The Good Soldiers

by David Finkel

Book Overview

It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq.?He called it the surge. "Many listening tonight will ask why this effort will succeed when previous operations to secure Baghdad did not. Well, here are the differences," he told a skeptical nation. Among those listening were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374165734
• ISBN13: 9780374165734
• Release Date: September 2009
• Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
• Length: 287 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Honestly the best military book I've read to date.

From someone who's been there

I wasn't with the 2-16, but after reading this book, I agree with another reviewer in that I felt like it was almost written about me and my unit. Loops around the FOB; an Ambien to sleep, and then another, and then another and then another; rearranging furniture, positioning yourself a certain way in the turret for when an EFP might hit so you'd still have one good leg. It's all real. This book was hard to read. I read it as I flew back from Iraq and in public, there were times I needed to put the book down, breathe deep, and thank God I have a Xanax prescription to go with the Ambien. Well told story, excellently written, and I recommend it to anyone with family or a loved one over there. This book writes about what a lot of us did over there, and how we dealt with it. It might help you understand them and why they act and do the things they do. As a soldier who's been there, I ask you to read it. Try and understand us better.

Heroism and heartbreak

Disclaimer: I know both the author and principle character, Lt. Col. Kauzlarich, but I learned a great deal about the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment in this tremendously well-written and moving book which provides an accurate snapshot of the grim reality of war and one unit's experiences in Baghdad during the surge in 2007-08. Finkel set out to write a newspaper story on one unit participating in President Bush's "surge" strategy in Iraq and ended up crafting a book because the Rangers had such a compelling odyssey to relate. Few reporters have the kind of extended access and time on the ground with the troops that Finkel did, and I feel he does a terrific job of capturing the challenges and frustrations that we face in Iraq, dealing with the vast gulf between the cultures, the sheer complexity of kinetic and non-kinetic operations there, and the fascinating interaction of personalities that you see, especially with "Muqqadam K" and his Soldiers as well as his Iraqi counterparts in the military, government and tribal circles. I'm grateful for the service, sacrifice and contributions of the Rangers and their families. Finkel, a Pulitzer Prize winner for his groundbreaking series on Yemeni tribalism, approaches the project as a true professional, leaving out his own politics or views on the war, and instead focusing on the Soldiers in the fight and at home, as many are left to pick up the pieces and sort through the agony of physical and emotional wounds, most of which will never fully heal. I knew two of the Soldiers from the battalion who did not return, and so the book hit home to me on a much deeper personal level, and I think Finkel did a good job of helping the reader to know them a little bit. These men who made the ultimate sacrifice will always be remembered. What should also not be forgotten is that these men and women took on some of the most vicious fighters in the JAM and made 9 Nissan a better place than when they arrived. Whether or not the Iraqis can maintain that momentum and progress is up to them, but the cost of the progress and improved security is laid bare by Finkel and heartbreaking. Was it worth it? That is for the reader to decide. But, if you're looking for the best possible depiction of the Iraq War from a battalion/company perspective, then this book has no peer. It makes and excellent companion to David Bellavia's "House To House" memoir of the Iraq War from 2004-05. This book gets a full five stars from me not only because it tells an important story, but because the men and families of the 2-16 IN Rangers deserve no less.

"It's all good"

My son was in this battalion and is an admirer of the battalion commander, "Col K" as everyone calls him. I had heard many of the stories in this book but not in their totality. David Finkel has written an intense, compelling, and emotional account that succeeds in covering the war on so many facets simultaneously: strategic, operational, tactical, homefront, and the Iraqi perspective as well. A map would have been nice but this was not an account written to stop and reference maps, but to be read and felt. Every chapter has a chronologically correct statement from President Bush about the war. We read what is happening at home with the wives and in the hospitals where the severely wounded are recovering. We also learn about the Iraqis who work as translators for the battalion. We follow the soldiers home on leave from the war zone. It's the story of this battalion, its commander, some officers, and those wounded and killed during an extended deployment who just kept on giving and doing their duty. This book to quote Col K's motto, "it's all good."

A staggering achievement

I have embedded as a freelance photojournalist with US soldiers in Iraq three times, including a small part of the time that Finkel describes here, in 2007. At that time, and as excellently described here, the country was basically a hellstorm. There are z-e-r-o images or anecdotes in this book that come across as anything less than powerfully true, and many of his observations mirror in some ways things I saw on a much smaller scale. So for me, the credibility was rock solid. I kept thinking to myself, "oh yeah, I remember when something like X happened." But, the most factually accurate book won't work if it's not written well. That is NOT a problem here. He tells it straight and without a lot of florid adjectives and overwriting. It's a strong enough story to succeed on its own merits, without the author trying to make us notice him as well. I really respect how he keeps himself totally out of it. There's nothing wrong with an "I" biographical style, but it's good to see the soldier's stories told here with a minimum of editorializing. It just tells us what happened; a lot of it's pretty horrible, some of it is very funny, with plenty in between. Dexter Filkins' "The Forever War," had been my most respected book about Iraq, but this surpasses it only because it focuses so closely on an individual unit and the men doing the job. Filkins does a lot more in his book, but I think the tight focus of "Good Soldiers" helps it stand even more apart. I'm not even sure it could be summed up as what it's "about." It doesn't have a happy ending, there's no big defining battle, just a lot of fights that don't seem to add up to much. It's not pointless, because we know that the 'surge' the men suffered through actually did work to some extent (though no one knows the future), so we can look at the sacrifice of the men who died a lot differently. It's not easy to read. It's not fun. It always seems like the audience wants these types of books to be either blatantly anti-any-war polemics, or rah-rah, wave-the-flag screeds. Iraq was neither of those places. It wasn't anything other than the worst place on earth, with a lot of bad things happening, and everybody telling a lot of funny stories while they were hoping to get home okay. Nobody really remembers or considers the soldiers who had to go out there, into that fight. They think they do, but they don't. This book will help you understand; oh, will it ever.

Personal, emotional, and powerful

In "A Note on Sources and Methods" at the end of this book, the author writes, "From the beginning, I explained to [the soldiers of the 2-16] that my intent was to document their corner of the war, without agenda." The result is the most intimate and touching story about the lives and deaths of American servicemen not just in Iraq, but in any other war for that matter, that I have ever come across. Other excellent books about the war in Iraq have achieved greatness in other ways, but this account is unique by virtue of the author's ability to open windows into the souls of the men who experienced the war - their hopes, dreams, nightmares, and fears - and to give readers unprecedented insight into the way the war has touched those men and the families they left behind when they deployed. This book is neither pro-war nor anti-war. It does not represent an effort to glorify or demonize any person or policy. It is, quite simply, an honest account of the realities on the ground for one battalion of soldiers based in a hostile environment during one of the most crucial periods of the war. In meticulous and thoughtful detail, Finkel recounts the experiences of the individuals who served in the 2-16, from the early days of anticipation, to the final days of dealing with the realities of a complex and often frustrating conflict with no easy answers and no clean conclusion. Much of the book focuses on the confident and optimistic commander of the 2-16, Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, but readers will also come to know dozens of other personalities from the battalion, running from the top to the bottom of the chain of command. In that sense the book achieves its goal of documenting the war on multiple scales, from the private thoughts of individual soldiers to the overall experience of the battalion. Anyone with an interest in the war in Iraq or military affairs in general will benefit tremendously from reading The Good Soldiers. I felt at various times while reading it excited, impressed, or deeply sad, but always enlightened by the intimate details of the story. It is a powerful book that sets aside politics and ideology to reveal war for what it really is and how it affects those who are closest to it.