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Company Commander
In 2008 Major Russell Lewis commanded a company of 200 soldiers from the British Army's legendary Parachute Regiment on a six-month tour in the most dangerous part of Afghanistan. Living in a remote base and under constant threat of attack from all sides by the Taliban, they were on red alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week for every one of those six months. And through that entire period, the man in sole charge was Maj Lewis. Here is his story, a riveting first-person account of incredible bravery, telling what it is like to have 200 soldiers depending on you constantly, to make decisions which can and do cost lives, to see men under your command killed and injured, and to be under the most intense pressure imaginable for every minute of every day for six long months. Based on the journal Maj Lewis kept during the tour, this book takes the reader from the excitement of the beginning of a tour, to the adrenalin of the first contact, through the devastating losses of his soldiers, and the struggle to keep himself at the highest level of performance for the sake of his men as physical and emotional exhaustion kick in. Readers will experience the highs and lows of a tour through the eyes of a leader of men in as close to real time as possible. At the end of the tour Maj Lewis was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership and gallantry over the tour. His citation read: "Resolute in defense, tenacious and courageous in attack, Lewis has set an outstanding example to B Company at significant personal risk and has been an inspiration to all ranks." He still serves in the Parachute Regiment.
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2012
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177 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 15, 2013
This book really stands out from the usual fair of books being written about “the Stan”. For a start it is actually a diary or journal written in first person by the author. This gives the book a feel of small snappy chunks of text rather than lengthy chapters, which make you feel that you can just read about one more day before putting it down. Which given the subject matter is a good thing.
Russ Lewis has delivered a book full of thoughts and observations which are refreshing as they are thought provoking.
The book is light on superlative descriptions of combat, which other books deliver in spades; instead it provides the depth needed to understand the issues faced when you are in a position of command in an environment as unforgiving as Afghanistan. Many entries are nothing more than “washed clothes, read a book, chatted to the lads” type of thing, but rather than being dull, this in fact helps us understand the frustrations and long periods of boredom the lads and Russ has to endure between the moments of sheer adrenaline fueled terror/excitement of a contact.
Although Russ doesn't dwell on the contacts in too much detail, there is enough there to keep you interested and when casualties happen, which inevitably they do, you can feel the conflict on the page as Russ makes the decisions he does. His battle between what he ‘needs to do’ and what he ‘wants to do’.
But this book also delivers the small stories, those that would otherwise be lost as life moves on. Those witty little incidents which makes the British squaddie so unique; that ability to laugh when others might cry. My personal favorites are the goat and mortar man dilemma (having served in a few infantry battalions myself in my time, I really can relate to this!), the story of the missing socks and of course who can forget Russ’s bad decision not to lock up the breakfast cereal!
This book is not about the right or wrongs of war in Afghanistan. It is not a review of how the tactics or strategies of the war are being developed and implemented. This is not a book about what it is like to be in a firefight, although Russ covers it well. This is a book about leadership, the loneliness of Command, and how and why the Company Commander of ‘B’ Company 2 Para made the decisions he did in one of the most demanding places on the planet.
Russ Lewis has delivered a book full of thoughts and observations which are refreshing as they are thought provoking.
The book is light on superlative descriptions of combat, which other books deliver in spades; instead it provides the depth needed to understand the issues faced when you are in a position of command in an environment as unforgiving as Afghanistan. Many entries are nothing more than “washed clothes, read a book, chatted to the lads” type of thing, but rather than being dull, this in fact helps us understand the frustrations and long periods of boredom the lads and Russ has to endure between the moments of sheer adrenaline fueled terror/excitement of a contact.
Although Russ doesn't dwell on the contacts in too much detail, there is enough there to keep you interested and when casualties happen, which inevitably they do, you can feel the conflict on the page as Russ makes the decisions he does. His battle between what he ‘needs to do’ and what he ‘wants to do’.
But this book also delivers the small stories, those that would otherwise be lost as life moves on. Those witty little incidents which makes the British squaddie so unique; that ability to laugh when others might cry. My personal favorites are the goat and mortar man dilemma (having served in a few infantry battalions myself in my time, I really can relate to this!), the story of the missing socks and of course who can forget Russ’s bad decision not to lock up the breakfast cereal!
This book is not about the right or wrongs of war in Afghanistan. It is not a review of how the tactics or strategies of the war are being developed and implemented. This is not a book about what it is like to be in a firefight, although Russ covers it well. This is a book about leadership, the loneliness of Command, and how and why the Company Commander of ‘B’ Company 2 Para made the decisions he did in one of the most demanding places on the planet.
