Impressive Overview of the Tactical Preparation for Modern War

books:

	• In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat Rick Atkinson Henry Holt and Co., 2004 - 336 pages average customer review:based on 82 reviews view larger image
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Best Book ever

In the Company of Soldiers is an excellent book; very gripping. It shows that Gen. Petraeus is one of the best military leaders in American history.

Impressive Overview of the Tactical Preparation for Modern War

Award winning author Rick Atkinson has produced an impressive story of the many considerations a modern commander must endure in order to lead a successful campaign.

If nothing else, many readers should be interested in this account due to the close personal account of then Major General David Patraeus. Atkinson was an embedded journalist with the 101st Airborne Division, which Patraeus commanded at the beginning of the war. Patraeus deals effectively with issues ranging from changing leadership directives to logistical delays i9n moving his unit from FT Campbell, KY, to Kuwait for the initial invasion.

I highly recommend this book.

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"Tell me how this ends!"

As a campaign overview this is a useful book, written by someone who was in Iraq during the 2003 invasion and had access to the command echelon of the 101st Airborne Division. I decided to read this book mainly because I wanted to have a more complete picture of General David Petreaus who was the CG of the 101st in 2003. Mr Atckinson does not fail in this aspect and, although he refers many times to himself and his problems following the division in battle, he gives a nice account of the campaign, more on the brigade and division levels than to the company and battalion ones. The impression someone has after reading this book, is that the victory the US armed forces achieved against an "army of half a million with 11,000 generals and 15,000 colonels" was not exaclty a masterpiece of military triumph. In 2003 there were also the first signs of the failure that followed regarding the insurgency and the mounting US and Coalition casualties. The book contains some very good maps which help a lot to follow the action and some black and white photos. Overall, a nice effort of first hand account of a modern campaign with all the pros and cons that this entails.

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War

An excellent book. Rick Atkinson really knows how to research a subject. To read his books is like being there

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

From Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author Rick Atkinson comes an eyewitness account of the war against Iraq and a vivid portrait of a remarkable group of soldiers

For soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, the road to Baghdad began with a midnight flight out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in late February 2003. For Rick Atkinson, who would spend nearly two months covering the division for The Washington Post, the war in Iraq provided a unique opportunity to observe today's U.S. Army in combat. Now, in this extraordinary account of his odyssey with the 101st, Atkinson presents an intimate and revealing portrait of the soldiers who fight the expeditionary wars that have become the hallmark of our age.
At the center of Atkinson's drama stands the compelling figure of Major General David H. Petraeus, described by one comrade as "the most competitive man on the planet." Atkinson spent virtually all day every day at Petraeus's elbow in Iraq, where he had an unobstructed view of the stresses, anxieties, and large joys of commanding 17,000 soldiers in combat. Atkinson watches Petraeus wrestle with innumerable tactical conundrums and direct several intense firefights; he watches him teach, goad, and lead his troops and his subordinate commanders. And all around Petraeus, we see the men and women of a storied division grapple with the challenges of waging war in an unspeakably harsh environment.
With the eye of a master storyteller, the premier military historian of his generation puts us right on the battlefield. In the Company of Soldiers is a compelling, utterly fresh view of the modern American soldier in action.

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