Book report on the book One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick Essay

Book report on the book One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick - Essay ExampleThough other veterans f the Iraq fight have covered similar territory (see box), the author, a captain in an elite Recon battalion, is a keen observer whose fine writing is distinguished by its intelligence and candor. The leathernecks in his com human beingsd are vividly drawn and oddly endearing--perhaps because Fick neatly captures their deep, dark humor. (A seared enemy corpse becomes beef jerky man another, flattened by several tanks, is tomato crate man.) Though cool under fire, Fick sifts finished the moral dilemmas in the reach Ignoring protocol, he allows his Marines to blow up an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade that threatens an Iraqi neighborhood.Ficks book is aptly named, as a good part f it is devoted to his training to become a Marine officer, and then a member f the elite reconnaissance group, the Marine equivalent f the Navy Seals or Army Rangers. The training was rigorous, tough and reg ular brutal at times, but the author survived and feels it accomplished its purpose, making him cap fit f functioning professionally in combat. The books title is an old Marine byword that a platoon sergeant is one bullet away from becoming the platoon leader, and the platoon leader one bullet away from becoming the company commander. All Marines should be able to step quickly into a position f senior higher authority with no loss f efficiency.His battalion had a relatively brief tour of duty f duty in Af... Serving as a kind f memoir, or partial autobiography, the book is naturally subjective, all events are seen through the prism f the authors beliefs and experience. Although he held in esteem the Marine generals he had come in contact with, and respected his regimental commander and other field grade officers in his battalion, he had no confidence in his immediate superior, the company commander, who he felt made poor combat decisions for the wrong reasons. just now even with this enduring friction, which could become intense when ones life was at stake, the author feels that his training and the training f the Marines under him kept his platoon on a high professional level. His attitude toward the war was basically apolitical. After surviving a botched ambush by a contingent f Syrians (so identified by the passports in their effects) he mused on their appearance. He felt that fighting in a foreign country, they were similar to his Marines in age and middle class primer but were markedly inferior in combat ability. He does not, however, state the difference between their goals. The jihadists wanted a medieval theocracy which he could not mayhap live under, and loathed the democracy he came from. After the fall f Baghdad his battalion was given various communication channel duties which changed too rapidly for any long-lasting good. He points out the inadequacies f this planning and feels that if they had been left in one place long enough to establis h a working accommodation with the residents the occupation would have gone more smoothly. In No True Glory A Firsthand Account f the Battle for Fallujah, Bing West tries to give us an accurate and complete picture f one f the most controversial episodes f the Iraq