In The Company Of Soldiers: A Chronicle Of Combat

With the recent announcement of General Petraeus as the next commander of troops in Iraq, I took special interst in reading about the way that General Petraeus feels about his mission and how he handles his troops. My son was deployed twice to Iraq, and two grandsons will be entering military service in two short years. Rick Atkinson's account of his time embedded with Petraeus is written in great detail, worrying with the general over the details of combat, and considering the pros and cons of one choice or another, or the timing of an assualt. The reader gets an up-close view of the complexity of the problem and the pressure on the General. I'm left with the impression that no one else would be able to do a better job than Petraeus in this most difficult of all assignments coming up. It will take the wisdom of Solomon to make the right choices that will bring this war to a good conclusion.

Told in the familiar Rick Atkinson style which we appreciated in "An Army at Dawn," but this time with the sharpened insight of the author's first hand involvement, "In the Company of Soldiers" brings the Iraq campaign of the 101st Airborne to life. The author's ability to draw apt comparisons to similar situations and conditions faced by our fathers in North Africa during WWII brings a rich sense of history and perspective. We see that the familiar black humor of our warriors is something in the American genes which will never fade. Strange how long ago this initial round of "major combat" seems. "Unexpected" consequences cast a long shadow. The understated and dignified Afterword reminds us that military planners had predicted U.S troop levels would drop to 30,000 by September 2003. Hopefully the old adage that what does not break us only makes us stronger will apply to today's Armed Forces. More than a few of us cringe at the phrase "broken force" which occasionally comes up these days. The descriptions of both Lieutenant General Wallace and Major General Petraeus are nothing short of inspirational, and bring to mind the strength of character and blunt-spoken manners of General Grant. To me at least, General Eric Shinseki has emerged as the most exemplary general of the entire story. His warning, "Beware the twelve-division strategy for a ten-division Army," reminds us of his professional insight and personal courage. If General Shinseki were heading off to the State Department or the World Bank today, we would be sending a message to the world that we learn from history. Instead, we await more of the unexpected while we ponder new strategies to recruit more brave young men. Atkinson's quote of Machiavelli hits home -- "Wars begin where you will, but they do not end where you please."

This book is the best i've read on the war. I was with Rick almost every step of the way. A couple times I was ahead of him but he caught up. I think Rick gives it to you straight not filled with "media hype". This is the kind of book movie are made from. Excellent book! ~Tim

I think what most people here are having difficulty with is Rick Atkinson's change from a historian to a journalist. As someone who frequently finds it difficult to make it through a history book, I found this first hand account much more accessible and enrapturing than a third hand account would have been. While I admire the loyalty of Mr. Atkinson's readers who purchased this book expecting a repeat performance of An Army at Dawn, I think that they did not realize that Mr. Atkinson's writings as a reporter naturally vary from his writings as a historian. He purposely used a different writing style due to the fact that he was located directly in the battle rather than researching it. As to people's objections to his personal commentary and opinions on the matter, I feel that once again, they expected a third hand historical account. Obviously if he is speaking to his audience in the first person, which I believe he does very well, he is going to offer his opinion. The book is a personal account-not a history book. I was extremely captivated with Mr. Atkinson's recount of his experiences and admire how multifaceted his writing talents are. I would highly recommend this book, especially to readers who are interested in the war in Iraq and want a personal account of what it was like to be in the middle of the action. While I found some of Mr. Atkinson's previous books somewhat daunting due to his voracious appetite for difficult vocabulary words I was very pleased with the accessibility of this book and his ability to describe the action in eloquent yet informative language.

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, fro