"The Profession" by Steve Pressfield

The Profession
By Steven Pressfield
Crown Publishers, 2011, $ 25.00
ISBN # 978-0-385-52873-3

It’s 2032 and the world is still at war in the Middle East and Central Asia. Iran is in flames, uprisings in Saudi Arabia, and a coup in Tajikistan. Still a geopolitical mess of oil – religion – politics – corruption; it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Or perhaps not, as the fighting and dying has changed from the proud Marines and soldiers of today to paramilitary forces fighting under private banners and funded by the likes of ExxonMobil, BP, Credit Suisse, and Lukoil - a not-unthinkable scenario where a mixture of Blackwater, private enterprise, and national interests fight and scheme for supplies of oil, food, and raw materials.

Author and former-Marine Steve Pressfield’s newest book “The Profession” lives up to his reputation for combining gripping action with intellect and principle. Following his “Honor-Courage-Commitment” theme honed in “Gates of Fire” and “The Afghan Campaign,” Pressfield uses one of the protagonists in the story as his narrator and tell the story of conflict in the 2030’s from his boots-on-the-ground level.

The storyteller is one Gilbert "Gent" Gentilhomme, a former Marine serving under his former Marine commander, Gen James Salter. Both are mercenaries; highly paid warriors who still live by the bonds they learned as Marines. War, be it either conventional war, peacekeeping in Africa, or quelling rebellions in Central Asia, is more than just a series of violent incidents and as in his prior books, Pressfield introduces the reader to combat-related concepts of loyalty, love, and fidelity.

It’s difficult to decide on good and evil when war is being fought by surrogates, and in the “The Profession”, both Gent and Salter find their straight-forward, hard-charging Marine background at odds with the nuances of their current situation.

Similar to those Marines who fought the Sunni’s in Ramadi in 2005-2006, yet found them to be allies in 2008, Gent seeks safety and solace with his fellow troops, while trusting Salter to deal with big picture geopolitics and those dubious sorts of despots and oligarchs.

Pressfield’s clearly done his research on the complexities of today’s 3-block war, including an embed in Marja last year and the intricacies of international politics. “The Profession” blends an opening action sequence as brutal as any RT Michigan ambush with a renegade mercenary army later invading and seizing a sovereign state – a not impossible scenario perhaps taken from Blackwater’s 2004-2005 thoughts buying ships, forming a MEU, and being hired by the United Nations.

A combination of nuance and incredible violence, “The Profession” remains a story of loyalty; of Gent and his men, but more important, Gent and Salter to each other. But it’s these bonds of loyalty and love, sharpened in their Marine Corps training and ethos, that Pressfield uses in his surprising ending in which Salter stretches
“Honor-Courage-Commitment” to its absolute limit. Honor and Commitment: to your fellow Marine, to your country, or to who or whom?

Highly recommended!

Senator's Son

There is truth, and there is 'The Truth', and in "Senator's Son", former Marine officer and combat veteran Luke Larson gives us the latter.

Based on his two tours in Ramadi, Larson gives the reader a peek into the world of the junior Marine officer on his first combat tour...age early 20's, highly trained and motivated - and worried spitless that he won't measure up to Chesty Puller, Alexander Vandergrift, John Yancy, and all the other awesome Marines whom he'd studied at TBS and earlier.

Larson brings the reader into his world as the young lieutenants plan their missions, interact with the Marines in their commands, relate with their families back stateside, and all the while worrying how to win a battle in which he's not even sure who is the enemy.

His writing is crisp, clear, and very, very honest; if the reader is upset by the directness and earthy humor of young men at war...then stick to watching M*A*S*H re-runs.

And for those of us who spent time in Ramadi...his mentions of OPVA, Route Michigan, Snake Pit, and 17th St Station are dead-on accurate...you can give this book to your children in 20 years and say "I was there; this is what it was like."

This is Larson's first book. Let's hope we see more from him. Bravo Zulu, Marine - Well Done !!

