Rating: 
Summary: An extraordinary account of the Iraqi war
Review: If you are a military history buff, you will love this book. If not, it might be the right time to take a plunge into the subject. This account of military history is about Operation Iraqi Freedom. While justifications for the recent war between the American-British coalition forces and Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime are still being debated among politicos and the general public, the facts are that it did occur, American and British soldiers died and were wounded, a brutal dictator was toppled, and we watched the whole event play itself out on live television. Now the Iraqi people have been given the opportunity to rebuild a country in their own image and likeness.Rick Atkinson, a former staff writer and senior editor at The Washington Post and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, has written a journal of his experiences in the Iraqi conflict, beginning on the morning of February 26, 2003 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the famous "Screaming Eagles," the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. After a couple of days of orientation, Atkinson and dozens of other journalists were flown to the Middle East. Thereafter, he lived with the 101st Airborne Division from their preparations in Kuwait to the occupation of Baghdad -- a period of almost two months -- and was granted complete access to the commanders and troops. "In the Company of Soldiers" is Atkinson's very up-close and personal story of the war, in which he details every aspect of the conflict from planning and debriefings with the commanders, to his accounts of the battles the soldiers fought, to his sometimes intimate stories about the soldiers involved. It is an eyewitness account, occasionally laced with sadness and disappointment, occasionally with joy and pride. But more than that, it is also the story of one man, Major General David H. Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, a modern warrior who was described once by a colleague as "the most competitive man on the planet." The author spent much of his time in Iraq alongside Petraeus, who finished near the top of his 1974 class at West Point, and was known then as a "striver to the max." No ordinary soldier by any means, Petraeus had received a doctorate in international relations from Princeton University and for twenty-five years had been through various command and staff assignments, including tours in Haiti and Bosnia. Now he was commanding the "Screaming Eagles," a force of 17,000 troops, in a war in a forlorn and desolate desert environment, testing both his physical and mental skills. Atkinson, sitting in on the daily briefings as the division's attacks were planned, watches as Petraeus wrestles with numerous tactical enigmas and observes as the general instructs, motivates, and leads his soldiers and subordinate commanders in several intense engagements. While describing this stressful and anxious journey into and during war, Atkinson introduces the reader to many other heroes of the combat, from Lt. General William Wallace, commander of V Corps, to Brig. Generals Ben Freakley and Edward Sinclair, assistant division commanders respectively for operations and support, Col. Mike Linnington of the 3rd Brigade, a number of CWOs who pilot the helicopters used in the battles, and, of course, that ordinary brave soldier on the ground whose job it is to do the job and often be irreverent when speaking about it. Our nation should be proud of them. Even though I was on a deadline to complete another project, I read the entire book in two days because I had difficulty putting it aside. This is a firsthand account of war. It is a vivid picture of a remarkable group of soldiers and commanders. It reads more like a suspense novel than a nonfiction work narrating actual events. Atkinson's writing-style is what I call "facile and friendly," that is, easy on the eye and the mind, so much so that the story stays in the forefront rather than the sentence structure. And yet the details he provides are worthy of a scholarly work. In fact, the writing is so well done it's like a "motion picture in the mind," something I don't say about many books. There are other things I really like about the book besides the writing style. One is the presentation of two maps at the front of the book (The Iraqi Battleground and Route of the 101st Airborne Division) which allows the reader to follow the movements of the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq; the maps are particularly helpful for those of us unfamiliar with the geography of that part of the world. I found myself constantly referring to them as the story unfolded, in fact so much so that I finally put a paper clip on the page so I could access them faster. Also valuable are the schematic which helps to identify the command structure of V Corps and the glossary of military jargon. Without the latter, I wouldn't have known an OGA from a DCU from an ASR. Still another plus is that the index of topics is very detailed. I highly recommend this book to you whether you are interested in military history or not. You will not be disappointed. This is still ongoing history and a knowledge of how we got to this point in the situation seems to me to be important. Many of us watched this story unfold on television. Now we have the chance to read the book. True, this is the reverse of the usual situation -- read the book, then see the movie -- but television coverage, in retrospect, did not really provide us with the up-close and personal experience that Rick Atkinson provides us in this superbly written account of a most significant contemporary military conflict.
