What do you think?
Rate this book
The Good Soldiers
This is an account of one American platoon's tour of duty in Baghdad. It is a searing and shattering portrait of the face of modern warfare.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
307 people are currently reading
9153 people want to read
About the author
David Finkel
19 books161 followersDavid Finkel is a staff writer for The Washington Post, and is also the leader of the Post’s national reporting team. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2006 for a series of stories about U.S.-funded democracy efforts in Yemen. Finkel lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters. Email him at davidfinkel@thegoodsoldiers.com.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidf...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidf...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 941 reviews
January 27, 2015
Revived review. I watched American Sniper and whatever the movie's merits, as usual, there was no attempt to give a political context to the horrors on display. This great book does that. So if anyone wanted to find out exactly what the tours of duty in Baghdad in those years were really like, and what was going off in post-Shock & Awe Iraq, and why the troops were there, read this.
Note - this review was written in 2011, way before the rise of ISIS.
*****
This is a great book, a horror story which needed telling and a book which could actually change people’s minds.
It must be said that The Good Soldiers is mainly about men being maimed and killed. The good soldiers from America drive slowly through some of the worst parts of Baghdad and of course they are very frequently blown up. David Finkel reports the story of one army unit between January 2007 and April 2008, when the author was with them - in the famous word, "embedded". In those few months, 14 died. A lot of others received awful injuries. They did all this, they were told, and they believed, mostly, and repeated back to anyone who asked, for freedom. America’s and Iraq’s.
If they hadn’t been there at all, if the USA had removed Saddam Hussein and left, then the whole country, the wisdom ran, would have become a playground for al-Qaeda. Or, it would have become another jihadi-preaching cabal of hate-filled mullahs. Whatever. Same thing.
Before the invasion, Iraq was neither, because Saddam hated al-Qaeda and religious mullahs both. The Ba'ath Party was pan-Arabic and socialist (it was founded by a Christian). Bin Laden was on record saying very unflattering things about Saddam. No love lost.
Iraq was invaded in the first place because although it was al-Qaeda free, and had a secular government, Saddam was fanatically opposed to America and had a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed within 30 minutes. Only that turned out not to be even slightly true. Having got rid of a dictator who didn’t have any power to harm them, the USA then had to feed its young men into the particular hell the country became to stop it turning into the kind of place it never would have become if Saddam had stayed in power.
Oops.
But hey, the world’s better off without Saddam, of that we can all agree. It was just a bit expensive to remove him. So, the American teenage boys (average age 19) stayed to fight for Iraqi freedom. Of course, there’s another way of defining fighting for freedom.
If your country has been invaded and occupied by a foreign army, then maybe, fighting to get rid of the foreign army is, for you, fighting for freedom. In the case of Iraq, if you thought that, you would be wrong. But maybe, for an uneducated population, that was an easy mistake to make.
The soldiers said : Why aren’t you filled with love for us who came from a rich country and rid you of your tyrant who had wrecked your lives and eaten your children? Why do you spend hours constructing ingenious homemade devices which project jagged metal parts into our eyes, brains, stomachs and legs? You act like we are the enemy whereas we have just freed you from your enemy.
The soldiers were involved in two conflicts. One was with the Iraqis who were trying to kill them, they know it was probably only some of the Iraqis, but it felt like all of the Iraqis; the other was the conflict with themselves. The Humvees explode and the bodies pile up, most have faces on them which were drinking and eating with you when you last saw them, and each day as you surf that homicidal wave again and wonder if it’ll be you this time, even you, the most unreflective of men, must begin to wonder, what are we actually doing here? What good is all this? Why are we dying?
Consider the crazy occupation of Baghdad in which these guys were instructed each day to expose themselves to death and maiming. It was a particular form of hell born out of a political gesture which got entirely carried away with its own momentum and which had never developed the least notion of an exit strategy or definable objective, except to use the infantry as human lightning conductors, focusing all the energies of the jihadis, until such time as the good Iraqis could get their own political and military institutions together – a holding operation, in other words, which was considered worth doing at the cost of 50 to 60 American lives per month.
There will be no equivalent of this great book from the Iraqi insurgent’s point of view. Every Western death is commemorated, every trauma and post-trauma agonised over. But the death and maiming handed out to the Iraqis are mentioned, if at all, in passing, and with cursing and contempt. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, so it goes.
The Good Soldiers documents one unit involved in George Bush’s famous troop surge. The impression you get is that the surge did nothing, that the decisions whether to crank up the bombings and rocket attacks or dial them down were taken by invisible warlords like al-Sadr, and that the relative peace we have now is by their fiat.
NOTE ON RELATIVE PEACE FROM IRAQ BODY COUNT
Number of civilians in Iraq killed PER DAY by roadside and suicide bombs :
2007: 21
2011 : 6.4
Deaths per day from gunfire & executions :
2007: 41
2011 : 4.8
And so, maybe, this measurable decline in violence is due not to the efforts of coalition troops but to complex internal struggles between the various Iraqi political and religious groups, all of which would have happened whether coalition troops were there or not. It may have all been futile.
This whole Iraq thing is a heartbreaker.
This book is a heartbreaker.
Note - this review was written in 2011, way before the rise of ISIS.
*****
This is a great book, a horror story which needed telling and a book which could actually change people’s minds.
It must be said that The Good Soldiers is mainly about men being maimed and killed. The good soldiers from America drive slowly through some of the worst parts of Baghdad and of course they are very frequently blown up. David Finkel reports the story of one army unit between January 2007 and April 2008, when the author was with them - in the famous word, "embedded". In those few months, 14 died. A lot of others received awful injuries. They did all this, they were told, and they believed, mostly, and repeated back to anyone who asked, for freedom. America’s and Iraq’s.
If they hadn’t been there at all, if the USA had removed Saddam Hussein and left, then the whole country, the wisdom ran, would have become a playground for al-Qaeda. Or, it would have become another jihadi-preaching cabal of hate-filled mullahs. Whatever. Same thing.
Before the invasion, Iraq was neither, because Saddam hated al-Qaeda and religious mullahs both. The Ba'ath Party was pan-Arabic and socialist (it was founded by a Christian). Bin Laden was on record saying very unflattering things about Saddam. No love lost.
Iraq was invaded in the first place because although it was al-Qaeda free, and had a secular government, Saddam was fanatically opposed to America and had a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction which could be deployed within 30 minutes. Only that turned out not to be even slightly true. Having got rid of a dictator who didn’t have any power to harm them, the USA then had to feed its young men into the particular hell the country became to stop it turning into the kind of place it never would have become if Saddam had stayed in power.
Oops.
But hey, the world’s better off without Saddam, of that we can all agree. It was just a bit expensive to remove him. So, the American teenage boys (average age 19) stayed to fight for Iraqi freedom. Of course, there’s another way of defining fighting for freedom.
If your country has been invaded and occupied by a foreign army, then maybe, fighting to get rid of the foreign army is, for you, fighting for freedom. In the case of Iraq, if you thought that, you would be wrong. But maybe, for an uneducated population, that was an easy mistake to make.
The soldiers said : Why aren’t you filled with love for us who came from a rich country and rid you of your tyrant who had wrecked your lives and eaten your children? Why do you spend hours constructing ingenious homemade devices which project jagged metal parts into our eyes, brains, stomachs and legs? You act like we are the enemy whereas we have just freed you from your enemy.
The soldiers were involved in two conflicts. One was with the Iraqis who were trying to kill them, they know it was probably only some of the Iraqis, but it felt like all of the Iraqis; the other was the conflict with themselves. The Humvees explode and the bodies pile up, most have faces on them which were drinking and eating with you when you last saw them, and each day as you surf that homicidal wave again and wonder if it’ll be you this time, even you, the most unreflective of men, must begin to wonder, what are we actually doing here? What good is all this? Why are we dying?
Consider the crazy occupation of Baghdad in which these guys were instructed each day to expose themselves to death and maiming. It was a particular form of hell born out of a political gesture which got entirely carried away with its own momentum and which had never developed the least notion of an exit strategy or definable objective, except to use the infantry as human lightning conductors, focusing all the energies of the jihadis, until such time as the good Iraqis could get their own political and military institutions together – a holding operation, in other words, which was considered worth doing at the cost of 50 to 60 American lives per month.