"Inside Story of Pat Tillman" by Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer's Inside Story of Pat Tillman

"Into Thin Air" author Jon Krakauer goes behind the scenes to uncover the life and death of Pat Tillman in his latest book, "Where Men Win Glory"

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG
Wall Street Journal

Shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, football player Pat Tillman walked away from a lucrative contract offered by the Arizona Cardinals and instead joined the Army.

In his fifth book, "Where Men Win Glory," journalist Jon Krakauer explains why, broadening Mr. Tillman's story by weaving in an account of America's deepening involvement with Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also details how Mr. Tillman was cut down by friendly fire in Afghanistan on April 22, 2004, and examines the disturbing aftermath.

Mr. Krakauer, 55 years old, has long been attracted to risk-takers. In "Into the Wild," he profiled Christopher McCandless, a young adventurer who starved to death in Alaska; and in "Into Thin Air," he chronicled a group of mountain climbers who tackled Mount Everest with heartbreaking results.

In many ways, Pat Tillman became the public face of a new generation's commitment to country and service. In addition to being a superb athlete, he was an iconoclast -- a free-thinker who read widely and admired those who challenged the status quo. After enlisting in the summer of 2002, he joined the United States Army Rangers, where he relished the grueling training program. He died at the age of 27.

The cause of Mr. Tillman's death was not at first accurately reported by the military, leading Mr. Tillman's family to allege that a cover-up had taken place. A Defense Department investigation later found that senior Army officers gave misleading information about the circumstances surrounding Mr. Tillman's death, but that there was no criminal wrongdoing in the shooting and no high-level cover-up. A congressional investigation was inconclusive on whether senior White House and Defense officials were involved in releasing information about Mr. Tillman's death.

Q - Wall Street Journal (WSJ): Mr. Tillman never publicly discussed why he joined the Army. What were his reasons?

Krakauer: He had an old-fashioned sense of duty, masculine honor and masculine pride. He really believed after 9/11 that the United States needed to go to war against al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. That he had a lucrative contract didn't mean he should be excused from that duty. He felt he could contribute significantly to the war effort and make a difference. He was also drawn by the challenge. Proving himself in combat under fire resonated with him. He came from a family with a history of military service. But it wasn't simply duty to his country. It was a mix of complicated emotions.

Q- WSJ: You note that the military has always had difficulty acknowledging casualties from friendly fire. How did this situation differ?

Krakauer: The Bush administration placed more emphasis on spinning the war, on managing perceptions of the war, than on waging it well. It seemed like the Bush administration launched a propaganda campaign almost unprecedented in modern times. That's different to me. Most friendly fire incidents aren't investigated properly because of neglect or a natural inclination to cover up the embarrassing fact that they killed one of their own. You don't normally see the feverish manipulation of information that you saw with Tillman. Instantly, everyone knew it was friendly fire. But within hours, by sworn testimony, a move was made to give him a Silver Star. That's not typical in a friendly fire situation. All the forensic evidence, including his uniform and journal, were burned. This was an extraordinary case of manipulation of public perception, which is what the Bush administration specialized in.

Q - WSJ: Are you certain that the events surrounding Mr. Tillman's final hours unfolded exactly as you've described them?

Krakauer: Yes, I'm quite confident. It took a lot of time and effort. I've been working on this book for three-and-a-half to four years, and it's been a long, difficult haul. It's the most challenging book I've written. I tried very hard to get this right. I sent chapters in full to every soldier that I interviewed and quoted so that they could see their quotes. A lot of these soldiers don't share my political views. It was a risk, but it created real benefits in terms of accuracy. I also read 3,000 or 4,000 pages of testimony.

Q - WSJ: If you were able to report this, why didn't government investigators dig more deeply?

Krakauer: They were able. They didn't want to. Their conclusions weren't based on a reading of the facts. They didn't want to find out the worst. It's the opposite of a criminal prosecution or a plane crash investigation. Military investigations are designed not to find anyone guilty. And you can't investigate up the chain of command, which is a huge impediment.