Rating: 
Summary: What a disappointment!! Don't bother.
Review: It is a shame that such a reverred and accomplished outfit as the 101st had the misfortune of getting Atkinson as an embed. I bought the book expecting to read about their experience in battle. Instead, the story is mostly a behind-the-scenes accounting.
But worst of all, Atkinson uses the book to espouse his negative views of the Bush administration, inserting little pot-shots here and there. Perhaps he needed to do this to maintain his employment with the Post. It certainly improved his chances of an interview with NPR--which he got. But it's a smear on the legacy of the 101st to be associated with such vitriol.
In the future, Atkinson should partner with the likes of Howard Dean or Michael Moore, not the courageous patriots of the 101st.
Rating: 
Summary: Embedded... very embedded
Review: Most journalists were forced by uncertainties in Baghdad to cover the war by embedding with American units as they invaded Iraq. Rick Atkinson was one of these embedded journalists, and his book, In the Company of Soldiers tells the story of his time with the Army's 101st Airborne Division. Aside from his duties with the Washington Post, Atkinson is also a military historian of some repute (his World War II book An Army at Dawn won a Pulitzer in 2003) and it shows. He is interested most in the tactics employed during the invasion and in the commanders who implemented them. Atikinson's narrative is tied to Major General David Petraeus, a no-nonesense military man. The 101st, and Atkinson along with them, saw their share of action during those early days, but much of what transpired during those first weeks feels like a footnote -- or ancient history -- compared to all that has happened since. The most interesting parts of the book are the most personal. Atkinson's daily struggles against the harshness of the desert and the austerity of military life shine far more brightly than the methodical movements of the troops he travelled with. The book takes the US to task for fouling up the aftermath of the invasion, but Atkinson's epilogue seems hastily tacked on, an attempt to save the book from being made irrelevant by the nasty turn that this war has taken.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent, but flawed
Review: Mr. Atkinson is a gifted writer and this is a very readable book. As a military professional, I appreciated his conspicuous respect for the soldiers, officers and enlisted alike, with whom he lived and travelled. Embedding with the 101st Division HQ allowed unique access to the Division's General Officers, which yields an interesting perspective on their leadership styles and concerns sometimes at the expense of what might have been a more comprehensive account. I would give this particular effort 2.5 stars with the main downside being the author's clear and present disdain for the national command authority's decision to go to war in Iraq. I do not argue that the decisions made should not be scrutinized closely, but Mr. Atkinson addresses them only with matter of fact (and mostly contemptuous) comments. I enjoyed his writing enough to find An Army At Dawn in the library and am glad I did.
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Summary: The story of a division at war
Review: No matter what your feelings are about the Iraq war, there's no doubt that the men who were on the ground (and still are, for the most part) conducted themselves with great elan. Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of AN ARMY AT DAWN, took a break from writing the second book of the series to spend time with the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq, embedded for the Washington Post. His new book, IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS, chronicles his time with the division. While I found it an interesting book, I feel that it doesn't give what is promised. Along with that, Atkinson periodically throws out some personal opinions in the middle of his reporting that I thought didn't go with the aim of the book (the story of a division in combat). Atkinson has shown that he is a great writer who can really put the reader at the center of the action. He doesn't pull any punches in this book either, vividly describing the dust and the blowing sand that literally covers everything. You can almost feel your own voice get raspy along with the soldiers as if you also suffer from the "Kuwait crud." Atkinson spent most of his time with General Patraeus, commander of the division, which allows him to show us all of the briefings and strategy sessions each day. He gives us a great picture of Patraeus, who is facing his first combat command, showing us his uncertainty and determination. When the first problems hit (mainly the weather, but also unforeseen Iraqi resistance, he begins to wonder at the estimate that this will be a quick war. We also see his exhilaration when Iraqi resistance collapses after a couple of weeks of hard fighting. As good a job as Atkinson does in his portrait of Patraeus, it brings up the main problem with IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS. It spends too much time with the higher-ups and not enough time with the men in the field. I understand that Atkinson had no real choice who he was embedded with, and that if he had been placed with the front-line troops, this book would have been about them. However, the title (IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS) and the description of the book makes it out to be much more "on the ground" then it ends up being. Most of the time the war is told through a series of reports. It's interesting to see the agonizing in the control tent, but we don't get much of a feel for the men themselves. During the lead-up to the battle, we do get a bit more of this, but even then the book is lacking input from the men "down in the trenches." We hear of the logistical problems faced by trying to get the division ready for battle at much too short notice, but we feel removed even from those as we hear how they affected Atkinson and the commanders more than how they affected the men. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't what I was sold when I saw it at the bookstore. The value of the book is hearing some of the internal military opinions of what is going on, especially some of their thought processes as they are told some monumentally stupid things (like the fact that they'll be out of Iraq within 6 months). While much of the action in the book simply seems like a retread of newspaper articles during the war itself, it's this behind the scenes stuff that was neat. We hear about the logistics of helicopter rotor-blades and (potentially deadly) discussion of whether to use paint or tape to cover the ends in order to protect from the gritty sand. This is the kind of detail I loved about the book, and Atkinson does a good job of covering it all. We hear the soldiers' views on the whole thing, which is the usual cynical outlook that allows men to handle this sort of situation. No matter what they're feelings are about their circumstances, they are all determined to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. This brings up my other small problem with the book. It is very easy to see that Atkinson was against this war. Every once in a while, he inserts his opinion into the narrative, either with a side remark or a few paragraphs of lecture. His Afterword is more of the same, written in January 2004 with a lot of hindsight. Some of his feeling in this section is understandable, because while only two 101st men died in the war itself, a great number of men who he had come to know (at least to have spoken to once or twice) have died since he left Iraq. He thinks it has all been for nothing. While the Afterword is acceptable to me, I felt that his editorial comments in the middle of the book were uncalled for. He is writing the story of this division in the battle for Iraq. He is not writing a history of the war itself. He is not writing a treatise about whether or not this war was a good thing. He's writing about men in battle. It's fine if he's reporting the feelings of the soldiers, but I felt that his comments again went against the spirit of the book that I was led to believe this was. I have nothing against what he said (whether or not I agree with them), but I don't think he chose the proper venue. Many books have been (and will be) written on the subject of whether or not this war was a good one. This was not such a book. Overall, I did enjoy reading IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS. I enjoyed reading the background to the war, something that I hadn't read before. I just wish that it had been what it advertised. David Roy
Rating:
Summary: Not up to Rick Atkinson's excellent standard
Review: Rick Atkinson (Pulitzer prize winner for Army at Dawn) was an embedded reporter in the 101 airborne during our most recent Iraqi war. He spends his time with General Petraeus and the story is from the perspective of someone following around the general. The result of this is a very readable account of this general's personality, command issues and combat encounters at the general's level. What is missing is a more complete view and account of this division's war experience. I found myself looking for a clearer overall picture and a better idea of the unit tactics.
While I am a fan of Rick Atkinson's books, this point of view account of the war left a bad taste for reading any others. I don't care to piece together a conflict by reading a dozen point of view books from various embedded reporters.
Rating:
Summary: Lightweight and Biased, but Readable
Review: Rick Atkinson invites you to ride along as he gets to know the top brass of the 101st Airborne and watches them call the shots in Iraq. The result is a disappointment but not a total loss.
Readers of his previous work will be shocked at the utter lack of depth here. Discussions of tactics and strategy are strictly superficial, and the enlisted soldiers doing the actual shooting are ignored completely. He describes listening to radio communications while companies of men manoeuver under fire , but somehow never finds the time to ask them about the experience. Atkinson repeatedly allows his dislike of the Bush administration to get the best of him, which results in a few really awful cheap shots. At one point he flatly refers to Saddam's WMD as nonexistent. Not unproven, or as-yet undiscovered, or even doubtful, but nonexistent. If, as UN inspectors believe, Saddam did move chemical weapons to Syria before the war, Atkinson has seriously compromised his integrity here. He also recycles the false claim that Bush painted Iraq as "an imminent, existential danger...". Actually, the President urged action against Iraq BEFORE the threat became imminent. Where's a fact checker when you need one? Atkinson catalogues the losses suffered by American forces during the occupation of Iraq, carefully sending the message that these deaths constitute an indictment of Bush policy. He neglects to mention that many of the terrorists are non-Iraqis fighting to prevent Iraq from becoming a successful democracy. Mr. Atkinson evidently prefers to leave the reader with the impression that the general population of Iraq has rejected the American presence there. This is in keeping with the view of many in the media, but is sharply at odds with the firsthand reports of many American soldiers serving in Iraq. Atkinson's writing skills are quite good, and he paints an interesting portrait of the talented, driven Major General David Petraeus. There is also a fairly good "you are there" quality as he describes his own experiences and reactions. Don't pay full price for this book. If you can borrow one or find a cheap used copy it's a decent light read. Just hold your nose when he goes into BBC mode.
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Summary: Modern combat as viewed from the division command level
Review: Rick Atkinson was assigned as an embedded reporter with the command element of the 101st airborne division for the 2003 Iraqi war. He spent most of his time with the division commander, general Patraeus and his staff. This is not a chronicle of heavy combat, but an interesting look at what it takes to deploy, supply, and direct a division into combat. There were many problems to be overcome. Sand wrecked equipment, sometimes food and water were in short supply, and the Iraqi soldiers continually changed their methods of attack forcing the US forces to adjust their tactics. The command also had to take advantage of opportunities as they were presented, but be cautious due to the nature of the 101st; light infantry without heavy weapons or armor. Though not on a par with "An Army at Dawn", it is an insightful look at the responsibilities and decision making processes at the top.
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Summary: "Instant" History Not To Be Confused With The Real Thing
Review: Rick Atkinson, one of our nation's most distinguished military historians, produces a uncharacteristically mediocre travelogue about the Iraq War. I found this book, along with all of the other Iraq instant histories out there, to be of questionable historical value. Atkinson's modus operandi in IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS makes this book suspect even among the other instant histories currently clogging bookstore shelves. He simply followed the General in charge of the Army's 101st Airborne around for a month during the war, resulting in a "and then we left location X and arrived at location Y"-type narrative structure. While this makes for interesting journalism, it falls far short of the standards of History set by Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers (incidentally, about the 101st in WWII) or Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down. There is precious little fact checking or external corroboration involved with this book. It is merely the war seen through a soda straw. IN THE COMPANY OF SOLDIERS lacks the breadth, poise and authoritativeness that laborious interviewing, research and long hours spent in the archives produces. The book also suffers from a ailment common to much recent military journalism: being over-awed by rank and taking high-ranking officers at their word. The best historians (e.g. Studs Turkel, Michael Herr, Stephen Ambrose) stake their claim by examining the plight of the common man caught up in uncommon circumstances. They talk to the grunts on the frontlines. Generals are, for the most part, politicians in uniform and Atkinson's book suffers as a result of his almost deliberate higher headquarters myopia. The title oughta be IN THE COMPANY OF A WEST POINT GRADUATE.
Rating:
Summary: Good Writing - Bad Politics
Review: The author spared no punches at constantly giving his personal disapproving opinion on the politics of this war. It almost reads as a Democratic Campaign leaflet against the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. It is horribly biased against the reasons for going to war. Atkinson makes it a point in almost every chapter to show how wrong and inept the Bush Administration's policies are. In the author's impressions of casual conversations, the attitude of the young men and women in the 101'st appear to also be very negative as to the reasons they are in Iraq and fighting the war. I would not recommend this book if you supported the war in Iraq. I highly recommend:
"The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division"
"None Braver: U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen in the War on Terrorism"
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