Posted on 12/23/2003 7:01:21 AM PST by Valin
What does it feel like to travel with a spirited body of America's finest fighting men? To come under fire? To cope with the battlefield stresses of sleep-deprivation, and a steady diet of field rations for weeks on end? Karl Zinsmeister, editor of The American Enterprise and a frontline reporter "embedded" with the 82nd Airborne during Operation Iraqi Freedom, gives a riveting, day-by-day account as units of the 82nd depart Kuwait and convoy to Iraq's Tallil Air Base en route to night-and-day battles within the major city of Samawah.
Boots on the Ground quickly becomes an action-filled microcosm of the new kinds of ultramodern combat; at the same time it remains specific to the daily travails of the soldiers. Ultimately, however, it is a moving portrayal of the powerful bonds of affection, trust, fear, and dedication that bind men in battle. This is a true-life tale of superbly trained men in extraordinary circumstances, packed with concrete detail, often surpassing fiction for sheer drama.
"This book, in and of itself, justifies the Pentagon's experiment with the 'embedding' or reporters with combat troops. What makes Zinsmeister's writing so effective is that he doesn't allow himself to get mired in dry 'we-took-the-hill-then-they-took-the-hill" military descriptions; he is always attentive to the human element in military operations." -- Michael Potemra, National Review
"A vivid, immediate portrait of war from the inside, full of terrific vignettes which bring to life the nature of modern high-tech warfare and its timeless elements -- the latrine graffiti, the French jokes, and the honor and virtue of soldiering." -- Mark Steyn, columnist
"A fast-moving story of courage and competence, written by an observer who offers a far different picture from what was presented by our mainstream media. A moving tribute to what free soldiers united in a common cause can accomplish." -- Victor Davis Hanson, military historian
"The finest, most objective piece of war journalism I've read since Ernie Pyle in WWII." -- Burton Poole, Lt. Col., USAF, Ret.
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