THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL AMERICANS!

books:

	• In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point's Class of 2002 Bill Murphy Henry Holt and Co., 2008 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL AMERICANS!

One can expect that any book published today - either fiction or non-fiction - with the Iraq class="textlinks">War as a backdrop will include the author's opinion regarding whether the U.S. should have invaded the country... or perhaps whether the war is even legitimate. Frankly, there are far too many of those on bookstore shelves today.

In A Time of War is refreshingly devoid of any opinion or overt criticism of the Bush Administration and its decision to go to war with Iraq. In fact, thankfully the author, Bill Murphy, Jr., spends very little time on the politics of the war or any of the more controversial aspects of how it has been fought. Instead, Murphy tells the moving story of young lives that are forever changed by war. Young men and women who manage to find their way to the tip of the spear and who in some cases return to our shores with their bodies and minds badly broken.

These are not average lives by any means - as if any life that is committed to the machinery of modern war could ever be called "average" - but they are the lives of recent West Point graduates from the Class of 2002 brimming with all the potential of youth and all the confidence of graduates of one of the country's premier leader development institutions.

These budding leaders represent our country's best and brightest, and as many members of the Long Gray Line have done for over two centuries before them, they embark on their military careers without an ounce of reluctance or regret... only a healthy idealism combined with an unshakable belief in a destiny that lies somewhere on the field of battle alongside that of Grant, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Patton, Schwarzkopf and other famous graduates before them.

Murphy chronicles the lives of these young West Pointers as they graduate from the academy, attend training on their way to becoming newly minted second lieutenant platoon leaders, and then assume their junior role in the ranks of the U.S. Army's professional officer corps.

Where the author really succeeds is in his description of their experiences leading soldiers on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. This is where the pace of the book really picks up. West Point's matchless leadership training and preparation is put to the test as these uncommon Americans confront half-crazed IED-embedding and RPG-wielding jihadists and insurgents.

How they fearlessly confront these threats while leading soldiers makes for some terrific reading. But there is quite a bit more to Murphy's book than emerging combat leaders plying their trade in the Global War on Terror. He illuminates challenges fighting in Iraq, for instance, that many Americans have read or heard about in the news but perhaps do not fully understand.

For instance, much has been made of how the U.S. Army, at the outset of the Iraq War, remained culturally and structurally better prepared to fight a Soviet era "linear battle" complete with state-of-the-art M1 tanks and lumbering B-52 bombers than a counterinsurgency. In In A Time of War, we are witness to the impact of an Army's need to shift gears to respond to a new, asymmetric threat and to begin counterinsurgency efforts on the young lives who are in the thick of the fight. Incredibly, one of the principal characters, Todd Bryant, leads his armor platoon of "thin-skinned" Humvees into battle with insurgents on the back roads of Iraq while his heavily armored M1 tanks remain secure at his unit's home station in Fort Riley, Kansas!

The most powerful element of Murphy's book is his depiction of the tragic toll war takes on young soldiers and their devoted families. Murphy's characters early on bring other lives into the tumult and inconstancy of their fledgling Army careers. The young officers' wives are without question some of the toughest, most inspiring characters in the book. Their husbands are poorly paid; their lives are interrupted by frequent moves from one isolated Army post to another; and, they live with constant worry while their husbands serve in some of the most inhospitable places on the planet. Yet, these remarkable women somehow endure. They are extraordinarily strong and resilient!

Perhaps most heart-wrenching are the stories of the wives who must pick up the pieces when their husbands do not return from the battlefield. Lives so full of promise reduced to a knock on the door and a flag-draped casket at a military funeral. As in wars past, these women experience great pain and anguish when notified of their husbands' deaths. They bear up to their grief, though, and remain stoic as their life partners are tragically taken from them.

Learning how one of these wives copes after the loss of her husband is deeply affecting... even troubling.

