Before now poetry has taken notice
Of wars, and what are wars but politics
Transformed from chronic to acute and bloody?
from "Build Soil"
Robert Frost

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

In A Time Of War

I recently received a copy of In A Time of War, Bill Murphy Jr.'s book on the West Point Class of 2002.

I started reading a random chapter in the middle of the book, and quickly stopped and restarted at the beginning. I couldn't put it down. Bill Murphy Jr. offers an amazing look inside the warrior culture that drives men broken by war to return to the battlefield. He writes eloquently of commanders good and bad, of fobbits and frontline grunts, of homesick soldiers and of the too-often forgotten "home front" of worried, scared and proud wives and families. In A Time Of War took me back to Iraq- I smelled it, heard it, and tasted the dust. This is more than a book about West Point cadets- this is a book about the entire thin line -volunteers all- that protects and defends our great nation. It belongs on the shelf of anyone who cares to understand the military and its culture.

If you want to know what pre-surge Iraq looked like, if you want to understand why soldiers volunteer for multiple tours, and conversely, if you want to understand why those same soldiers serve their time and leave, you should read this book.

13 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/10/08 01:48

    Sounds like a good read.

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  2. Anonymous6/10/08 08:50

    I'm looking forward to read this book because it tells about the courage, heroism, fear, and catastrophic life of soldiers.

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  3. Thanks for the tip TD. I'll get a copy.

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  4. Have been reading your blog for a long time now - founds a real silly badger song on the tube which made me come back and read your blog again. Tedious song... The Badger song

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  5. Great post and great site you have!

    Would you like a Link Exchange with our new blog COMMON CENTS where we blog about the issues of the day?

    http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com

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  6. Gotta check out this book. Thanks, buddy, for your blog. I am a former Desert Storm Marine.I wish to rejoin my bretheren in the theater, much to the chagrin of my wife. I do, however, do what I can, here at home to support you and your compadres. God bless, keep writing!

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  7. I just finished this book. It was as good as you made it out to be - thanks for the recommendation.

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  8. I have a quick question about your blog. If you would please email me at your earliest convenience, I'd appreciate it very much. Thank you for your assistance.

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  9. Thanks for the tip. I boogied up to local Barns and Noble, reading it now.

    Thanks for the tip!

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  10. Anonymous31/1/09 17:14

    Helllooo....we miss your blogs...please write soon.
    Aprillini

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  11. It took me a while but I finally got the book and couldn't put it down. It's evry thing TD said it was. (No surprise there.)

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  12. Anonymous27/9/10 08:31

    this is so sad.

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