story of the deployment and discusses it from beginning to end with a very brief rundown of the pre-deployment period and at the end a couple of pages of `where are they now' stuff.

The bulk of the work is a fairly gripping read of deployment including details of the gradual reduction in the British forces ability to get out onto the streets and the attempt by the opposing forces to mortar them into leaving while keeping up a sporadic fire at their base of operations. The almost cat and mouse nature of the conflict and the responses tried by the British HQ are interesting as are the effects of air power and lighter moments that show the they way that troops on the ground react to the pressures they are put under. By making the soldiers people with names it keeps the action feeling `close'. It should be noted that there is not action on every page. This isn't some adaptation of a Rambo film not aimed at the sort of people who want Saving Private Ryan levels of evisceration occurring on every page.

As the drama unfolds and the British are effectively under siege in their base in Al Amarah it becomes clear that the levels of professionalism, tactical nous and equipment levels/education levels of the British troops are huge force multipliers. A full scale attack on the base is beaten off and eventually their enemy is forced to effectively concede their inability to win. Even if they aren't totally eliminated themselves.

The writing style is at times a little blunt. And some of the sentiments expressed are a bit rough `n' ready but I just wrote it off as an attempt at none too subtle grunt gung-ho tendencies and secondly that at the end of the day.... this is a Sargeant we're talking about here (apparently later a WO2). So you aren't really entitled to expect Sandhurst College levels of prose! Similarly the action is very much centred on what happened to the sniper platoon. I'm sure there must be an equally thrilling account to be written from a higher up perspective that deals with the wider concerns of the action in Al Amarah.

I liked this book very much and it's oscillating between everyday concerns and high octane action. The author is to be commended for having the guts to say some of the things he does even if it does sound a tiny bit contrived at times. A good book for any military history enthusiast and while it focuses on only a microcosm of the Iraq conflict it was nice to read something that mostly left aside the politics.

Darn near five stars.

This was a well written and captivating story concerning the deployment of some British troops in Iraq. These were nothing short of heroic soldiers and the description of their experiences makes for exciting reading. I highly recommend this book to folks who like to read 'real life' military adventures.

It is as if I too was there. Thoroughly engrossing. Reads like a thriller with well developed characters and plot/s. Sgt Dan Mills missed his vocation but there is still time.

I loved this book! It is a great read from start to finish. The writing is crisp, smooth and flows well. The story is action packed and almost makes you feel right there. This is one of the best "war" books I have ever read.

Excellent book that is well written. Sargent Mills tells the story that portrays the hardship and emotional stress of combat along with the details of his duty as a sniper.

This book was awesome! I absolutely loved it! It was an interesting look into the fighting British in Iraq. That is something I dont hear much about in the states. This is by far the best book on war I have read to date!

Geat book. Be ready to scratch your head on a few British military slang words...

Drop this book's ISBN / author / title into amazon.co.uk(no "m" in the "com"!), & you'll see over 130 great reviews there.

You can also scroll to the page bottom here & find link to the UK-site.

The US site seems to have a bewildering resistance to linking to the UK site( I suppose you could include the Canadian site on the list as well, where appropriate).

Why they don't is beyond me, but they don't, & I've e-mailed several times. The one reply I did get back was a masterpiece of empty-headed space-filler. The Brit' army slang was easier to understand...