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Summary: Excellent story about the war in Iraq
Review: There are currently many books out about the Iraqi war. This one focuses on the 3rd division and their "thunder run" up hiway 8 and eventually into downtown Baghdad. It brings the horrors of battle right into your living room with very descriptive passages of battle and the emotions of the men who fought in this untried military strategy. There are vivid descriptions of the firefights and through the narrative you get to see the war from the soldier's point of view. Unlike some non-fiction works, this one reads almost like a novel. It is quickly paced and will keep you reading for hours. An excellent book, I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Thank you troops!
Review: This book is a great read; a page turner and an eye opener for all of the armchair generals and political pundits of all persuasions. It does a beautiful job of telling the soldiers "up close and personal" experience in modern combat, while thankfully not using this as a way to advance political views. Regardless of ones personal perspective on whether we should or should not be in Iraq, this book will fill you with compassion for the troops fighting there. If we learned nothing else from Vietnam, let us all please support the troops who are laying down their lives. They too have their own personal views, but they are doing their duty and are to be commended for persevering in extremely difficult circumstances. My respect for the troops has skyrocketed as has my disdain for politicians on all sides who view the war as an opportunity for personal gain. Troops, we love you and thank you!
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Summary: Phenomenal First Chapter to the History of the Iraq War
Review: This book was awesome. As a former tanker from the same tank regiment that fought these battles, I found the book extremely informative to how the battle was fought in detail.
The book provides gritty details on how the fighting went, details that escape the media's treatment. Modern warfare is a grisly affair and the details are here. Also informative is the information on the enemy's composition and tactics. Syrians and Fedayeen were the principle enemies. Suicide tactics were commonplace but thankfully ineffective. Ordinary Iraqis wanted nothing to do with this fight.
Zucchino talks about the soldiers. It's disheartening reading about specific soldiers in detail because you know from Zucchino's pattern that this soldier will die in the coming pages. Each of these guys is a professional warrior. The story of a severely wounded soldier who cries not for his disfiguring fate but because he is being pulled off the line is moving.
As military history, this is the first draft. This book offers the chance for us to review the strategy of rapidly taking Baghdad. Much congratulations goes into telling us how tanks should never go into a urban area as the lead attack force, etc. and yet they succeeded here. Given the current state of Iraq, I think the question should be whether our attack should have been so rapid and terrain-oriented. I would counter that given the nature of the forces, we would have been better-served to have been force-oriented and found ways to draw the enemy into fights in order to destroy them, as opposed to forcing them to go to ground only to attrit us later with IEDs. To eradicate cockroaches, you need more than a big floppy shoe. You need traps.
This is a MUST READ for any army mechanized warrior, or anyone interested in military history. I would like to see Zucchino write chapter 2 on how mechanized forces deal with stability operations and insurgency warfare.
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Summary: Thunder Run/3rd Infantry
Review: This is an excellent book! My son was with the 3/15 Unit of the 2nd Brigade. They were involved with the battle at Operation Curly! Everything the writer states in the book, my son told me about before the book ever surfaced! There is also a video tape he brought home from the NBC reporter that was embedded with the unit. The classis battle underneath the overpass. The book also has a chapter about a Sgt. who was killed by an RPG. That Sgt was my sons platoon Sgt. He described everything that the book and video show. The author of this book did a very informative review of interviews, because all of his writings were exactly explained to us, long before the book was published. Excellent truthful reading.
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Summary: Destined to be a Military History Classic
Review: This is an excellent book. Reading it will be the only way most people can get at least some idea of what was seen, felt, heard, smelled...experienced by these men. I doubt that I ever have an opportunity to speak with even one of the battle's participants, yet not only has Mr. Zucchino managed to interview over 100 of them, he has constructed a brilliant narrative from these interviews and other sources. His talent for conveying thought to the written word is immense.
Some may wonder whether this account supports or opposes the War in Iraq. It does neither, and it does so in such a way that the soldiers written about can be proud. Written primarily from their perspective, it still is essentially void of political or philosophical views. Their dedication, bravery, training, and sacrifice are made the more obvious in subtlety.
At times I wondered what the author's motivation was for so unabashedly describing battle wounds, deaths, accidents, etc. As it turns out, it's part of the experience. Maybe the book should have a sticker; "WARNING: Some material may not be suitable for readers that don't want to know what happens to people in modern war."
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Summary: Incredible Battle Scenes
Review: This is an incredibly detailed book that concentrates three days of battle into just a few hundred pages. It shows the chaos of modern combat, the fluid tactics that the US Army has embraced, and the unbelievable superiority of US Army Firepower. I found myself sweating during many of the scenes.
We also see the sheer courage of men who will not abandon their mission - the supply units showed unbelievable bravery in driving unarmored fuel trucks into a shooting gallery - and they paid the price, too. We also see the increbile imporatnce of a good maintenance team !
As a retired intelligence/infantry SGT I have to disagree with other reviewers' assessments that these battles altered tactics. The commanders and senior NCOs in the book clearly and repeatedly remarked about the uncoordinated nature of the attacks of the Iraqis.
The Thunder Run was a huge, calculated risk.
A much better prepared enemy would have used done things differently - for example a light infantry company broken into squads infiltrating South could have found the supply vehicles and systematically shot each fuel tanker full of holes and then massed and engaged and destroyed the TOC.
I would have liked to have had more maps, expecially of the objectives and there should have been a good photo section. I know from my emails with friends still in that there are thousands of photos that could be used.
All in all, a great book!
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Summary: The Best book on the Iraq war
Review: This is slated to be one of the best, although not-comprehensive, stories from the Gulf War. The forward is by Mr. Bowden of 'Black Hawk Down' fame and this book mirrors that similarly epic read. Here is the story of the last minute 'thunder run' armored thrust into Baghdad. This is the on the spot account of the minute by minute actions of this famed adventure into what many thought was a heavily fortified Baghdad and what the planners had though would be a long siege. Instead the 'thunder run' proved that Baghdad, although swarming with Fadayeen was mostly devoid of organized conventional forces. This is a riveting tale of armored combat in the 21st century, by the worlds most technological and educated army. A wonderful account of Americans at war. Seth J. Frantzman
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Summary: As good as it gets.
Review: This is the best war book I've read since "Black Hawk Down". It is also in a class with "We Were Young Once and Soldiers". It was one of those books that you did not want to put down, and once you did, you couldn't wait to get back to it. I'd love to see this one made into a movie.
I've also read "Generation Kill" and "The March Up" and, while I thought both were good, neither had as big a "hook".
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Summary: Amazing Narrative History
Review: This will prove to be the best book to emerge from Operation Iraqi Freedom. It may be the best narrative history since Black Hawk Down. Written in the masculine styling of Hemmingway, I wouldn't be surprised to see this book become a movie.
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Summary: Riveting
Review: Zucchino captures the real face of war in this riveting book that is extremely well written. Not only is he able to detail the strategic implications of what the Spartan Brigade was up against, he also brings us into the turrets of the men who fought this battle. As a veteran of this campaign, I particulary liked his detailed account of how Non-Commissioned Officers and ordinary soldiers took charge during the fighting and made things happen instictively. I agree with a previous review about this book being made into a movie...the soldiers of the Spartan Brigade re-wrote doctrine and deserve to have their stories told to a much wider audience across our country. Rock of the Marne!
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