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Desperate Glory: At War in Helmand with Britain's 16 Air Assault Brigade
Book by Sam Kiley
264 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2009
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49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 4, 2025
Some collection of events from the longest army embed of any British journalist during Afghanistan. Kiley conveys the feel of the brigade powerfully and delves into enough military jargon and acronyms to teach without confusing. For those of us more interested in who is actually behind the conflict - and who benefits from it - he neglects to address something only raised once:
"The question no one has time to ask is - who are the British fighting? The Taleban? Drug lords? Both?"
"The question no one has time to ask is - who are the British fighting? The Taleban? Drug lords? Both?"
April 12, 2011
This book arrived on the day when I finished ARD Tagesschau Doug Beattie's Task Force Helmand
. (One of these days I will post a picture of my stack of unread books. If I can still find my camera inbetween all these books).
Anyway. After reading Task Force Helmand, I didn't plan to read another military themed book for a while. But, of course, I had to take one small look inside, and what's the first thing I see?
Doug Beattie.
Well, his name anyway. Apparently Kiley, who is a journalist btw, not a soldier, has met Beattie during his time in Afghanistan and before, and since I really liked Beattie's books, I thought it'd be interesting to read about him from an outsider's POV.
What I didn't know was that Kiley was embedded with a number of units and teams during his time in Afghanistan, and that Beattie is only mentioned two or three times. The variety of his experiences, and the number of different people with different tasks that Kiley describes, are, however, what makes this book different from others I've read before. It's also what made it interesting to me. It's more of an overall picture of the situation in Iraq, albeit a very non-political, non-critical and non-analytical one. Note how I didn't say "superficial", because I didn't think that Kiley is superficial. His book just isn't about politics and analysis, it is about people and events, and he made some good choices in what and who he describes.But it really is a bird's eye view - you get to see what the British are doing in Afghanistan at many locations and in many situations, but you never get close enough to see what really matters.
But where Sean Naylor Nachrichten
is too detailled, Kiley isn't detailed enough. I think the book would have profited from a little more depth, a little more background. I hesitated to give it three stars because of that, but in the end, I gave him half a star for some of the better moments he captured (which I'd tell you all about, if I had a copy of the book with me right now). I just wish there had been more of them.
. (One of these days I will post a picture of my stack of unread books. If I can still find my camera inbetween all these books).
Anyway. After reading Task Force Helmand, I didn't plan to read another military themed book for a while. But, of course, I had to take one small look inside, and what's the first thing I see?
Doug Beattie.
Well, his name anyway. Apparently Kiley, who is a journalist btw, not a soldier, has met Beattie during his time in Afghanistan and before, and since I really liked Beattie's books, I thought it'd be interesting to read about him from an outsider's POV.
What I didn't know was that Kiley was embedded with a number of units and teams during his time in Afghanistan, and that Beattie is only mentioned two or three times. The variety of his experiences, and the number of different people with different tasks that Kiley describes, are, however, what makes this book different from others I've read before. It's also what made it interesting to me. It's more of an overall picture of the situation in Iraq, albeit a very non-political, non-critical and non-analytical one. Note how I didn't say "superficial", because I didn't think that Kiley is superficial. His book just isn't about politics and analysis, it is about people and events, and he made some good choices in what and who he describes.But it really is a bird's eye view - you get to see what the British are doing in Afghanistan at many locations and in many situations, but you never get close enough to see what really matters.
But where Sean Naylor Nachrichten
is too detailled, Kiley isn't detailed enough. I think the book would have profited from a little more depth, a little more background. I hesitated to give it three stars because of that, but in the end, I gave him half a star for some of the better moments he captured (which I'd tell you all about, if I had a copy of the book with me right now). I just wish there had been more of them.
June 18, 2010
Undemanding, but quite exciting read documenting a tour of duty for British soldiers in Afghanistan. Plenty of interesting anecdotes and frank descriptions. Dark humour prevails alongside alternating euphoria of being in battle, followed by horror and boredom. Attitudes towards the Taliban seem to be a combination of disgust and admiration for their fighting prowess.
British politicians and certain pieces of military equipment such as Snatch Landrovers (“Magimixes” for those inside when they’re blown-up) the BOWMAN radio (Better Off With a Map And Nokia) are objects of scorn. The US military doesn’t escape criticism for its sometimes counterproductive heavy handed tactics, but is admired for its lavish firepower.
For an armchair civilian, such as myself, it was a useful and informative read. It couldn’t be described as a great piece of literature, but it did fill in plenty of gaps concerning the realities of military life in Afghanistan which often seem curiously absent from a lot of the news media. The ordinary soldiers come out of this looking very impressive indeed.
British politicians and certain pieces of military equipment such as Snatch Landrovers (“Magimixes” for those inside when they’re blown-up) the BOWMAN radio (Better Off With a Map And Nokia) are objects of scorn. The US military doesn’t escape criticism for its sometimes counterproductive heavy handed tactics, but is admired for its lavish firepower.
For an armchair civilian, such as myself, it was a useful and informative read. It couldn’t be described as a great piece of literature, but it did fill in plenty of gaps concerning the realities of military life in Afghanistan which often seem curiously absent from a lot of the news media. The ordinary soldiers come out of this looking very impressive indeed.
September 2, 2011
a very stunning insight of what our troops put up with, with the day to day exitence of constant combat. Can be also very emontional as author describes the feelings and shock when friends are killed in action. A must read
September 29, 2015
A vivid account of modern warfare, exhausting days filled with iron will and discipline.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews