Full disclosure: I was 2nd Lt Pantano's chaplain in Iraq in 2004.
The book is a quick read. The intermixing of the Article 32 hearing report with Lt Pantano's background helps the book's pacing considerably. The writing is crisp for the most part, and it certainly gives one as good an impression as any mere book can of the realities of combat, both in theater and in a military court. I frequently found myself back in the Battalion Aid Station, or up in the C-I-C as the reports came in.
But the book is more than just a good summer read that does an excellent job of presenting this war from the perspective of a bona fide warrior.
Our military, and certain intelligence assets are at war, but we have not yet become a nation - a people - at war. To the extent people read and really pay attention to what 2nd Lt Pantano is saying, this is a step in the right direction. I am still afraid that it will take another attack on US soil to drive the point home that we are in a war with a determined enemy, though I certainly hope not. If that happens, I pray it puts steel in the American spine and inspires a remorseless pursuit of victory in our people, because, as I have said before, this war will not be won until we do to our enemy what Sherman did to Georgia. The legal beagles, euro-weenies, and hyper-sensitive won't like that, but it is so. War is force - disciplined violence with the intention of breaking the enemy's will or killing him. We can win their friendship after the war. Until that time, we must face the facts. Our enemy will not permit a truce (a la Korea). We cannot afford a defeat (a la VietNam). And one cannot achieve victory with half-measures. The sooner our enemy fears us, the sooner we will win - and the fewer people (on both sides) who will die in the process.
As a great military leader once said, "Audace, audace, tou jour l'audace!" Lieutenant Pantano is nothing if not audacious.
It's a good read and I heartily recommend it.