There will be no equivalent of this great book from the Iraqi insurgent’s point of view. Every Western death is commemorated, every trauma and post-trauma agonised over. But the death and maiming handed out to the Iraqis are mentioned, if at all, in passing, and with cursing and contempt. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, so it goes.
The Good Soldiers documents one unit involved in George Bush’s famous troop surge. The impression you get is that the surge did nothing, that the decisions whether to crank up the bombings and rocket attacks or dial them down were taken by invisible warlords like al-Sadr, and that the relative peace we have now is by their fiat.
NOTE ON RELATIVE PEACE FROM IRAQ BODY COUNT
Number of civilians in Iraq killed PER DAY by roadside and suicide bombs :
2007: 21
2011 : 6.4
Deaths per day from gunfire & executions :
2007: 41
2011 : 4.8
And so, maybe, this measurable decline in violence is due not to the efforts of coalition troops but to complex internal struggles between the various Iraqi political and religious groups, all of which would have happened whether coalition troops were there or not. It may have all been futile.
This whole Iraq thing is a heartbreaker.
This book is a heartbreaker.
February 17, 2015
“As of today, 6,845 Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and over 900,000 Americans have been injured in both wars…According to the Pentagon, more than half to two-thirds of Americans killed or wounded in combat in both Iraq and Afghanistan have been victims of IED explosions. As stated in The International Business Times, we’ve reached a ‘grim milestone’ after two failed wars…” – H.A. Goodman, The Huffington Post
A few days ago, I was keyed up to finally start reading Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel, only to read in the foreword that it’s actually a sequel to the book The Good Soldiers. I did what any ordinary reader would do: I slammed the book shut and immediately purchased the latter book. It was imperative that I start at the beginning.
Finkel, a reporter for The Washington Post, deploys with the Second Battalion, Sixteenth Infantry regiment of eight hundred soldiers out of Fort Riley, Kansas under the leadership of U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, Ralph Kauzlarich, in early April of 2007. Their assignment: be the face of the new direction the Bush administration was taking with the “war on terror,” by counterinsurgency tactics that would help the Iraqi people become independent, and stand on their own two feet.“The thing is, he and his battalion weren’t even supposed to be here, and that’s one way to consider everything that was about to happen…”
This book was amazing! No lie. I feel ashamed to admit that although I am a WWI and WWII walking encyclopedia, I know virtually nothing about many of the wars following that, especially the one that began my senior year in high school. Many of my classmates enlisted, and two months after graduation, a guy from our graduating class was one of the first group of casualties in Afghanistan. His picture was all over the national news; it was eerie. To think of it now, it seems so long ago. He was only eighteen, and that’s what was so heartbreaking. I don’t think he realized what he’d gotten himself into.
“What about the youngest soldier in the battalion, who was only seventeen? ‘Roger that,’ he said, whenever he was asked if he was ready, but when rumors about the deployment first began to circulate, he had taken aside his platoon sergeant, a staff sergeant named Frank Gietz, to ask how he’d be able to handle killing someone. ‘Put it in a dark place while you’re there,’ Gietz had said. So was a seventeen-year-old ready?”
The same can be said of the majority of the soldiers rounding out the 2-16 battalion–most were between the ages of nineteen and twenty, not even old enough to legally drink. Some had hurriedly married girlfriends a few days before deployment, while other tenured family men said goodbye to wives and children and headed back to second or third tours. Sent to eastern Iraq where Shia militants were running rampant, they had their work cut out for them from the get go.
As Finkel ran through each month of the fifteen month deployment, my heart would race like crazy. Each patrol run, explosion, death, injury, and house search had me biting my nails and nearly pulling my hair out. Who would be the next casualty? Who would be injured by an IED? Would the mortar attacks on the base ever stop? I really felt like I was there with these men. Dusty, tired, scared, suffering shock, and the loss of friends and “brothers in arms.” It was such an emotional read. Clearly the war we hear about on the news is a whole other war for those actually fighting it. It’s not entirely black and white, and throughout the year, each soldier’s optimism and endurance is tested. None of them would return as they’d left.
“Is war supposed to be linear? The movement from point A to point B? The odyssey from there to here? Because this wasn’t any of that anymore. The blur was the linear becoming the circular.”
There was one injured soldier’s story that just made me bawl. I was heaving, it was such an emotional passage. What’s interesting is at the war front, although missing many limbs and being burned throughout most of his body, he manages to survive long enough to be air transported back to the States for treatment. His survival seems like a success–he didn’t die. Back home at a state of the art hospital for “Wounded Warriors,” Kauzlarich has a chance to visit with the soldier and his family four months after the attack. What he witnesses is the reality of life after the war. The final words of the book were so perfect, and a natural introduction to the sequel:
“’The war’s over for you, my friend,’ Kauzlarich said now to Showman, and of all the things he had ever said, nothing had ever seemed less true.”
May 10, 2010
As much as I liked this book, I hated it, too. You see, my husband was in the same brigade as 2-16. He was not at FOB Rusty, but at another FOB as part of the surge. We haven't talked much about what he saw during his two deployments. He isn't an infantryman, never has had to patrol, etc. However, he had to go outside the wire, as any and all soldiers are wont to do. Until this book, I could never imagine what that entailed.
My heart breaks for the soldiers of 2-16. The ones who were killed and their families, the ones who were injured and their families, the ones who came home and their families. My heart breaks for every soldier who knows the horrors of war and for the families that must deal with the aftermath of it. PTSD is real. And it's awful.
I would like to thank Mr. Finkel for including pictures of the fallen soldiers of 2-16. I was on the receiving end of many emails with their names; now I have faces to go with those names. Before my husband deployed, I was given a disk with the photos of all his soldiers. I put it away the very day I got it, praying none of those pictures would ever need to be pulled of a disk.
I think every American, hawk or dove, should read this book. If we are going to be a country willing to go to war, we need to be educated about what war costs.
God Bless the Rangers of 2-16, past, present and future. God bless the United States Army. And God bless America.
My heart breaks for the soldiers of 2-16. The ones who were killed and their families, the ones who were injured and their families, the ones who came home and their families. My heart breaks for every soldier who knows the horrors of war and for the families that must deal with the aftermath of it. PTSD is real. And it's awful.
I would like to thank Mr. Finkel for including pictures of the fallen soldiers of 2-16. I was on the receiving end of many emails with their names; now I have faces to go with those names. Before my husband deployed, I was given a disk with the photos of all his soldiers. I put it away the very day I got it, praying none of those pictures would ever need to be pulled of a disk.
I think every American, hawk or dove, should read this book. If we are going to be a country willing to go to war, we need to be educated about what war costs.
God Bless the Rangers of 2-16, past, present and future. God bless the United States Army. And God bless America.
May 27, 2013
Up close and personal, The Good Soldiers is a brutal, bloody, real portrait of contemporary war, complete with excrement-filled trenches, good intentions, too many severed human parts, and some questionable leadership. It is as disturbing as it is informative.
What did the surge in Iraq look like from the inside? How do you get the locals to trust you? How do you patrol an area when your vehicles are constantly being blown up by IEDs and other deadly devices? How do you sustain an optimistic outlook when there is so much cause for despair? David Finkel follows the exploits of the 2-16 Battalion through one year of the so-called “surge.” From their first days in country through the travails of trying to keep the peace in their section of the city, to coping with the deaths of battalion soldiers to their return home. He looks primarily at the experience of the soldiers. We get a sense of what it must be like to be deployed in this war zone. The book is filled with the many details that show the reality of the soldiers’ lives. Finkel leaves the battlefield long enough to show us the soldiers at home on leave, and what their families at home experience during their absence. He also takes us to a Texas hospital where the worst injured are tended. That may be the most horrific part of the book. Bring your hankies.
One small quibble is that I wished the book had a glossary. I did become a bit lost with all the acronyms.
The book’s flap copy claims that this is reminiscent of Mark Bowden’s BlackHawk Down and Tim O’Brien’s The Things they Carried. Both references are apt. I would add Dexter Filkins’ The Forever War to that list. The Good Soldiers is top-notch reportage by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist about the reality on the ground and the human cost of the Iraq War.
What did the surge in Iraq look like from the inside? How do you get the locals to trust you? How do you patrol an area when your vehicles are constantly being blown up by IEDs and other deadly devices? How do you sustain an optimistic outlook when there is so much cause for despair? David Finkel follows the exploits of the 2-16 Battalion through one year of the so-called “surge.” From their first days in country through the travails of trying to keep the peace in their section of the city, to coping with the deaths of battalion soldiers to their return home. He looks primarily at the experience of the soldiers. We get a sense of what it must be like to be deployed in this war zone. The book is filled with the many details that show the reality of the soldiers’ lives. Finkel leaves the battlefield long enough to show us the soldiers at home on leave, and what their families at home experience during their absence. He also takes us to a Texas hospital where the worst injured are tended. That may be the most horrific part of the book. Bring your hankies.
One small quibble is that I wished the book had a glossary. I did become a bit lost with all the acronyms.
The book’s flap copy claims that this is reminiscent of Mark Bowden’s BlackHawk Down and Tim O’Brien’s The Things they Carried. Both references are apt. I would add Dexter Filkins’ The Forever War to that list. The Good Soldiers is top-notch reportage by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist about the reality on the ground and the human cost of the Iraq War.
February 21, 2015
My goodness......this book was just incredible!
It's incredible that most if the soldiers in this story are
aged between 19 and 22 years of age!
It's incredible that so many died in such a horrible way!
It's incredible that so may were horrendously injured and
are on this day still young men and trying to deal with
loss of limbs and brain injuries!
It's incredible that so many avoided physical injury and
are still young men trying to deal with post traumatic
stress disorder!
It's incredible the ones who maybe don't seem physically
or mentally damaged have to try to build their normal
lives again!
At the end of this book there are photos of each soldier who died.
They all look about the same age as my son's.
There are so many heartbreaking parts in this book.
This is the most real and immediate depiction of modern war I have ever read.
My review doesn't do it justice at all but I had to write something.
It's incredible that most if the soldiers in this story are
aged between 19 and 22 years of age!
It's incredible that so many died in such a horrible way!
It's incredible that so may were horrendously injured and
are on this day still young men and trying to deal with
loss of limbs and brain injuries!
It's incredible that so many avoided physical injury and
are still young men trying to deal with post traumatic
stress disorder!
It's incredible the ones who maybe don't seem physically
or mentally damaged have to try to build their normal
lives again!
At the end of this book there are photos of each soldier who died.
They all look about the same age as my son's.
There are so many heartbreaking parts in this book.
This is the most real and immediate depiction of modern war I have ever read.
My review doesn't do it justice at all but I had to write something.
October 4, 2009
Dear Goodreads Web Designer:
Your star rating system needs a new button. Perhaps completely off the scale, a little red x labeled "fucking painful, read it anyway." Or something along those lines.
Sincerely, Kate
I didn't like this book. I don't think anyone could like such a bloody first hand look at an army regiment in Baghdad during the Surge. This is a very painful account, which makes me credit and also dislike it. Because any non-sociopath reading about the gazebo at the Brooke Army Medical Center where the mothers of injured soldiers gather when they can't sleep at four in the morning after a day spent listening to an injured son's screams at his own amputation will know this needs to stop. And it does. It really, really does. The trouble is, declaring victory and bringing everybody home right this second which is what Finkel clearly advocates, is not a strategically intelligent choice. Iraq sucks, but we broke it so maybe we do have an obligation to fix it.
I don't know. It's a hard story, no happy ending, and the only slightly good one involves soldiers coming home alive without Muqtada al-Sadr having enough power to become the next Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Your star rating system needs a new button. Perhaps completely off the scale, a little red x labeled "fucking painful, read it anyway." Or something along those lines.
Sincerely, Kate
I didn't like this book. I don't think anyone could like such a bloody first hand look at an army regiment in Baghdad during the Surge. This is a very painful account, which makes me credit and also dislike it. Because any non-sociopath reading about the gazebo at the Brooke Army Medical Center where the mothers of injured soldiers gather when they can't sleep at four in the morning after a day spent listening to an injured son's screams at his own amputation will know this needs to stop. And it does. It really, really does. The trouble is, declaring victory and bringing everybody home right this second which is what Finkel clearly advocates, is not a strategically intelligent choice. Iraq sucks, but we broke it so maybe we do have an obligation to fix it.
I don't know. It's a hard story, no happy ending, and the only slightly good one involves soldiers coming home alive without Muqtada al-Sadr having enough power to become the next Muammar al-Gaddafi.
November 3, 2021
This book aims to depict the experiences of an Infantry Platoon during their year long deployment in the Iraq War, and in that aim, it succeeds admirably. Like many journalists doing this kind of work, this author obviously developed a sentimental attachment to these soldiers, and so criticisms, questions, and challenges about the war as a whole are scarce. Anyone hoping for the perspective of Iraqis will not find it here, with the exception of the brave translators who were paid a pittance to work alongside the Americans at the risk of certain death.
November 1, 2018
Some of you may remember the book Blood Makes the Grass Grow Green where I started a blog comment war with a friend of the author. I just couldn't stand the attitude of the writer and didn't believe that it was a true memoir. I just didn't think that the war in Afghanistan was really what he said. So I wasn't looking forward to reading this novel by a Pulitzer Prize winning author, because I figured it would be another liberal take on why war is bad.
But, oh, I was wrong. This is one of the finest pieces of war journalism I have ever read. I cried, I laughed, and I felt like I was truly in the head of the commander of the Second Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. Finkel was with the unit from the start of their fifteen-month tour in Kansas to their homecoming. The chapters were headed with quotes from President Bush, as the battalion helped enforce "The Surge" in Iraq. Their biggest enemy? IEDs. The 2-16 is constantly attacked on patrols and always on the lookout for explosives. The photographs throughout the book bring the reader closer to the soldiers.
Mr. Ogle took the book to read and I can't wait to hear his perspective since he served a tour in Iraq a few years ago.
But, oh, I was wrong. This is one of the finest pieces of war journalism I have ever read. I cried, I laughed, and I felt like I was truly in the head of the commander of the Second Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army. Finkel was with the unit from the start of their fifteen-month tour in Kansas to their homecoming. The chapters were headed with quotes from President Bush, as the battalion helped enforce "The Surge" in Iraq. Their biggest enemy? IEDs. The 2-16 is constantly attacked on patrols and always on the lookout for explosives. The photographs throughout the book bring the reader closer to the soldiers.
Mr. Ogle took the book to read and I can't wait to hear his perspective since he served a tour in Iraq a few years ago.
February 18, 2015
As someone who reads military related books (nonfiction and fiction) frequently, this is 1 of my favorite books I've ever read in this genre. Parts of it were horrifying but it was raw and real. I couldn't put it down. I look forward to reading Thank You for Your Service.
March 18, 2012
This is a not book about platoon level combat despite what the book blurb says. It is a book about soldiers, Iraqis, others getting blown up, maimed, shot, killed, ruined without any overarching theme or story other than it is due to the surge. Here is a journal entry from one of “The Good Soldiers”, which pretty much sums up the tone of the entire book.
“I’ve lost all hope. I feel the end is near for me, very, very near.
Day by day my misery grows like a storm, ready to swallow me whole and take me to the unknown. Yet all I can fear is the unknown.
Why can’t I just let go, and let it consume me. Why do I fight so hard, just to be punished again and again, for things I can’t recall? What have I done? I just can’t go on anymore with this evil game.
Darkness is all I see anymore.”
If you are in need of a depressing story, then this is the perfect book to read. Nothing good occurs, only death and destruction. I don’t feel qualified to speak about this book, I wasn’t there. I’d be interested in what members of 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division have to say about it. I did not learn much about the surge in Iraq from this book. This is the type of book I expected from the Washington Post/New York Times reporter pool.
“I’ve lost all hope. I feel the end is near for me, very, very near.
Day by day my misery grows like a storm, ready to swallow me whole and take me to the unknown. Yet all I can fear is the unknown.
Why can’t I just let go, and let it consume me. Why do I fight so hard, just to be punished again and again, for things I can’t recall? What have I done? I just can’t go on anymore with this evil game.
Darkness is all I see anymore.”
If you are in need of a depressing story, then this is the perfect book to read. Nothing good occurs, only death and destruction. I don’t feel qualified to speak about this book, I wasn’t there. I’d be interested in what members of 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division have to say about it. I did not learn much about the surge in Iraq from this book. This is the type of book I expected from the Washington Post/New York Times reporter pool.
November 10, 2009
He pulled a piece of copper shrapnel out from the webbing of his fingers. He wore a short sleeve shirt to show off the zigzag scars along his arms. He popped a fake eye made to look like the crosshairs of a rifle scope into his hollow eye socket. He said, “I want people to know the price of war” (210).
This is just one of the wounded soldiers David Finkel writes about in his brutal but compelling book The Good Soldiers. The book chronicles the troops of the 2-16, one of the battalions who served in Iraq as part of the surge of 2007.
Finkel tells their stories honestly and compassionately, without a trace of political agenda. This is not a book about whether the war is just or not; it’s about the people who fight, live and die in this combat zone and their families back home. It has been compared to the writing of Tim O’Brien; in fact, Finkel himself has admitted to being somewhat influenced by O’Brien’s attention to the human story. Finkel’s work superbly follows in this vein.
While reading, I often found myself staring off in numbed silence at the atrocities these soldiers endured daily. I stared when one soldier carried his wounded friend out of harm’s way while the blood from the wounded soldier ran into his mouth. I stared when another soldier avoided all of his platoon mates because “he didn’t want any soldier asking him how it felt to kill another human being” (119). I stared when Duncan Crookston battled to survive an explosion that took both his legs, his arm, his eyesight, and burned nearly his entire body. I also stared when months later he lost his battle.
Regardless of your stance on the war, we can all recognize the human element, both tragic and heroic, that runs through this book. More so, it is the height of self indulgence as a citizen to not be aware of what these soldiers face every day. David Finkel has given us the opportunity to rid ourselves of ignorance. I suggest we take it.
This is just one of the wounded soldiers David Finkel writes about in his brutal but compelling book The Good Soldiers. The book chronicles the troops of the 2-16, one of the battalions who served in Iraq as part of the surge of 2007.
Finkel tells their stories honestly and compassionately, without a trace of political agenda. This is not a book about whether the war is just or not; it’s about the people who fight, live and die in this combat zone and their families back home. It has been compared to the writing of Tim O’Brien; in fact, Finkel himself has admitted to being somewhat influenced by O’Brien’s attention to the human story. Finkel’s work superbly follows in this vein.
While reading, I often found myself staring off in numbed silence at the atrocities these soldiers endured daily. I stared when one soldier carried his wounded friend out of harm’s way while the blood from the wounded soldier ran into his mouth. I stared when another soldier avoided all of his platoon mates because “he didn’t want any soldier asking him how it felt to kill another human being” (119). I stared when Duncan Crookston battled to survive an explosion that took both his legs, his arm, his eyesight, and burned nearly his entire body. I also stared when months later he lost his battle.
Regardless of your stance on the war, we can all recognize the human element, both tragic and heroic, that runs through this book. More so, it is the height of self indulgence as a citizen to not be aware of what these soldiers face every day. David Finkel has given us the opportunity to rid ourselves of ignorance. I suggest we take it.
April 10, 2013
This is very graphic account of the Iraq war from the ground perspective of the American soldier. I am not exactly sure why this title was chosen because I don’t get any feeling of goodness coming out of these 273 pages. Instead soldiers die horrifically, are bodily mutilated and will suffer for the rest of their lives. The soldiers who do survive without physical disabilities will doubtless experience deep mental anguish for the duration of their lives. Many of them were taking sleeping pills during their tour of duty. Some would re-enlist even though they were obviously suffering burn-out and combat fatigue.
The longer the soldiers stay there the more their idealism fades and destructiveness sets in – they care less and less about the country they are there to allegedly help – in fact they become repulsed by Iraq and many loath the local population. Becoming a ‘Band of Brothers’ does not necessarily endear one to the residents.
One reviewer compared this book to the work of Ernie Pyle – the famous World War II writer who also described life at the grass-roots level of the American soldier. However in the work of Ernie Pyle one gets a steady feeling of progression. ‘Brave Men’ starts off in Italy and moves onto France. There is no repulsion of the soldiers towards the local population – they are the liberators. Iraq maybe more akin to the trench warfare of the First World War with troops constantly circulating in the same environment. Also Ernie Pyle explained many of the functions of army life – like logistics and supplies as well as life on the front line.
In some ways the author leaves out the inhabitants whose city is now occupied. However much American soldiers are suffering, one can be sure that the Iraqis’ are experiencing more pain as their families and homes are destroyed. Helicopters fly over their communities, soldiers drive by in armoured humvees randomly shooting, ground soldiers kick in doors and invade people’s houses. They did not ask to be liberated and occupied.
Despite the shortcomings, this is a view of war CNN does not provide – of soldiers mutilated by IED’s and lying forever in a bed in a hospital.
The longer the soldiers stay there the more their idealism fades and destructiveness sets in – they care less and less about the country they are there to allegedly help – in fact they become repulsed by Iraq and many loath the local population. Becoming a ‘Band of Brothers’ does not necessarily endear one to the residents.
One reviewer compared this book to the work of Ernie Pyle – the famous World War II writer who also described life at the grass-roots level of the American soldier. However in the work of Ernie Pyle one gets a steady feeling of progression. ‘Brave Men’ starts off in Italy and moves onto France. There is no repulsion of the soldiers towards the local population – they are the liberators. Iraq maybe more akin to the trench warfare of the First World War with troops constantly circulating in the same environment. Also Ernie Pyle explained many of the functions of army life – like logistics and supplies as well as life on the front line.
In some ways the author leaves out the inhabitants whose city is now occupied. However much American soldiers are suffering, one can be sure that the Iraqis’ are experiencing more pain as their families and homes are destroyed. Helicopters fly over their communities, soldiers drive by in armoured humvees randomly shooting, ground soldiers kick in doors and invade people’s houses. They did not ask to be liberated and occupied.
Despite the shortcomings, this is a view of war CNN does not provide – of soldiers mutilated by IED’s and lying forever in a bed in a hospital.
September 21, 2009
My son was in this battalion and is an admirer of the battalion commander, "Col K" as everyone calls him. I had heard many of the stories in this book but not in their totality. David Finkel has written an intense, compelling, and emotional account that succeeds in covering the war on so many facets simultaneously: strategic, operational, tactical, homefront, and the Iraqi perspective as well. A map would have been nice but this was not an account written to stop and reference maps, but to be read and felt. Every chapter has a chronologically correct statement from President Bush about the war. We read what is happening at home with the wives and in the hospitals where the severely wounded are recovering. We also learn about the Iraqis who work as translators for the battalion. We follow the soldiers home on leave from the war zone. It's the story of this battalion, its commander, some officers, and those wounded and killed during an extended deployment who just kept on giving and doing their duty. This book to quote Col K's motto, "it's all good."
January 13, 2017
This is the first book since The Things They Carried that made war uncomfortably--palpably & emotionally--present for me. Not having personal experience of war, I cannot judge if this is an accurate portrayal. What I can say is that the vision of young men in combat that Finkel offers is powerfully evocative, complex & devastating. .
October 21, 2012
This book made me feel bad. I guess that's a good thing for a book about war.
December 18, 2012
Like a number of books on the Iraq war this has it's flaws. As an embedded reporter it's more or less inevitable that Finkel can only provide a narrow US perspective on events. He is, generally, unflinching in doing so and the book reads well.
You will however search in vain for any but the most cursory Iraqi perspective. Injuries and deaths of US soldiers are dwelt on at great length, Iraqis, by and large, die off-screen. Voiceless, faceless, lifeless.
That said, reading between the lines can give a sense of just how badly messed up this all was. There's little indication that any member of the 2-16 has the foggiest clue as to why the Iraqis might be fighting them, something which recalls Robert McNamara's lessons from the Vietnam War:
*We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries … and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.
*We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience … We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.
*We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.
*Our misjudgments of friend and foe, alike, reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.
*We failed then — and have since — to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces, and doctrine. We failed, as well, to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.
*We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale military involvement … before we initiated the action.
*After the action got under way, and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course … we did not fully explain what was happening, and why we were doing what we did.
*We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Our judgment of what is in another people's or country's best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose.
*We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action … should be carried out only in conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.
*We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions … At times, we may have to live with an imperfect, untidy world.
*Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.
This book is a testament to an utter failure to learn even one of those lessons and, based on the discussion since, there is little indication that the debacles of Iraq or Afghanistan have improved matters.