Q - WSJ: You report that Mr. Tillman could have likely left the Army after serving in Iraq after 18 months. Why did he stay?

Krakauer: He was very unhappy in the Army. He knew his wife was miserable. But his sense of honor didn't let him consider it. He made a three-year commitment and he wanted to live up to it. That was his point of view, and it was entirely in keeping with his character. It didn't surprise anyone who knew him well.

Q - WSJ: You end the book with a gloomy visit to Afghanistan in early 2007. What did Mr. Tillman's sacrifice mean?

Krakauer: It didn't mean anything. It speaks to the mythology of war and how we glorify it for our national interests. There is nothing glamorous or romantic about war. It's mostly about random pointless death and misery. And that's what his death tells us. It reminds me that the good aren't rewarded, there's no such thing as karma. Maybe it says something about the dangers of any sort of idealism that isn't tempered by pragmatism or experience.

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Movie Review: "The Hurt Locker"

"The Hurt Locker" is good, gut-slammer cinema that captures, quite accurately"

By Michael Fumento
Philelphia Inquirer, 2 Aug '09

One word keeps appearing in reviews of The Hurt Locker, the critically acclaimed war film: realism.

"Realism is the special effect," was the title of one article about the film's producers. "Realism makes for explosive cinema," read the headline of the Chicago Sun-Times review of the film, which follows a three-member Army Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team over the last 38 days of its 2004 Baghdad deployment.

Actual EOD technicians have been surprised by the description. So was I, a former Army airborne combat engineer (whose job included blowing things up) and journalist who embedded briefly in 2005 with Navy-Marine EOD near Fallujah. That surprise is because of some of the film's serious unrealities, such as:

The men repeatedly don 100-pound bomb suits (useless if the typical rigged howitzer shell goes off in your face) when remote-controlled robots are routinely used. The primary robot, the Talon, pulls the detonation apparatus apart. If it breaks down, as it did in the opening scene of the film, a smaller backup robot (called a "blowbot") carrying plastic explosives blows apart the wiring. I saw this on my first blast in Iraq.

The three EOD technicians in the film repeatedly fire at the enemy. That rarely happens, though the enemy does shoot at them. Rather, EOD meets up with MPs or other soldiers who handle the combat.

In one tense scene, a Barrett .50-caliber sniper rifle jams because some of the huge rounds have fresh blood on them. No way. The amazingly powerful weapon also would have punched right through the flimsy building material that in the film protects the attackers.

It was also irritating to see the soldiers wearing uniforms they wouldn't have been issued until the next year.

In short, The Hurt Locker is not reality but what moviegoers demand: a fast-paced shoot-'em-up. The Sun-Times review title is exactly wrong: Unless the focus is on one extreme, relatively short event - such as Blackhawk Down - reality is financial death for a war film.

That's because reality is the proverbial 99 percent boredom and 1 percent sheer terror. Box-office bucks demand 99 percent action and 1 percent interlude for a bathroom break. Soldiers, too, like those movies - even after seeing the real thing.

The most obvious explanation for what the reviewers perceived as realism is that they know no more about war, Iraq, or EOD than EOD technicians know about reviewing movies.

Fortunately, they are indeed just movie reviewers. Much damage has been inflicted by journalists who "reported" on Iraq from the safety and isolation of their stateside armchairs. Or those who "reported" on combat and the conditions under which combat soldiers must live, and sometimes die, from a Baghdad hotel.

A more complimentary explanation is that the film is visually and emotionally intense, pulling in the audience. When the soldiers are spooked, you're spooked. When they're confused, you're confused.

"Where's the firing coming from?" they ask, desperately scouring the horizon. You find yourself scanning for them. The fog of war drifts from the screen into the theater.

Which is to say I thought it was a damn good movie.

What I was really looking for - besides the action, that is - was respectful treatment of the U.S. soldier in Iraq, as professional a fighter as this nation has ever deployed. And here the term realism truly applied.