February 28, 2021
Interessant perspektiv siden boken er skrevet i jeg-form av en kompanisjef.
Gir et interessant og ærlig innblikk i gode og vanskelige sider ved ledelse, både i strid og under hvile.
Videre gode skildringer av hva som gjør en god kompaniledelse, med fokus på NK og kompanisersjant.
Gir et interessant og ærlig innblikk i gode og vanskelige sider ved ledelse, både i strid og under hvile.
Videre gode skildringer av hva som gjør en god kompaniledelse, med fokus på NK og kompanisersjant.
August 6, 2024
The popular decision will be right some of the time, the right decision will be right all of the time.
May 4, 2017
This is an intensely honest and fascinating account of a six-month infantry tour in Helmand in Summer 2008. It is particularly poignant because the British Government had no clear "mission" in Afghanistan and much has been written and debated about it then and since.
To put B Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment’s supreme efforts in context, General David D McKiernan, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said in 2009: "The NATO mission in Afghanistan requires a full commitment by those with the capabilities and capacity to fight an elusive enemy in a very challenging terrain... Regrettably, ISAF continues to lack sufficient forces and enabling capabilities in several key areas".
One of the real problems was that the real command, training and logistics of the Taliban was undertaken from the Northwest Frontier Provinces (NWFP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Baluchistan...mainly in Pakistan. But that is another political story...
All Major Russ Lewis and his men could do was fulfil the mission they had been given and this, I should say, surprised me (background: I was an officer in the Royal Engineers in the 1970s). B Company's mission, as given to Major Lewis by his CO, was to...
"...defend the immediate area around FOB (Forward Operating Base) Inkerman and interdict enemy forces in the north and south in order to protect the reconstruction and development zone within Sangin". Dissecting this mission is another debate but how would B Company know when this mission was achieved?
The book is based on Russ's diary and I have immense admiration for someone who managed to write a diary in those conditions and under such mental and physical pressure. The problem with a diary-based narrative can be that you can get cliché-ridden prose but apart from the oft-repeated "he (the CO) seems on good form" (I wanted much more information than that but perhaps he is being discrete), the author avoids too many well-worn military phrases.
The descriptions of actions, weapons and personnel are full of detail and characterisation and are gripping. If nothing else, this book gives a wonderful perspective of the all-arms battle with Sappers, artillery, mortars, belt-fed grenade launchers, Javelin missiles and GMLRS (GPS multi-launch rocket system), Apaches and an F-16 being deployed coolly and at appropriate times. Infantry weapons like the GPMG, Minimi, Sharpshooter .338 sniper rifle and .50 calibre Browning are also described and deployed brilliantly.
His admiration of his own junior officers, NCOs and Toms shines through. He is equally complimentary about the other units in support of B Company and 2 PARA: Royal Engineers, the Royal Artillery's 7RHA, although they call themselves 7 Para RHA (7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery), REME, and the Viking troop. He never revealed the unit which the latter came from – cavalry? All we know is that the officer in charge was "James". Were there others, like the Royal Logistics Corps?
There are some great moments and phraseology. The previous OC from the Royal Marines advised him to pack his pistol to the meeting with local Afghans (the "shura"). "Afghans appreciate symbols of power and a pistol is quite a good one." The Royal Marines had a simple definition of FOB Inkerman -- the shit magnet.
The sheer grind of living, working and mounting complex company-level operations in such primitive conditions, and in temperatures up to 40 degrees C in daytime, over six months (trench toilets; solar showers; open-air cookhouse; few fresh rations) is portrayed perceptively without a hint of complaint.
Major Lewis's exchanges with the Regimental/Battle Group 2IC over supplies and the detail of Battle Group-level orders are conveyed with equanimity: I bet, at the time, the language was not so restrained!
His relationships with all ranks from his senior NCOs – the CSM (Company Sergeant Major), CQMS (Company Quartermaster Sergeant) and Sergeant Train (in command of the helipad and resupply) – to the Regimental Chaplain, signallers and private soldiers (“Toms”) were relayed expertly and were fascinating.
There were details that were missing, like a layout of Inkerman itself (maybe omitted for security reasons) and the way that the Sapper sub-unit from 9 Independent Parachute Squadron RE operated alongside the infantry but those are minor quibbles. He credited the Sappers with a few small triumphs – finding weapon caches, destroying ordnance and small arms, searching for booby traps in compounds, obscuring enemy fire positions.
Overall a great read and a triumph. It conveys so accurately his own state of mind, his feelings as well as the factual details, and the curiously British understatement of hardship, danger and sheer bloody-mindedness to get the job done. It is a good addition to the annals of The Parachute Regiment as well and it portrays the qualities we have come to expect from the Paras: fortitude, limitless stamina, determination and coolness under fire.
To put B Company, 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment’s supreme efforts in context, General David D McKiernan, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said in 2009: "The NATO mission in Afghanistan requires a full commitment by those with the capabilities and capacity to fight an elusive enemy in a very challenging terrain... Regrettably, ISAF continues to lack sufficient forces and enabling capabilities in several key areas".
One of the real problems was that the real command, training and logistics of the Taliban was undertaken from the Northwest Frontier Provinces (NWFP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Baluchistan...mainly in Pakistan. But that is another political story...
All Major Russ Lewis and his men could do was fulfil the mission they had been given and this, I should say, surprised me (background: I was an officer in the Royal Engineers in the 1970s). B Company's mission, as given to Major Lewis by his CO, was to...
"...defend the immediate area around FOB (Forward Operating Base) Inkerman and interdict enemy forces in the north and south in order to protect the reconstruction and development zone within Sangin". Dissecting this mission is another debate but how would B Company know when this mission was achieved?
The book is based on Russ's diary and I have immense admiration for someone who managed to write a diary in those conditions and under such mental and physical pressure. The problem with a diary-based narrative can be that you can get cliché-ridden prose but apart from the oft-repeated "he (the CO) seems on good form" (I wanted much more information than that but perhaps he is being discrete), the author avoids too many well-worn military phrases.
The descriptions of actions, weapons and personnel are full of detail and characterisation and are gripping. If nothing else, this book gives a wonderful perspective of the all-arms battle with Sappers, artillery, mortars, belt-fed grenade launchers, Javelin missiles and GMLRS (GPS multi-launch rocket system), Apaches and an F-16 being deployed coolly and at appropriate times. Infantry weapons like the GPMG, Minimi, Sharpshooter .338 sniper rifle and .50 calibre Browning are also described and deployed brilliantly.
His admiration of his own junior officers, NCOs and Toms shines through. He is equally complimentary about the other units in support of B Company and 2 PARA: Royal Engineers, the Royal Artillery's 7RHA, although they call themselves 7 Para RHA (7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery), REME, and the Viking troop. He never revealed the unit which the latter came from – cavalry? All we know is that the officer in charge was "James". Were there others, like the Royal Logistics Corps?
There are some great moments and phraseology. The previous OC from the Royal Marines advised him to pack his pistol to the meeting with local Afghans (the "shura"). "Afghans appreciate symbols of power and a pistol is quite a good one." The Royal Marines had a simple definition of FOB Inkerman -- the shit magnet.
The sheer grind of living, working and mounting complex company-level operations in such primitive conditions, and in temperatures up to 40 degrees C in daytime, over six months (trench toilets; solar showers; open-air cookhouse; few fresh rations) is portrayed perceptively without a hint of complaint.
Major Lewis's exchanges with the Regimental/Battle Group 2IC over supplies and the detail of Battle Group-level orders are conveyed with equanimity: I bet, at the time, the language was not so restrained!
His relationships with all ranks from his senior NCOs – the CSM (Company Sergeant Major), CQMS (Company Quartermaster Sergeant) and Sergeant Train (in command of the helipad and resupply) – to the Regimental Chaplain, signallers and private soldiers (“Toms”) were relayed expertly and were fascinating.
There were details that were missing, like a layout of Inkerman itself (maybe omitted for security reasons) and the way that the Sapper sub-unit from 9 Independent Parachute Squadron RE operated alongside the infantry but those are minor quibbles. He credited the Sappers with a few small triumphs – finding weapon caches, destroying ordnance and small arms, searching for booby traps in compounds, obscuring enemy fire positions.
Overall a great read and a triumph. It conveys so accurately his own state of mind, his feelings as well as the factual details, and the curiously British understatement of hardship, danger and sheer bloody-mindedness to get the job done. It is a good addition to the annals of The Parachute Regiment as well and it portrays the qualities we have come to expect from the Paras: fortitude, limitless stamina, determination and coolness under fire.
