Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The Unforgiving Minute by Craig Mullaney

I normally do not read anything in the military genre mostly because it's just too hard to read. I saw Craig Mullaney on The Daily Show and the interview was compelling enough that I checked the book out from the library.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220512&title=craig-mullaney

This is an exceptional book. Mullaney writes about his time at West Point, going to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and leading a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan, all before he turned 25. The book follows through with his life after war - getting married, joining the Old Guard at Arlington Cemetery, teaching history at a Navel school and sending his little brother off to war. An incredibly written book, I was moved to tears more than once.

While I never assumed any of the American soldiers are stupid, I never ever realized the extent of training that they go through and the intelligence they have to have in order to survive combat and make things run smoothly. All while usually being shot at. That's pressure that the majority of folks are never going to encounter.

I still am not a fan of military books, but I highly recommend reading this one.

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