The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education

I live in Berkeley, CA, and like most of the population here, am as far to the left politically as it is possible to get. I have always had a negative view of the military in general and in particular, of the kind of person who would volunteer for it. It has seemed to me to be the sort of thing men (and to a lesser extent women) do who want to have power over others, and who need to feel superior to others. Needless to say, news from Abu Ghraib did nothing to change my perception of this. Mullaney's story, however, has changed my mind. His sense of integrity, honor, and humility, along with others he served with, comes across so clearly in his writing, that I have had to re-evaluate my beliefs about military culture. He is the kind of person I would actually trust to carry a gun, and to represent the U.S. in other countries. I can only assume that he would not love the army so much unless it was filled with other people holding values similar to his. He wrote in the Author''s Note that he hoped his book would help America better understand its military. He has done that for me, and I believe many like me will feel the same. I recommend this book to every American--to those who love the military, and especially to those who think they hate it.

I never thought a memoir could be so many things at the same time. All at once this book is informative, insightful, fascinating, stirring, humbling, inspiring, touching, exciting, thoughtful, and sad. Craig Mullaney is an exceptional person who appears to have lived a lifetime (or more) of experiences in an amazingly short amount of time. This is not simply a book filled with a recitation of one man's adventures. Every word is purposeful. Every story is a lesson. The combination of raw emotion and the author's deep intellect and humility makes this narrative powerful and authoritative. It is the kind of book you won't stop thinking about after you finish it. In short, I simply cannot say enough positive things about The Unforgiving Minute. I feel privileged to have had an opportunity to read Mullaney's story and grateful that he took the time to tell it.

I read this very compelling book based on many discussions of the author on the West Point parents web site and Annapolis web site. Everything that can be said about the book and the author has been said in these reviews. I graduated form Annapolis 40 years ago and have a son who is a recent graduate of West Point-presently an infantry officer in Ranger school. The education of this officer at West Point and Oxford was excellent. I was and am totally impressed with the quality of the instruction and instructors at the Point. For four years I talked to as many of the staff there as I could and I was unable to find a less that exemplary member of the instruction team. This was not the impression we had of West Point when I attended Annapolis. I finished this excellent book with some reservations. Out of ten years, the author spent maybe 18 months actually doing what he was trained to do-lead men in combat. He acquitted himself wonderfully during the combat period. The officer training now does a good job of encouraging the young officers to use the enlisted talent instead of abusing that talent. After his return to the states, I could not help but wonder what the point of the deployment was and what is the point for my son. to deploy? As it was during the Viet Nam era of my service, the point was to get home alive. And (this is a part of my guilt of only serving 5.5 years after graduation) we do not have any discussion about why the author left the Army when he might have had a significant career. His mentor John Nagle did the same. Why are these potential leaders with vision getting out? Over all I loved the book and his writing style. His ability to describe his emotions and experience during those early officer years brought back pleasant memories. I am envious that he was able to translate that experience to paper-something many of us would like to do.

Craig Mullaney is very courageous in opening up a window to his past to let us follow along on his journey through some very personal struggles. Craig was also my brothers' (SSG Chris McGurk) platoon leader. I have to be honest, I was initially drawn to this book for the part on the deployment to Afghanistan. I wanted to really know what happened to him and his men on that terrible day on Losano Ridge. I'm in the military myself but I'm not in a position to even understand what those guys went through. Craig's recollection of the events made me felt like I was looking over my brother's shoulder during the fight for their lives. I had to put the book down a few times when I realized how close Chris came to losing his life. I told myself I would read the entire book and I'm glad I did. I really enjoyed following Craig as he began his career and education from West Point and Oxford through his training at the Armys' Ranger and Airborne schools. It was interesting to follow him along during his transformation from civilian to Army officer. This is a great book for people to gain a perspective on what it is like for those who answer the call to duty to serve ones' country. I thank Craig again for sharing his story and I'm glad that he was my brothers' platoon leader when it counted the most.