In In A Time of War we experience the senselessness of war and the toll it takes on those who are called to fight it. Exposed to horrors many of us cannot even comprehend at the tender age of 23 or 24, these young men and women return from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan with more questions than answers. We are reminded that it is these young Americans and their families who must live with the cost of our government's foreign policy decisions.

Youth sacrificed... lives interrupted... love lost...

This is the legacy of war.

While West Point perpetuates its proud tradition of turning out highly skilled leaders "for a lifetime of service to the nation", In A Time of War reminds us that war looms like a dark cloud over those young American lives bursting with potential and dreams of martial glory. Some will not live to see their 30th birthday. Indeed, the memories of those who do not return remain etched in the collective conscience of our society. Fortunately, for all who knew them, they are remembered in all their youth and vitality. As the author so poignantly describes, though, it is ultimately their loved ones left behind who struggle mightily with those memories... and who are forever left to contemplate what might have been.

We owe these families an enormous debt of gratitude... a debt that can never be repaid.

THIS BOOK SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR ALL AMERICANS!

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A Must Read for All Americans

A truly insightful work of the heavy burden carried by so few in executing the Global class="textlinks">War on Terror. While the focus is on a handful of West Point graduates, their stories are in many ways a reflection of the experiences for most of our service members of all ranks and backgrounds. Not only does the author bring the "soldier" to life, he also provides an inside perspective on the triumphs, the struggles and the impact of loss on the soldiers' families. Turn off CNN and Fox News --- read this book for a frontline view of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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In a Time of War Review

This book was very personal for me as I knew the first soldier from the class="textlinks">West Point Class of 2002 to be killed in Iraq. My family knew Todd Bryant since he was a young boy of about 10-years-old. Such a profound tragedy to lose him at the age of 23 and this book was fabulous in not only describing Todd, but his fellow West Point classmates who continue to fight this tragic war.

works on several levels

Several authors have written about the class="textlinks">West Point experience, but this one goes further. The author shows West Pointers after graduation in the distinctly non-glamorous jobs they do as Second Lieutenants.

Murphy blends the human interest stories of selected West Point graduates with a sobering account of life in a war zone. I was surprised to to learn how much drudgery and boredom coexist with the very real dangers of war. Apparently officers do a lot of counting and inventorying.

For the most part, these officers seemed to experience good leadership. One becomes aide to a particularly humane general. Another gets a special x-rated assignment when his commander realizes he's growing bored.

It's very hard to read parts of this book because Murphy spares nothing when he describes the deaths of these brilliant, idealistic young officers who are also very decent human beings. Most of us view war as senseless and these particular casualties seem to have no purpose.

It's easy to get engrossed in this book and, like many readers, I find myself wishing for a sequel. Where are these brave officers now?

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In Time Of War

I have a grandsond, class of 2002 who has been in Iraqi and wounded by IED, now in Afghanistan and a co. cmndr. It is well written but seems to co-op some of the content from The Long Road Home which was also a wonderful well written book.

reviews: page 1, 2

The dramatic story of West class="textlinks">Point?s class of 2002, the first in a generation to graduate during war time

They came to West Point in a time of peace, but soon after the start of their senior year, their lives were transformed by September 11. The following June, when President George W. Bush spoke at their commencement and declared that America would ?take the battle to the enemy,? the men and women in the class of 2002 understood that they would be fighting on the front lines. In this stirring account of the five years following their graduation from West Point, the class experiences firsthand both the rewards and the costs of leading soldiers in the war on terror.

In a Time of War focuses on two members of the class of 2002 in particular: Todd Bryant, an amiable, funny Californian for whom military service was a family tradition; and Drew Sloan, the hardworking son of liberal parents from Arkansas who is determined to serve his country. On the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Todd, Drew, and their classmates?the army?s newest and youngest officers?lead their troops into harm?s way again and again.

Meticulously reported, sweeping in scope, Bill Murphy Jr.?s powerful book follows these brave and idealistic officers?and their families?as they experience the harrowing reality of the modern battlefield. In a Time of War tells a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking story about courage, honor, and what war really means to the soldiers whose lives it defines.

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