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

Though other veterans f the Iraq war 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 Marines in his command 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 through the moral dilemmas in the field: Ignoring protocol, he allows his Marines to blow up an unexploded rocket-propelled grenade that threatens an Iraqi neighborhood.

Fick's 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 even brutal at times, but the author survived and feels it accomplished its purpose, making him capable f functioning professionally in combat. The book's title is an old Marine adage 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 higher authority with no loss f efficiency. His battalion had a relatively brief tour 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 author's 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.

But even with this enduring friction, which could become intense when one's 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 background 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 possibly live under, and loathed the democracy he came from. After the fall f Baghdad his battalion was given various occupation duties which changed too rapidly for any lasting good. He points out the inadequacies f this planning and feels that if they had been left in one place long enough to establish 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