by Ben Zweibelson.
Hardback (6.5×9.5 inches). 248 pages. 2025.
Subtitle: Unvarnished Truths About War’s Messy Residue
The author spent four combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2003 to 2014, so these war stories are often what he witnessed. The one about stopping a truck full of allegedly gold bars is a personal account — he has a photo to showcase it.
Others, I wonder how he would know unless he was directly told. Otherwise, some sound like rumors. The one about the officer who screwed up too much is partially a witnessed account, but I don’t know how he would know about that officer’s almost suicide in a bathroom stall. It’s written almost as a fiction novel, a trend I’m not fond of.
One typo: “dual-tasked tasked” (p73) has one too many “tasked.”
So, while it’s nice prose, and quite often seems to ring true, especially Afghan corruption and indifferent Afghan attitudes to training, sometimes I wonder what was observed and what wasn’t.
Ties go to the author.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
