Book Review: Gentlemen Bastards On the Ground in Afghanistan with America's Elite Special Forces

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.