Book Review: Gentlemen
Bastards On the Ground in Afghanistan with America's Elite Special Forces
Author: Kevin Maurer
ISBN-10: 0425253597
ISBN-13:
978-0425253595
This books looks
into the war on terror being fought by a group of elite American Green Berets in
Afghanistan through the eyes of an embedded journalist .It brings out the
respect and admiration of the journalist for America’s finest and the grudging
trust and comradeship that is built up between the author and the soldier
during his time with them.
If you are looking
for a nail biting, on the edge action packed book then this book will look you
disappointed. This book is not about elite troops rappelling down helicopters
in the middle of the night
To take out a
Taliban HVT (high value target). Nor is it about intense fire fights or hair
raising missions to capture or kill terrorist.
It is more
about the training of the Afghan
National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) by American Green Berets , the efforts by
the Green Berets to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and the myriad problems that they encounter
from bureaucracy to rampant corruption during their deployment.
The Afghan troops
are not always projected in good light, while the Afghan interpreters working
with the Green Berets are solid and brave soldier’s the ANCOP are often shown
as poorly disciplined and corrupt.
Another interesting
fact that is brought about in the book is the friction between the conventional
soldiers of the US Army and the non- conventional/special forces Green Berets.
The author also
does a decent job of bringing to light the personal traits and the background
of the individual operators of the unit who are there to fight America’s war on
terror being thousands of miles away from their beloved homeland! Their
courage, sacrifice, steely determination and never say die attitude in a
foreign land is well captured in this book.
Overall a good read
which gives a fascinating account of how a journalist becomes part of the story
I would give it a 6
on a scale of ten.
