+In the Company of Soldiers book review

We recommend In The Company of Soldiers.

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Review of
In the Company of Soldiers, by Rick Atkinson

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 4,000 articles.

While many people expect a book written about a war topic to be an academic tome that discusses dry things like tactics, or to be a post-war propaganda piece, this book is neither. Where this book is strong is in its human side--we see the people in the war, not the war with people in it.

The writing is strong, and the book maintains a fast pace. It's entertaining, because it looks at the situation and the people involved. At times, you can almost feel the desert sand in your teeth.

Atkinson adds wit to observation, and provides us with an insider's view of the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army during its mission in Iraq. While Major General (two-star) Petraeus is de facto the star of the book (and he's pretty much a force of nature in his own right), Atkinson skillfully gives others--both above and below Petraeus in command--a voice. There are no cardboard caricatures and no bit players. It's not a book about a general or handful of officers commanding legions of storm troopers or faceless soldiers. Everyone is important. Atkinson shows this with distinctly personal quotes--sometimes hilarious ones--from people at all levels in the 101st.

We get into the spirit of the 101st, pick up the lingo, and learn a significant amount about the military very early--and very easily--in the book. I like that.

This book doesn't begin with tanks clanking across the terrain or with pilots heading off toward the enemy strongpoints. It begins in a Shoney's parking lot in Hopkinsville, KY. From there, it goes to Fort Campbell, KY. The real saga of any military campaign begins in such places, and this is something Atkins shows in a clear and entertaining way. And it is here we begin to see the staggering importance of logistics. We later see how mistake in logistics created problems for Petraeus and others in the 101st, and how they made tough choices because of those problems.

This book held two surprises for me.

First, anyone who grew up in the Vietnam Era and/or watched episodes of Air Wolf (Ernest Borgnine, Jan Michael Vincent) or Tour of Duty has this idea that the helicopter is an awesome weapon of war and the symbol of American power on the battlefield. This is apparently what American planners at the highest level thought at the beginning of the the Iraqi War. The reality is quite different. But, Atkinson doesn't spout an armchair general opinion as though he's some kind of expert. He lets us see this through the eyes of General Petraeus, the pilots, Lieutenant General (three star) Wallace, and others. These are people who assessed the first--and ill-fated--Apache assault mission (not flown by the 101st, but by a different company) and developed a very different way of deploying helicopters. A way that proved to work very well. It's this kind of inside view that makes this book so fascinating.

I got my second surprise when I came upon the many captioned photos at the center of the book. These put faces with the names and added depth to an already enjoyable book.

Unfortunately, there's a fly in the ointment. Atkinson included leftist political remarks that simply fell short of the caliber of the rest of the book, and I found this jarring. It's as if Atkinson wants the reader to know he's a product of the liberal left and oblivious to the mainstream point of view. I hope a future edition has this editorializing edited out. Yet, I still enjoyed the book. I would have enjoyed it more if the author had focused on telling the story. It was a good story. In fact, it was an excellent story. I would sum it up in two words: "Air Assault!" Read the book and you'll know what that means.