December 19, 2021
This is simply a day to day diary, which is fine, but it leaves the “so what” aside. Lewis doesn’t say much about how he deals with discipline problems, how he deals with anything. Instead he tells us when he goes to bed and whether he has been reading. It’s useful to understand the realities of duty, but I would have wished for more reflection, his take on the dynamics within his company, something more about leadership than simple one-liners on how it was lonely and how much he enjoyed it nevertheless.
February 2, 2020
A day-by-day account of a 6-month tour in Afghanistan as Company Commander, B Company, 2 PARA. It's very interesting but it's really "day-by-day" as a diary... and could be boring. I served 3 years later in Afghanistan and I found it very deep and it gives you the feeling of being there... Recomended as a profesional reading for army officers.
December 16, 2022
An utterly brilliant window into the daily life of a major in the Parachute Regiment fighting on the front line during the Afghanistan War.
One feels the weight of the choices Lewis has to make for himself and the men under his command alike.
The diary format of it brings the personal to war. The intimacy in such a situation is powerful.
Read it.
One feels the weight of the choices Lewis has to make for himself and the men under his command alike.
The diary format of it brings the personal to war. The intimacy in such a situation is powerful.
Read it.
May 7, 2020
Excellent book. Reads like a diary, very simplistic, and lacking the big picture feel of some memoirs. The details are very simple and repetitive. That said, it's still gripping and incredibly inspirational.
December 12, 2022
a great read, entertaining & reflective
I really enjoyed reading this book, it’s well written has some great detail of day to day life on tour and caused me to reflect on leadership
I really enjoyed reading this book, it’s well written has some great detail of day to day life on tour and caused me to reflect on leadership
March 6, 2018
A good read for anyone interested in military and war. It is an honest (and sometimes plain) account of Russell's time in theatre.
December 8, 2020
Brilliant
A very good read,gives an insight to what it has been like for all the young servicemen and women who we all take for granted.
A very good read,gives an insight to what it has been like for all the young servicemen and women who we all take for granted.
January 2, 2021
What sets it apart is how it goes into the thoughts, stress and practicalities of leadership. As much to do with planning and management as about gunfights.
July 19, 2021
Thorough, insightful and frank. An honest look at what it takes to be a company commander
November 27, 2022
Unique layout and got me invested straight away. The way Russell Lewis explains his doubts and inner thoughts really brings this book to a new level
August 24, 2014
This was a well written account of the life of a detached company from 2Para during their tour of Afghanistan. Based at FOB Inkerman, they are constantly on the frontline.
he takes us through the operation in journal style, starting from the quiet period during the harvest as they settle in, through full on war with set piece company quick attacks and then the cool down towards the end of their deployment as winter approaches.
Of interest is the myriad of demands on his time - dealing with the physical state of the FOB during a D&V outbreak being key, and also the numerous support assets he gets to play with.
There are some annoying aspects, most particularly his references to NLP and his warrior meditations. All in, however, this is a thoroughly good book dealing with the key level of command. He deals both with direction from above whilst being free to make his own plans - true mission command in action.
he takes us through the operation in journal style, starting from the quiet period during the harvest as they settle in, through full on war with set piece company quick attacks and then the cool down towards the end of their deployment as winter approaches.
Of interest is the myriad of demands on his time - dealing with the physical state of the FOB during a D&V outbreak being key, and also the numerous support assets he gets to play with.
There are some annoying aspects, most particularly his references to NLP and his warrior meditations. All in, however, this is a thoroughly good book dealing with the key level of command. He deals both with direction from above whilst being free to make his own plans - true mission command in action.
February 3, 2013
If you want to know about the pressures of leadership then this book does well to get it across, you really get the sense of how hard senior officers push themselves to effectively lead their men whilst also maintaining a real personal care for each man. Clearly tours are very tough in Afghanistan, reading this type of book only raises your respect for all the men who've been asked to do it.
May 10, 2017
I think this was a very interesting book, seeing it is one of the few books about the British Armed Forces in Afghanistan. I would definetly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the British Army even the slightest bit.
August 31, 2016
Considered a classic report from the frontlines, and it's a good read, but quite matter of fact, devoid of much emotion....It could probably have been fleshed out considerably, but oh, well, still an interesting read.
February 12, 2017
I really enjoyed this book. It gave a great insight into company command and leadership in general. The book was quite monotonous at times despite all the action but I guess this was a reflection of the one of the mail trials of being deployed in the military - boredom. Highly recommended.
April 7, 2014
A nice account, a little repetitive in places but only in so far as the task being documented became repetitive. Found it difficult to warm to the author.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews