The Good Soldiers

Just finished the Good Soldiers by David Finkel. The book chronicles the 15-month deployment of Army Battalion 2-16 during the Iraq "surge". The central figure is the Battalion Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich.

The book is a fast-paced read that really centers on the men in the battalion - what they are feeling, how they are changing. The book also describes in unrelenting honesty how totally screwed up Iraq was at the time. Reading the descriptions, I don't see how any reasonable person could have possibly stayed hopeful about the mission of the 2-16 and yet, like "Good Soldiers" they carried on - right down to the very last day of their combat operations.

Finkel's book does not hype the action (although there is plenty of it). Instead, you get a front-row seat in a story that tells you what it was like to be an army infantry soldier in Iraq. It is an amazing eye-opener.

If you like war/memoir books, add this one to your list.