You will however search in vain for any but the most cursory Iraqi perspective. Injuries and deaths of US soldiers are dwelt on at great length, Iraqis, by and large, die off-screen. Voiceless, faceless, lifeless.
That said, reading between the lines can give a sense of just how badly messed up this all was. There's little indication that any member of the 2-16 has the foggiest clue as to why the Iraqis might be fighting them, something which recalls Robert McNamara's lessons from the Vietnam War:
*We misjudged then — and we have since — the geopolitical intentions of our adversaries … and we exaggerated the dangers to the United States of their actions.
*We viewed the people and leaders of South Vietnam in terms of our own experience … We totally misjudged the political forces within the country.
*We underestimated the power of nationalism to motivate a people to fight and die for their beliefs and values.
*Our misjudgments of friend and foe, alike, reflected our profound ignorance of the history, culture, and politics of the people in the area, and the personalities and habits of their leaders.
*We failed then — and have since — to recognize the limitations of modern, high-technology military equipment, forces, and doctrine. We failed, as well, to adapt our military tactics to the task of winning the hearts and minds of people from a totally different culture.
*We failed to draw Congress and the American people into a full and frank discussion and debate of the pros and cons of a large-scale military involvement … before we initiated the action.
*After the action got under way, and unanticipated events forced us off our planned course … we did not fully explain what was happening, and why we were doing what we did.
*We did not recognize that neither our people nor our leaders are omniscient. Our judgment of what is in another people's or country's best interest should be put to the test of open discussion in international forums. We do not have the God-given right to shape every nation in our image or as we choose.
*We did not hold to the principle that U.S. military action … should be carried out only in conjunction with multinational forces supported fully (and not merely cosmetically) by the international community.
*We failed to recognize that in international affairs, as in other aspects of life, there may be problems for which there are no immediate solutions … At times, we may have to live with an imperfect, untidy world.
*Underlying many of these errors lay our failure to organize the top echelons of the executive branch to deal effectively with the extraordinarily complex range of political and military issues.
This book is a testament to an utter failure to learn even one of those lessons and, based on the discussion since, there is little indication that the debacles of Iraq or Afghanistan have improved matters.
February 6, 2010
Harrowing. Riveting. Unbelievably sad. David Finkel's all-access, on the ground reporting from the Iraqi War during "the surge" of 2007 into 2008 does a fantastic job of putting us with the 2-16 Infantry Battalion with which he was embedded, as they try to makes sense of a increasingly senseless situation, and get out of there, not just alive, not just without losing a hand, or a leg, or, in the case of one guy, both legs, one arm, one hand, ears, and eyelids, but with a measure of dignity and the ability to get on with life once they get back home. That last challenge seems to be why so many re-enlist... they just can't face normalcy, and the conversations they would have to have with loved ones about "what it was like." So few make it all the way back, from a daily routine of driving through hostile territory, no clear mission, thinking every second that NOW will be when the IED explode that kills them, watching their friends burn to death, seeing the look in a little girl's eyes as she watches her father's head explode from the bullets of a Marine. All of the awesome firepower, Marine preparation and pride, and hollow words of encouragement from leaders back home are nothing in the face of the realty of day-to-day Iraq. And it's all still going on, for so many, on both sides.
September 4, 2010
What a powerful book. Almost every description and detail is emotionally moving in some way, and there are some that are so, so tragic. I had to take breaks to process what I was reading. David Finkel's writing is excellent and well crafted. With humility and respect for his subjects, Finkel lets the unbelievable details, language of the soldiers, and the perspective and thoughts of Ralph Kauzlarich speak for themselves. There is so much human suffering and human dignity in this book.
November 7, 2013
In-depth study of one battalion deployed to hardest part of Baghdad from beginning of "surge," David Finkel's The Good Soldiers (2009) is one of the most engaging, best written, and most revealing of the Iraq/Afghanistan books. Finkel takes the reader into the points-of-view of all levels of this battalion's experiences and context.
Note: I am not going to use names in this review to avoid spoilers. I am also accepting the author's reporting as factually based. I have some background knowledge which fits with this book although most of it was new and specific. The author won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for similar in depth reporting about the US's efforts in Yemen. I haven't read that book but definitely want to now that I've read The Good Soldiers.
In The Good Soldiers, Finkel reports at layers from statements from President Bush prefacing each chapter to soccer balls which the Army Lt. Colonel in charge of the battalion views and uses in his 15 month command in one of the most dangerous parts of Baghdad. At the beginning, this commander sincerely tries to understand the "surge" and the relationships to the Iraqi communities within his command. For example, he gives soccerballs to children as a way of helping parents begin to trust the US soldiers and move toward his stated goal of having children and parents feel safe and move freely through their communities. In the book, his command and subcommands begin community relations while they are trying to make the areas secure and "shit-free." The metaphorical use of soccerballs and shit are examples the author uses significantly but not in a maudlin way. When they arrive they find that the sewer system has collapsed and shit runs freely enough to totally "swallow" one of the armored Humvees with its occupants, including when a massive set of attacks destroy it near the time that this battalion is relieved of duty by a relief battalion. As the battalion is almost through packing, they and the Iraqi population are attacked and more troops are killed and maimed and the Lt.Col. packs up and inventories the undistributed soccerballs.
Finkel depicts key experiences as "engraved" in memory because of their impact on the participants. Soccerballs key an image to the Lt.Col of a temporarily happy time when giving soccerballs to Iraqi children brought smiles to their parents followed by counterattacking Iraqi fighters and following them into a house where parents and a little girl are injured or killed. Another use of this vivid episodic/longterm memory depiction is when soldiers are killed or maimed. The Col. and his sub-commanders are depicted as indelibly knowing each of the killed and injured through mentally reliving those moments. These times of horror are difficult to write about without becoming too hard for the reader to bear and Finkel uses an excellent balancing of detail without being maudlin.
For me, when the various commanders visit "their soldiers" and families in Bethesda, Fort Riley, and other hospital/rehabilitation centers were the most difficult to read. One section portrays a soldier who has lost all or part of all his limbs, massive brain injuries, burns, and massive types of infection. He remained alive over infections that have before killed almost all other "patients." His mother and wife have been constantly by his side even though he has not shown that he hears them; at the end, he reacts to his commander's voice, but within a few days he has died. The unspoken/unwritten but clearly conveyed message of the writer can be stated thus: When would one view this soldier as "better off dead"? What would have been of more "comfort" to his loved ones? His "brothers" in service? This section of the book is tied to other reports/opinion pieces about the irony of the efficacy of keeping soldiers alive, prosthetic advances, and rehabilitation with the horrible massive injuries these soldiers have. The book carries vivid details of shrapnel from massive metal plates, bolts, ball bearings, etc., and the injuries of the soldiers.
Finkel also details the different kinds of PTSD including nightmares, brain/memory injuries, facial and bodily tics, depression, OCD, and suicides. He reports that overall 20% of soldiers have some level of PTSD. He used correlations from other Army data as showing the incidence to be much greater for soldiers with extended deployments (this battalion was sent for 12-but increased to 15-months by unexplained fiat), multiple deployments, remaining with original battle groups or being transferred from their comrades).
One of the big ironies throughout the book is the commander's use of the phrase, "It's all good," from morale-based talks to his soldiers at Ft. Riley before deployment, throughout the different phases of their time in Baghdad, during his visits to his injured soldiers in hospital/rehab, and during the horrible killing days up to their final moments into the helicopters taking them from Baghdad to different stops of their way back to Ft. Riley, and a "ball" held after their return to the USA. Finkel illustrates how the soldiers begin to mimick, hate, or discount his use of "it's all right," when it so clearly is not all right, but is all f'd up. At the end, there is a reception in which the reader is led to think the soldiers have forgiven his awkward phrase after the battalion is back at Fort Riley.
Finkel gives less space but very vivid space to the experiences of the families "at home," showing how removed from typical family life these families live/suffer/exist. As a former military spouse, I remember my husband talking about the effects on enlisted and non-commissioned officer families of long deployments and assignments (such as promotion boards with 12-15 hr days, pressures, etc.), Marines/Sailors prepared for deployment to Viet Nam, "recovering" from sea/battle duties, and lengthy times from their families). Finkel detailed the effects on these soldiers and their officers as even more horrible. One simple example was a soldier who married a fairly new girlfriend on a whim, had a few days with her, then spent the rest of his life in these battles in Baghdad, until and after his injuries, multiple operations and treatments, and final death. His bride stayed with him, alongside his mother, during these horrible months. Other couples divorced during their time in Baghdad.
I admire Finkel's ways of bringing to life the experiences of these soldiers, balancing between horrible details and "too-much-to-bear" information. That term "too much to bear" sounds like his readers are wimps, but he acknowledges that observers/readers/families often find the soldiers' experiences as so painful that they turn away. For me, he kept me reading even through my tears and curses.
(One part I wish he had told more about: the role of contractors in the work of this battalion. It read as if the soldiers were doing too much of the rebuilding, rubble removal, supplying in their area but I suspect he just decided he didn't have "room" for more about the contractors. He did mention contractor work in the sewage and electrical construction and repair but gave few details.)
Note: I am not going to use names in this review to avoid spoilers. I am also accepting the author's reporting as factually based. I have some background knowledge which fits with this book although most of it was new and specific. The author won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for similar in depth reporting about the US's efforts in Yemen. I haven't read that book but definitely want to now that I've read The Good Soldiers.
In The Good Soldiers, Finkel reports at layers from statements from President Bush prefacing each chapter to soccer balls which the Army Lt. Colonel in charge of the battalion views and uses in his 15 month command in one of the most dangerous parts of Baghdad. At the beginning, this commander sincerely tries to understand the "surge" and the relationships to the Iraqi communities within his command. For example, he gives soccerballs to children as a way of helping parents begin to trust the US soldiers and move toward his stated goal of having children and parents feel safe and move freely through their communities. In the book, his command and subcommands begin community relations while they are trying to make the areas secure and "shit-free." The metaphorical use of soccerballs and shit are examples the author uses significantly but not in a maudlin way. When they arrive they find that the sewer system has collapsed and shit runs freely enough to totally "swallow" one of the armored Humvees with its occupants, including when a massive set of attacks destroy it near the time that this battalion is relieved of duty by a relief battalion. As the battalion is almost through packing, they and the Iraqi population are attacked and more troops are killed and maimed and the Lt.Col. packs up and inventories the undistributed soccerballs.
Finkel depicts key experiences as "engraved" in memory because of their impact on the participants. Soccerballs key an image to the Lt.Col of a temporarily happy time when giving soccerballs to Iraqi children brought smiles to their parents followed by counterattacking Iraqi fighters and following them into a house where parents and a little girl are injured or killed. Another use of this vivid episodic/longterm memory depiction is when soldiers are killed or maimed. The Col. and his sub-commanders are depicted as indelibly knowing each of the killed and injured through mentally reliving those moments. These times of horror are difficult to write about without becoming too hard for the reader to bear and Finkel uses an excellent balancing of detail without being maudlin.
For me, when the various commanders visit "their soldiers" and families in Bethesda, Fort Riley, and other hospital/rehabilitation centers were the most difficult to read. One section portrays a soldier who has lost all or part of all his limbs, massive brain injuries, burns, and massive types of infection. He remained alive over infections that have before killed almost all other "patients." His mother and wife have been constantly by his side even though he has not shown that he hears them; at the end, he reacts to his commander's voice, but within a few days he has died. The unspoken/unwritten but clearly conveyed message of the writer can be stated thus: When would one view this soldier as "better off dead"? What would have been of more "comfort" to his loved ones? His "brothers" in service? This section of the book is tied to other reports/opinion pieces about the irony of the efficacy of keeping soldiers alive, prosthetic advances, and rehabilitation with the horrible massive injuries these soldiers have. The book carries vivid details of shrapnel from massive metal plates, bolts, ball bearings, etc., and the injuries of the soldiers.
Finkel also details the different kinds of PTSD including nightmares, brain/memory injuries, facial and bodily tics, depression, OCD, and suicides. He reports that overall 20% of soldiers have some level of PTSD. He used correlations from other Army data as showing the incidence to be much greater for soldiers with extended deployments (this battalion was sent for 12-but increased to 15-months by unexplained fiat), multiple deployments, remaining with original battle groups or being transferred from their comrades).
One of the big ironies throughout the book is the commander's use of the phrase, "It's all good," from morale-based talks to his soldiers at Ft. Riley before deployment, throughout the different phases of their time in Baghdad, during his visits to his injured soldiers in hospital/rehab, and during the horrible killing days up to their final moments into the helicopters taking them from Baghdad to different stops of their way back to Ft. Riley, and a "ball" held after their return to the USA. Finkel illustrates how the soldiers begin to mimick, hate, or discount his use of "it's all right," when it so clearly is not all right, but is all f'd up. At the end, there is a reception in which the reader is led to think the soldiers have forgiven his awkward phrase after the battalion is back at Fort Riley.
Finkel gives less space but very vivid space to the experiences of the families "at home," showing how removed from typical family life these families live/suffer/exist. As a former military spouse, I remember my husband talking about the effects on enlisted and non-commissioned officer families of long deployments and assignments (such as promotion boards with 12-15 hr days, pressures, etc.), Marines/Sailors prepared for deployment to Viet Nam, "recovering" from sea/battle duties, and lengthy times from their families). Finkel detailed the effects on these soldiers and their officers as even more horrible. One simple example was a soldier who married a fairly new girlfriend on a whim, had a few days with her, then spent the rest of his life in these battles in Baghdad, until and after his injuries, multiple operations and treatments, and final death. His bride stayed with him, alongside his mother, during these horrible months. Other couples divorced during their time in Baghdad.
I admire Finkel's ways of bringing to life the experiences of these soldiers, balancing between horrible details and "too-much-to-bear" information. That term "too much to bear" sounds like his readers are wimps, but he acknowledges that observers/readers/families often find the soldiers' experiences as so painful that they turn away. For me, he kept me reading even through my tears and curses.
(One part I wish he had told more about: the role of contractors in the work of this battalion. It read as if the soldiers were doing too much of the rebuilding, rubble removal, supplying in their area but I suspect he just decided he didn't have "room" for more about the contractors. He did mention contractor work in the sewage and electrical construction and repair but gave few details.)
February 25, 2019
One of the best books about war, any war, I have ever read. It just so happens that it is the first book I’ve read on the US Iraq War or Iraq Surge as the US was calling it in late 2006 and Into 2008. What a God forsaken place. I agree with the Soldiers who were there in the book. They were most certainly The Good Soldiers. They went through more than I can imagine. Many times I cried, there were times I laughed but not so much. My supreme respect for all the Soldiers of the 2-16 and their families. Just read the book and then go out and do something to show how much you appreciate our Good Soldiers.
January 21, 2025
I'm not a big fan of American nonfiction - the authors tend to put too much of their own voices into the stories.
This is not the case. There is no Finkel in this book. He allowed the soldiers, their families and people working for Americans in Iraq to tell their stories. It's natural, honest and absolutely brutal, but it's very real. And tragic.
I've read a lot of books about war, occupation and military and this one is definitely one of the best. But it's not an easy read.
This is not the case. There is no Finkel in this book. He allowed the soldiers, their families and people working for Americans in Iraq to tell their stories. It's natural, honest and absolutely brutal, but it's very real. And tragic.
I've read a lot of books about war, occupation and military and this one is definitely one of the best. But it's not an easy read.
March 29, 2016
"La polvere, la paura, l'elevato livello di allarme, l'isolamento: questi erano gli aspetti del surge che i soldati conoscevano, e quanto più ascoltavano l'audizione, tanto più l'effetto era surreale. 'Quella gente non ha idea di quanto stia andando male da queste parti' pensò a un certo punto Cummings. Negli Stati Uniti la guerra era motivo di discussione. In Iraq la guerra era guerra."
Negli ultimi mesi, complice anche un bellissimo laboratorio iniziato all'università, la guerra sta riempiendo le mie giornate. Sto ascoltando Serial, leggendo innumerevoli articoli sull'Iraq, l'Afghanistan, Guantanamo e i black sites, saggi sulla guerra in generale e quella del Vietnam in particolare. Spesso confondo ciò che leggo, 'quella roba l'ho letta sul New York Times o da un'altra parte?', per cui è bello leggere qualcosa che risalti in mezzo al mucchio.
David Finkel è un giornalista che per più di un anno ha seguito un battaglione dell'esercito durante il dispiegamento in Iraq. Quel periodo di tempo è coinciso con il famoso 'surge', l'aumento dei militari inviati in guerra, e l'adozione della strategia del COIN, il 'vincere le menti e i cuori' degli iracheni nel tentativo di portare a termine una guerra che sembrava sempre più disperata. Sui risultati ottenuti da questi due elementi il libro non si esprime. Non è un manuale di strategia militare, e neanche vuole esserlo. Quello che racconta è il costo umano della guerra, una guerra sempre più impopolare tra i soldati ma sopratutto tra l'opinione pubblica.
"Il numero dei militari rimasti uccisi superava le 3000 unità, mentre quello dei feriti si avvicinava a 25.000; l'iniziale ottimismo dell'opinione pubblica americana era svanito da qualche tempo e gli errori e le manipolazioni che avevano preceduto la guerra erano ormai noti fin nei particolari."
Finkel non fa mistero della sua opinione sulla guerra, perché per i soldati non è tanto quello l'importante quanto sopravvivere giorno dopo giorno e poi tornare a casa e sopravvivere anche lì.
È uscito anche un seguito, che però la Mondadori non ha ancora tradotto. Speriamo che quando uscirà il film tratto dalla duologia si decidano a pubblicarlo.
Negli ultimi mesi, complice anche un bellissimo laboratorio iniziato all'università, la guerra sta riempiendo le mie giornate. Sto ascoltando Serial, leggendo innumerevoli articoli sull'Iraq, l'Afghanistan, Guantanamo e i black sites, saggi sulla guerra in generale e quella del Vietnam in particolare. Spesso confondo ciò che leggo, 'quella roba l'ho letta sul New York Times o da un'altra parte?', per cui è bello leggere qualcosa che risalti in mezzo al mucchio.
David Finkel è un giornalista che per più di un anno ha seguito un battaglione dell'esercito durante il dispiegamento in Iraq. Quel periodo di tempo è coinciso con il famoso 'surge', l'aumento dei militari inviati in guerra, e l'adozione della strategia del COIN, il 'vincere le menti e i cuori' degli iracheni nel tentativo di portare a termine una guerra che sembrava sempre più disperata. Sui risultati ottenuti da questi due elementi il libro non si esprime. Non è un manuale di strategia militare, e neanche vuole esserlo. Quello che racconta è il costo umano della guerra, una guerra sempre più impopolare tra i soldati ma sopratutto tra l'opinione pubblica.
"Il numero dei militari rimasti uccisi superava le 3000 unità, mentre quello dei feriti si avvicinava a 25.000; l'iniziale ottimismo dell'opinione pubblica americana era svanito da qualche tempo e gli errori e le manipolazioni che avevano preceduto la guerra erano ormai noti fin nei particolari."
Finkel non fa mistero della sua opinione sulla guerra, perché per i soldati non è tanto quello l'importante quanto sopravvivere giorno dopo giorno e poi tornare a casa e sopravvivere anche lì.
È uscito anche un seguito, che però la Mondadori non ha ancora tradotto. Speriamo che quando uscirà il film tratto dalla duologia si decidano a pubblicarlo.
July 11, 2011
Wow. This book was so difficult to read, even though it had a lot going for it. The writing style was excellent. I felt like I got to know the people featured in the opening chapters. The author seemed to do a superb job getting into the mindset of these soldiers and showing the shift from hopeful optimism (we're going to win this war) to grim reality (friends are dying every week, and for what?). Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich is often quoted as saying, "It's all good." Later in the book, after losing numerous soldiers to roadside bombs, he reacts with much stronger language.
Kauzlarich is portrayed very sympathetically. He was easy to relate to, even though I disagree with the war itself. He truly seemed to care about his men and about helping the Iraqi people. Many of the other soldiers and Iraqis mentioned are made very human by the way Finkel portrays their concerns and their compassion.
The Good Soldiers isn't an anti-war book so much as it is a book about war. The military leaders aren't demonized; the soldiers aren't blamed; the Iraqis aren't all portrayed as innocent victims. But the leaders turned out to be wrong about how quickly the war would end, the soldiers often suffer for it, and many of the Iraqis are insurgents - in other words, they're fighting for their homeland, just as we would if the shoe was on the other foot. If you read this book, be aware of what you're getting: a balanced view of a war and what it does to people.
I found the realistic depictions of carnage very disturbing. I'm an anti-war libertarian; I know the arguments for and against war. But to actually read about this war that is still going on and think about people being blown to pieces (and sometimes surviving) made it very real. It's never "all good" during war.
Kauzlarich is portrayed very sympathetically. He was easy to relate to, even though I disagree with the war itself. He truly seemed to care about his men and about helping the Iraqi people. Many of the other soldiers and Iraqis mentioned are made very human by the way Finkel portrays their concerns and their compassion.
The Good Soldiers isn't an anti-war book so much as it is a book about war. The military leaders aren't demonized; the soldiers aren't blamed; the Iraqis aren't all portrayed as innocent victims. But the leaders turned out to be wrong about how quickly the war would end, the soldiers often suffer for it, and many of the Iraqis are insurgents - in other words, they're fighting for their homeland, just as we would if the shoe was on the other foot. If you read this book, be aware of what you're getting: a balanced view of a war and what it does to people.
I found the realistic depictions of carnage very disturbing. I'm an anti-war libertarian; I know the arguments for and against war. But to actually read about this war that is still going on and think about people being blown to pieces (and sometimes surviving) made it very real. It's never "all good" during war.
February 16, 2014
Beautifully done and crushingly sad. From their arrival in Iraq for the 2007-2008 "surge" to their departure 15 months later, the book chronicles the experiences of one Army battalion's soldiers, from the commanding officer to the most junior troops, and their families, including the deaths and maimings and in some cases their slow psychological and spiritual disintegration. For me, this was one of those books that left me just sitting after I finished it, unable to stop thinking about the stories of some of the soldiers and their families, and the author's pointing out that these were just a tiny fraction of hundreds of thousands who have come home, and still are every day, forever changed and scarred in both visible and invisible ways.
It will be a challenge in the decades ahead to puzzle out the differences between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and those of the past, and why these particular experiences have been so devastating to so many even compared with units in past wars that may have lost higher proportions of their people killed and wounded. Some of it has to be the cumulative damage of being deployed over and over for some troops; some is probably the constant fear that some face of seldom seeing an enemy but never knowing when a bomb is going to shred the vehicle in which they're traveling along with some or all of the people inside.
Every politician who contemplates sending our troops to fight needs to read some books like this one and spend a few days talking with the veterans of past wars and their loved ones. If a war is truly necessary, they'd end up going ahead with it, but with heavy hearts, and that's the way it should always be.
It will be a challenge in the decades ahead to puzzle out the differences between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and those of the past, and why these particular experiences have been so devastating to so many even compared with units in past wars that may have lost higher proportions of their people killed and wounded. Some of it has to be the cumulative damage of being deployed over and over for some troops; some is probably the constant fear that some face of seldom seeing an enemy but never knowing when a bomb is going to shred the vehicle in which they're traveling along with some or all of the people inside.
Every politician who contemplates sending our troops to fight needs to read some books like this one and spend a few days talking with the veterans of past wars and their loved ones. If a war is truly necessary, they'd end up going ahead with it, but with heavy hearts, and that's the way it should always be.
October 13, 2009
How does one describe a war? Was there ever a war that seemed like a success? Oh yes--I remember now. The one Bush,Jr declared finished after a month or two.
Imagine you are lying flat on the hot, dusty surface of a road east of Baghdad, in Rustamiyah. Like an IED, say, or an EFP. (Improvised Explosive Device or Explosively Formed Penetrator) Imagine you take a picture of the world from that viewpoint. I felt Finkel's book allowed us to view the war in Iraq from a similar vantagepoint. A single battalion (the 2-16) experiences "the surge" in this book. We hear a rounded account, from the Lieutenant Colonel (Colonel K) leading the group, to the replacement soldiers for the dead and the wounded. We hear from the wives, the translators, the medalled, the battle-weary. There are no victors.
It is terrifying, war is. If you want to see what bad is, you can have a look here. As we strive in our lives to achieve, and be the best of what man can be, our soldiers are seeing the worst of what man can be. I don't have words enough to express my sorrow...
Imagine you are lying flat on the hot, dusty surface of a road east of Baghdad, in Rustamiyah. Like an IED, say, or an EFP. (Improvised Explosive Device or Explosively Formed Penetrator) Imagine you take a picture of the world from that viewpoint. I felt Finkel's book allowed us to view the war in Iraq from a similar vantagepoint. A single battalion (the 2-16) experiences "the surge" in this book. We hear a rounded account, from the Lieutenant Colonel (Colonel K) leading the group, to the replacement soldiers for the dead and the wounded. We hear from the wives, the translators, the medalled, the battle-weary. There are no victors.
It is terrifying, war is. If you want to see what bad is, you can have a look here. As we strive in our lives to achieve, and be the best of what man can be, our soldiers are seeing the worst of what man can be. I don't have words enough to express my sorrow...
December 2, 2012
This is a book about a Mech Battalion in Baghdad during the Surge and I think adequately captures the perspective of a group of Soldiers at this time of the war. I know the battalion commander personally and can attest that, to the extent possible, it captures the challenges faced by battalion commanders during this period as well. The book is insightful in capturing the Soldiers attitudes as they deal with the struggle against an urban insurgency in Baghdad during this period. Another book, more disturbing but less well-written is "Blackhearts" about a company of the 101st which commited the infamous atrocities in Yusifiyah. We followed this Brigade (2-101) into South Baghdad and both encountered this situation and dealt with the consequences of these Soldiers action. The Good Soldier is by far the better of the two books but they could be read alongside to understand the challenges faced by Americans Soldiers during the Battle for Baghdad, 2006-2008.
March 12, 2011
Now here is a book that will turn your hair white.
It is a confronting book and had me so depressed by the closing chapters that I wanted to find a bar. And get so completely wasted to drown out my misery....and I don't even drink. That's how much it got under my skin.
Dropped a star. Really wanted to give it 5. In the end, there were a few things the author did that I didn't like and I made the tough choice to drop a star. 4 stars is still a top rating in my book though.
It is a confronting book and had me so depressed by the closing chapters that I wanted to find a bar. And get so completely wasted to drown out my misery....and I don't even drink. That's how much it got under my skin.
Dropped a star. Really wanted to give it 5. In the end, there were a few things the author did that I didn't like and I made the tough choice to drop a star. 4 stars is still a top rating in my book though.
November 18, 2022
‘It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. He called it the surge. “Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences,” he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them.
Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way.
What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.’
This book was great.
I have read more than a few books from the Military History genre, but other than a few Autobiographies I haven’t read many books about the War on Terror. With limited experience reading about this particular War I dint have any wants or expectations when I went into this book.
Now that I have read this book I am very interested to read more about the War on Terror and reading more from David Finkel. As soon as you start reading this book you can tell that David Finkel is a journalist. His ability to transport the reader to different places and different battles is truly remarkable and the way in which he coveys each situation is both terrifying and thrilling.
When I read anything about combat and war I am always moved by how young the soldiers are; previously I have always been able to say to myself ‘it was a different time’, or ‘people were more grown up back then’, but reading this book and seeing interviews with people my age in situations that I cannot even imagine was at times really overwhelming.
This is one of those books that is hard to describe as there are so many moving pieces and so many different people who experienced the same war but in different ways. It is seeing how various moments affect various individuals that really highlights the lasting damage that war has on human beings.
David Finkel has done a wonderful job with this book. It was raw and honest; he didn’t shy away from showing the true ugliness of situations while capturing some of the utterly personal stories and experiences of those who served in Iraq. This is one of those books that stays with you long after the final page.
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel is a must-read for everyone.
Geramie Kate Barker
gemsbooknook.wordpress.com
Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad, and almost every grueling step of the way.
What was the true story of the surge? And was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines. Combining the action of Mark Bowden’s Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale—not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.’
This book was great.
I have read more than a few books from the Military History genre, but other than a few Autobiographies I haven’t read many books about the War on Terror. With limited experience reading about this particular War I dint have any wants or expectations when I went into this book.
Now that I have read this book I am very interested to read more about the War on Terror and reading more from David Finkel. As soon as you start reading this book you can tell that David Finkel is a journalist. His ability to transport the reader to different places and different battles is truly remarkable and the way in which he coveys each situation is both terrifying and thrilling.
When I read anything about combat and war I am always moved by how young the soldiers are; previously I have always been able to say to myself ‘it was a different time’, or ‘people were more grown up back then’, but reading this book and seeing interviews with people my age in situations that I cannot even imagine was at times really overwhelming.
This is one of those books that is hard to describe as there are so many moving pieces and so many different people who experienced the same war but in different ways. It is seeing how various moments affect various individuals that really highlights the lasting damage that war has on human beings.
David Finkel has done a wonderful job with this book. It was raw and honest; he didn’t shy away from showing the true ugliness of situations while capturing some of the utterly personal stories and experiences of those who served in Iraq. This is one of those books that stays with you long after the final page.
The Good Soldiers by David Finkel is a must-read for everyone.
Geramie Kate Barker
gemsbooknook.wordpress.com
August 7, 2010
I've driven past Fort Riley, the central Kansas army base, dozens of times during visits to my in-laws near Dodge City and from the Interstate the base always looks eerily empty. But this nonfiction book about Fort Riley infantry soldiers (the ones that serve the really scary way, with their feet on the ground) in Iraq during some of the worst months of "the surge" in 2007-2008 - offers a painfully in-depth look at the struggle these young guys, some teen-agers, go through at war and at home.
War is hell and this book details this in often excruciating detail - we see the guys trying out the "counterinsurgency" strategy now being tried in Afghanistan, trying to help people, many of whom respond with devastating bombs; we see the soldiers trying to readjust to home life after seeing things no one should ever have to see; we see the soldier's leader visiting horrifically wounded soldiers (missing legs, arms, feet, hands; dented skulls; severe burns - and that's just the wounds on the outside) and their tragically dedicated wives and mothers; we're in the Humvee when the bomb tears through soldiers bodies, in the house with the wife and kids left behind, at the memorial services - all this juxtaposed with George Bush's relatively upbeat public pronouncements about the success of the surge. An astonishing piece of reporting, this book gives you the real story. It should be required reading for us all, especially those who decide whether we go to war and whether we continue that war.
War is hell and this book details this in often excruciating detail - we see the guys trying out the "counterinsurgency" strategy now being tried in Afghanistan, trying to help people, many of whom respond with devastating bombs; we see the soldiers trying to readjust to home life after seeing things no one should ever have to see; we see the soldier's leader visiting horrifically wounded soldiers (missing legs, arms, feet, hands; dented skulls; severe burns - and that's just the wounds on the outside) and their tragically dedicated wives and mothers; we're in the Humvee when the bomb tears through soldiers bodies, in the house with the wife and kids left behind, at the memorial services - all this juxtaposed with George Bush's relatively upbeat public pronouncements about the success of the surge. An astonishing piece of reporting, this book gives you the real story. It should be required reading for us all, especially those who decide whether we go to war and whether we continue that war.
January 26, 2010
David Finkel, a reporter who lived with an Army battalion during the Iraqi surge, describes in great detail some of the tragic events that took place during their deployment and the backstories of some of the soldiers affected by those events. His narrative does not give a political opinion either way; rather, the theme that he does make very clear in his book is that the political pundits (both Republican and Democrat) were (and are) out of touch with the reality of the Iraqi ground war. One theme that is not seen in this book that is often featured in other modern war narratives is criticism for military leadership (for instance, in Evan Wright's "Generation Kill" the would-be-funny-if-it-wasn't-true depiction of the commanding officer who was quietly and very sarcastically nicknamed "Captain America" by his soldiers). While Finkel does convey some of the dissatisfaction the soldiers felt for some of their officers, he also goes out of his way to explain how difficult (and at times impossible) the harrowing day-to-day routines and frequent skirmishes are for the officers to manage.
This book had a very detached, objective feel to it; like a series of feature newspaper articles arranged in chronological order starting from the time of the battalion's deployment until their return to the States. But despite that cold, clear objectivity, this book was still, without a doubt, one of the saddest books that I have ever read. I would recommend it to anybody.
This book had a very detached, objective feel to it; like a series of feature newspaper articles arranged in chronological order starting from the time of the battalion's deployment until their return to the States. But despite that cold, clear objectivity, this book was still, without a doubt, one of the saddest books that I have ever read. I would recommend it to anybody.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 941 reviews