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The U.S. Army in The Iraq War: COMPLETE Volume 1 & Volume 2
Released January 2019 This is Volume 1 & Volume 2 The U.S. Army in The Iraq War January 2019 This ePub consists of both Volume 1, Invasion Insurgency Civil War 2003-2006 and Volume 2 Surge and Withdrawal 2007-2011 (Note the Table of Contents for Vol 2 in the text is separate from Vol 1 Table of Contents.) In May 2003, while working as a civilian at the Defense Intelligence Agency, I was asked to go to Iraq on one day’s notice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). I must admit, that was probably the most exciting time in my life – at least since Vietnam. Having lived through some of that, I found this book very informative and enlightening. I now understand a lot better what was going on, and in retrospect, I wish I knew then what I know now. Every war is different and OIF was very different from the Vietnam experience. Unlike Vietnam, OIF was an all-volunteer force. The attitude of the folks I worked with from all branches of the military was terrific. Why buy a book you can download for free? HYPERLINKS First you gotta find it and make sure it’s the latest version, not always easy. It’s much more cost-effective to just order the latest version from Amazon.com Anyone that has worked with large documents knows how difficult it is to search to find that one bit of critical information. You could go to a government web site and click thru pages endlessly. Not only is it time consuming, but it is exhausting. This book is long, so printing that out on a network printer is out of the question. ePublishing changes all that. Yes, the book is available as a PDF file, but how easy is it to navigate a large PDF document on a mobile device? Do you really want to search a PDF document manually? Load this copy onto your Kindle, PC, iPad, Android Tablet, Nook, or iPhone (download the FREE kindle App from the APP Store) and you have an easily searchable copy. We recommend the Kindle Paperwhite. It’s inexpensive, has long battery life (weeks) and can hold a lot of documents. Most devices will allow you to easily navigate this ePub version to any Chapter. Note that there is a distinction between a Table of Contents and “Page Navigation”. Page Navigation refers to a different sort of Table of Contents. Not one appearing as a page in the book, but one that shows up on the device itself when the reader accesses the navigation feature. Readers can click on a navigation link to jump to a Chapter or Subchapter. Once there, most devices allow you to “pinch and zoom” in or out to easily read the text. (Unfortunately, downloading the free sample file at Amazon.com does not include this feature. You have to buy a copy to get that functionality, but as inexpensive as this is, it’s worth it.) Kindle allows you to do word search and Page Flip (temporary place holder takes you back when you want to go back and check something).
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Kindle Edition
Published January 17, 2019
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 2, 2021
I served in Iraq during the period covered by this book and I was curious if my name was mentioned. It wasn’t.
With good reason, the Army initially didn’t want to publish this interim review of their performance in the Iraq War. A different Chief of Staff of the Army thought different and I’m glad that he did.
I read a lot of books on the Iraq war when I returned, trying to make sense of what I had experienced. This is the best one that I’ve read, so far. The book is clear eyed and pitiless on where the Army did good and where, and why, they didn’t do so good.
I remember sitting in Iraq and wondering: “Why are things so screwed up?” This book explains a lot of the reasons, the decisions, and why they were made.
Donald Rumsfeld doesn’t come off very well in the narrative, primarily because he refused to listen to the professional military officers who said that more troops were needed on the ground to get the job done. His micromanagement of the war, his decision to put Bremer in charge of the occupation, his utter and complete failure to even plan for the occupation. And on and on.
This was a really well written and interesting (to me, because of my participation) book, but it took me a long time to finish. The primary reason for my delay was the frequent times that I had to stop reading, disgusted by the revelations. But I came back and finished.
I just ordered Volume 2. I’m a glutton for punishment.
With good reason, the Army initially didn’t want to publish this interim review of their performance in the Iraq War. A different Chief of Staff of the Army thought different and I’m glad that he did.
I read a lot of books on the Iraq war when I returned, trying to make sense of what I had experienced. This is the best one that I’ve read, so far. The book is clear eyed and pitiless on where the Army did good and where, and why, they didn’t do so good.
I remember sitting in Iraq and wondering: “Why are things so screwed up?” This book explains a lot of the reasons, the decisions, and why they were made.
Donald Rumsfeld doesn’t come off very well in the narrative, primarily because he refused to listen to the professional military officers who said that more troops were needed on the ground to get the job done. His micromanagement of the war, his decision to put Bremer in charge of the occupation, his utter and complete failure to even plan for the occupation. And on and on.
This was a really well written and interesting (to me, because of my participation) book, but it took me a long time to finish. The primary reason for my delay was the frequent times that I had to stop reading, disgusted by the revelations. But I came back and finished.
I just ordered Volume 2. I’m a glutton for punishment.
Displaying 1 of 1 review