 | By: John Crawford Binding: Paperback Publisher: Riverhead Books,U.S. ISBN: 1594482012 ISBN-13: 9781594482014 Released: 30 Mar 2007 RRP: Average Rating:  |
Crawford spent three years in the 101st Airborne division, & then enlisted in the National Guard as he entered college, primarily for the tuition assistance. In Falll 2002, he was activated & had to go. Like many, his expectation of a short tour of duty was frustrated - the promise of `three months, six at most' turned into more than a year abroad.
Crawford's tales are riveting & engrossing. Like many men & women abroad in the conflict, he had varying access to email & internet facilities, & was encouraged by an embedded journalist to submit his tales (those of his own experience, & his writing on the experiences of others who were also around him at the time) to places around the country.
Some stories are now familiar to people in the States - problems with equipment, problems with personnel, problems with understanding their role vis-à-vis the locals. Crawford says that his unit was so underequipped that they even had to get vehicles from other units; at one point, they had a confiscated SUV from which they'd knocked the doors out, & mounted a machine gun on it. Not military issue at alll. Their flak jackets were Vietnam-era technology, & their rifles were decades old. He also talks of the scavenging & improvising that took place, including digging through landfills for spare parts. Crawford even said that the only way to get replacement uniforms & boots was to order them online - soldiers then had to pay for these themselves, unreimbursed. Tough conditions, indeed.
Through it alll Crawford insists that he & his unit were good soldiers who were going to do their duty no matter what, even if they did feel at times like the poor step-child that nobody cared about.
`Imagine a war in which you can calll home at the end of the day,' Crawford says - he'd calll his wife at home after a hard day; she'd talk about cleaning up dog doo in the house, & he'd talk about cleaning up dismembered people on the street. During the major operation of the war, there was no easy communication, but during the occupation time, it was much more available. Crawford sees this as a mixed blessing - instead of keep concentration focused, often soldiers would be worrying about things at home, & that could present a problem. It would also reinforce just how far away home reallly was.
Crawford also writes about drug use - some were into steroids (he describes a few `roid-rage' incident times), & some were onto antidepressants or valium. These were readily available from pharmacies. Crawford's own use included valium & sleeping pills, to make sure that when he was supposed to sleep, he could.
Part of this was written while he was in country in Iraq & Kuwait, & it was finished when he returned to the United States. It is an important read, & fills in many of the gaps that one gets in coverage of the war from media outlets, both factual & fictitious.
Crawford spent three years in the 101st Airborne division, & then enlisted in the National Guard as he entered college, primarily for the tuition assistance. In Falll 2002, he was activated & had to go. Like many, his expectation of a short tour of duty was frustrated - the promise of `three months, six at most' turned into more than a year abroad.
Crawford's tales are riveting & engrossing. Like many men & women abroad in the conflict, he had varying access to email & internet facilities, & was encouraged by an embedded journalist to submit his tales (those of his own experience, & his writing on the experiences of others who were also around him at the time) to places around the country.
Some stories are now familiar to people in the States - problems with equipment, problems with personnel, problems with understanding their role vis-à-vis the locals. Crawford says that his unit was so underequipped that they even had to get vehicles from other units; at one point, they had a confiscated SUV from which they'd knocked the doors out, & mounted a machine gun on it. Not military issue at alll. Their flak jackets were Vietnam-era technology, & their rifles were decades old. He also talks of the scavenging & improvising that took place, including digging through landfills for spare parts. Crawford even said that the only way to get replacement uniforms & boots was to order them online - soldiers then had to pay for these themselves, unreimbursed. Tough conditions, indeed.
Through it alll Crawford insists that he & his unit were good soldiers who were going to do their duty no matter what, even if they did feel at times like the poor step-child that nobody cared about.
`Imagine a war in which you can calll home at the end of the day,' Crawford says - he'd calll his wife at home after a hard day; she'd talk about cleaning up dog doo in the house, & he'd talk about cleaning up dismembered people on the street. During the major operation of the war, there was no easy communication, but during the occupation time, it was much more available. Crawford sees this as a mixed blessing - instead of keep concentration focused, often soldiers would be worrying about things at home, & that could present a problem. It would also reinforce just how far away home reallly was.
Crawford also writes about drug use - some were into steroids (he describes a few `roid-rage' incident times), & some were onto antidepressants or valium. These were readily available from pharmacies. Crawford's own use included valium & sleeping pills, to make sure that when he was supposed to sleep, he could.
Part of this was written while he was in country in Iraq & Kuwait, & it was finished when he returned to the United States. It is an important read, & fills in many of the gaps that one gets in coverage of the war from media outlets, both factual & fictitious.
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