A Soldier's Duty: A Novel

by Thomas E. Ricks

Book Overview

Majors Cindy Sherman and Bud Lewis are the best young combat officers the army has, and they've both been tapped for plum positions as aides-de-camp for two of the Pentagon's most senior generals. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037550544X
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.9" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

"It's not the role of the Joint Chiefs to dictate policy.You should know that's not the way this cou

A very interesting book for anyone who has spent time in the military or followed US involvement in warfare,ever since the end of WWII. When a country is at war, there is always a sizeable number who disagree with the reasons for being at war and the actions taken. There are those who will always find a reason to oppose any war,those who have a sincere personal reason,those who are truly concentious objectors,those for whom any excuse will do to avoid serving their country,those with divided loyalties,etc. Be that as it may, all these ideas must be put aside in a country that is a Democracy,where the people making policy have been elected by the majority of its citizens; and most particularly by those in uniform. The concept of what the military must live by is aptly summed up by Major General Pershing to First Lieutenant Patton in 1916. "You must remember that when we enter the army we do so with the full knowledge that our first duty is toward the government,entirely regardless of our own views under any given circumstances. We are at liberty to express our personal views only when called upon to do so or else confidentially to our friends,but always confidentially and with the complete understanding that they are in no sense to govern our actions." The author weaves a good story about military officers who allow their personal views to overide their the duty to their country and those elected to govern it. We see individuals move from dissent to sedition. A military is only as good as its service to the nation. "When an order is given,it is our duty to figure out the best way to accomplish that mission,whether we like it or not-whether it is good for us or not." The author gets his message across, and this message is one that should be at the forefront in our our thoughts on the War on Terror. Just remember ,this book was published in 2001 ,and was written well before anyone ever imagined what was to happen on 9/11. Don't get bogged down on the terms used or whether the authoe has done great character development,or even how great the fictional storyline is. It is the message that counts and he has put it across superbly.In other words;forget the messenger (the characters and storyline) pay attention to the message. This book will have a great effect on how you look at The War on Terror and the position many take. Again,in a Democracy,it is not only the military ;but also the politicians who have been elected to serve the country and not themselves,party or personal agendas.

Read this book

This is one of the best books about the military I have ever read. Once you start reading, you will not want to stop. Even though I did not like all the stereotypes in the book, based on my ten years in the military, I have to admit that the author very accurately portrays the military, its members, and their attitudes. The book, set in 2004, tells the story of how several military members deal with controversial policies and missions dictated to them by the White House. As you read the book, the characters' ethical conflicts of duty versus loyalty, duty versus honesty, and duty versus honor raise the stakes to the point of life and death. Life and death for the characters as well as life and death of good order and discipline of the armed forces. There is nothing in this book that is unbelievable. To the contrary, many of the conflicts and debates contained within this book have already taken place. That fact makes the conflicts in the book that have not taken place yet, all the more believable. This is a must read for members of the military!

A page-turner ...

It's a page-turner, especially for military types that give a heck about this man's Army.I suppose there should be a law on the books somewhere that requires authors who write about the U.S. military to have either been in the U.S. military -- or to be journalists who deploy into war zones more often than the average Joe deploys in a career.This is a good book. He got the language right by being the first civilian in history to master acronymic milspeak (plus accurate expletive usage). He arrived at the correct assumptions with gender issues (or he talked to a lot of female soldiers that have put up with the rather ubiquitous sexual-harassment drivel that exists in today's military). He even got the right take on the "no psychos allowed" syndrome in the military that goes like this: Seek mental-health assistance and you can say "Bye" to your military career. And he made it sound as though he may have actually attended one of those dismounted patrols that should have never happened (as in, yep, there are a few patrols -- training, combat, whatever -- that make absolutely no sense).Although it was hard to get used to at first, some of the best reading would be the total-insubordination events, one of which I would have given at least one body part to have observed (to have observed actually happening with a past, real-world president). Or, maybe it did happen and nobody told me ... big sigh. The exceptional thing he captured while "reporting" on the U.S. military with this novel -- with the keen Somalia-through-Kosovo analogies -- is that some of the unruliness has probably actually occurred (although I would like to think that, in reality, a good sergeant major would lock a few heels, officer or otherwise). The book hit a personal nerve when he managed to put into words a difficulty I have always had with the whole "charge the old machine-gun nest" thing (time hack: circa the end of the Cold War).The largest commentary I saw was on the mission creep that has been going in our military for the past fifty or so years with the clowns that think their careers are more important than taking care of subordinates.Anyway.Ricks even dings on the media, albeit from a military perspective. :-)With his first novel, Ricks has displayed an uncanny knack for delving deeply into the U.S. military mind at all levels. His breadth of knowledge about our military "es-tab-lish-ment," our history (which he manages to relate better than some military historians), the District of Columbia, and a number of U.S. military installations -- verges on the incredible. Finally. A book about the U.S. military that actually says something.

The Rightest Stuff

Let me add to the praise already lavished on Thomas E. Ricks' A Soldier's Duty. In many ways, it is the quintessential moral tale of the post-Soviet, post-modern age. Mr. Ricks accomplishes a number of extraordinary things with this book. He summarizes a universe of complex contemporary issues in a volume that can be read in a single rainy day. He establishes dramatic tension from the start and maintains it throughout the piece. He creates complex, three dimensional characters with the brushstrokes of a minimalist. And as he does in his journalistic writing, he presents all sides of the issue in an even, dispassionate manner. With A Soldier's Duty, Mr. Ricks has revived a genre that was teetering on the brink of destructive self-imitation. If you read one military related novel this year, A Soldier's Duty is the one to read.

Superb, tough-minded and authentic!

Tom Ricks, who just might be the nation's finest military journalist, has written a remarkably-good first novel. Based upon the tensions within today's military and the very real challenges posed by a changing world, Ricks takes lead characters who have just the right feel as examples of today's Army officers and puts them through a kick-butt, hold-on-tight story that takes the reader from commando raids and foreign firefights to the even more vicious combat inside the Pentagon and the government. From oblivious politicians to conniving generals, Ricks gets the Washington scene dead-on, while his details-perfect view of the military, in the field or in office suites, is one of the best I've ever encountered (as a recently-retired officer, I know that world pretty well). So, high praise to Ricks for a tightly-written, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet and very convincing thriller. Highly-recommended for soldiers and civilians. And, by the way, this novel would make a great movie.