Customer Reviews

Somalia on $5 a Day: A soldier's Story

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I am currently reading this book and see how it would be hard to follow if you have never Served in the Military. But i think Major Stanton did an excellent job explaining Military terminology. As to the facts of this book i know they are accurate from first hand experience. Unfortunately when writing a book you must consolidate your facts, and day to day stories otherwise you would have a thousand page manual on you hands.
If you are interested in Somali History and the US involvement that lead up to the Black Hawk Down Tragedy this is the book for you. As far as Ray's comment from Washington DC , he is correct 3/14th INF was the first Unit in Kismayu starting in Dec. 22, 1992 until Mar. 18, 1993. But the 2/87 INF was the first 10th Mountain Div Unit in Country. We were based in Marka 45 minutes to an hour and a half South of Mogadishu ( The Mog ).
I would also recommend you read Black Hawk Down, that was an excellent book. I just wish i new about Somalia on $ 5 dollars a day before i read Black Hawk down, because these two books amazingly go hand to hand.

Marty Stanton does an outstanding job writing about what common US soldiers did in Somalia prior to the infamous October 3rd raid in Mogadishu. Touted in the media as a peacekeeping/humanitarian mission, for those that served there, Operation Restore Hope was a combat operation complete with raids and ambushes never before disclosed.

Sadly American soldiers who faced fierce guerrilla combat in the hinterlands of Somalia are still denied the appropiate level of combat recognition to this day. Read this book and see first hand the difficulties and dangers that American soldiers faced in a hostile and dangerous country that is still in anarchy and turmoil.

Long before the Rangers and October 3rd, American Infantrymen of the 10th Mountain Division were engaging the Somali warlords, you'll be amazed to see the dangers and hardships they endured. If you want to truly understand Somalia and what led up to October 3rd -this book will both amaze you and humor you with Marty's Infantrymans sense of humor.

Stanton's writing style is full of military jargon (although he does try to explain things). He repeats a lot of details and names.

Fortunately for him but unfortunately for the reader, he had a relatively uneventful deployment, which contributes to the feeling of repetitiveness.

So there's little entertainment value (there are a few intermittent bits of humor). However, there may be some historical or educational value.

This is another good book by Martin Stanton. You really get a feel for Somalia pre-Black Hawk Down. It demonstrates why there is so much trouble in Somalia and other countries in the horn of Africa. This would be a good read for anyone who wants to help fix the Horn of Africa.

After having read a lot of books regarding Somalia's most recent history, I have finally picked-up this one. I have found it very interesting, as it describes (as a sort of personal diary) facts and events happened before the distaster of 3rd-Oct and far away from Mogadishu. The book helps to understand not only how the soldiers of 10th Div dealt with Somalis and with all the problems of their (abandoned) Country, but (perhaps more important) how they felt there.

If you are aching to understand every acronym the military has to offer, yearning to read through countless missions whose climaxes are putting roofs on buildings, or if you want to know how the military systematically cordoned off city after city in Somalia, then perhaps this book is for you. It details the minutia with which the military deals but there is little in the way of ops or hard-core action if you will. As a writer, Stanton makes a great soldier. This book sets the stage for Blackhawk Down but comparing the two books is akin to comparing a knitting group to a SWAT team.