The EOD soldiers were scared and often unsure. True, one was a hot dog who repeatedly and needlessly risked his life and those of his teammates. In reality, he probably would have been disciplined, if not replaced. But his actions were central to the plot.

Despite their flaws, these men did their best not just to defuse the bombs and protect U.S. troops, but to protect Iraqi civilians as well.

And there were no hints of glory. That's good. I saw a lot of things in Iraq. Mostly trash heaps, it seems. But I never saw anything glorious.

Granted, the movie soldiers repeatedly faced false dangers. But these nevertheless represented the real ones the movie didn't depict - including being ambushed en route to a mission and hitting bombs planted especially for responding EOD units. The EOD team that replaced the one I embedded with hit such a bomb in its second week of deployment; two Marines horribly burned to death.

Because the homemade bomb is the insurgents' primary weapon, there's nobody they want to kill more than those who defuse them.

That's the brutal reality. And it's a fitting tribute that the best movie to come out of the Iraq war is a testament to the brave bomb-detonators of the EOD.

"Once A Marine" by GySgt Nick Popaditch

“Once a Marine”
Nick Popaditch, with Mike Steere
Savas Beatie, 2008, $ 25.00
ISBN # 978-1-932714-47-0
www.savasbeatie.com

Only a few books leap off the shelves and demand to be read – and “Once a Marine” is one of those few.

This is the story of Gunnery Sergeant Nick Popaditch, U.S. Marine Corps. It’s important to add “USMC” after his name, because in Popaditch’s story, being a Marine is integral to his survival following a grievous head wound and the subsequent rehab problems afterwards.

In true “Gunny” fashion, this is an aggressive book. “Gy Pop”, as he’s known, came into his own as a young Marine, saw combat in Desert Storm, and became a drill instructor afterwards. He’s as OOH-RAH and Semper Fi motivated as they come, and his energy and enthusiasm for all things Marine comes through loud and clear in this well-written book.

Gy’s life continues on a positive roll when he’s photographed in Baghdad in 2003, cigar-in-hand, in front of the statute of Saddam. Now known to the world as the ‘cigar Marine’, Gy Pop returns home to his loving wife April, and sons. But true to being a Marine, he volunteers for another tour in Iraq, where he’s shot in the head with an RPG in Fallujah, loses one eye, much of his sight in the other eye, and is medically retired from his beloved Marine Corps. A typical macho Marine story, one might think, but it’s Gy Pop who makes “Once a Marine” such a compelling story in the midst of such frustration of his life’s seeming unraveling.

“Once a Marine” is a spellbinding and story. From the stories of his Desert Storm days, to storming Baghdad in 2003, to the horrific story of being shot in the head by an PRG to the personal friction between him and his wife as he contemplates the premature end of his career in his beloved Marine Corps, this is the type of book that the reader will devour in an evening.

What grabs the reader aren’t the battle sequences; those who have fought tend to downplay their role in combat, and Gy Pop is no exception. Instead, his focus is on Marine Corps ethos and work ethic, his Marines, and how they all came together to assist him in his time of need. Needing assistance is unusual for Gy Pop, and he writes honestly and movingly of his struggle to accept help from his wife and sons, his Marines, and even the medical team at the “Blind Hospital.”

For a rough & tough Marine Gunnery Sergeant, Popaditch has written a brutally honest, yet incredibly moving story of his life as a Marine, and how the Marine Corps has prepared him for life afterwards. Recommended? Absolutely!

See "Taking Chance' on HBO, 21 Feb

MOVIE REVIEW
Taking Chance
By David J. Danelo
USNI's "Proceedings", Feb 2009

"Taking Chance" written by Ross Katz and Michael Strobl. Directed by Ross Katz. Starring Kevin Bacon and Blanche Baker. HBO Films. February 2009.

Hollywood illustrates some military stories distastefully, particularly when politics leaves veracity open to debate. HBO’s Taking Chance, a tale of devotion to fallen warriors, is not one of them.

This honorable, poignant, and dignified rendering of Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Michael Strobl’s escort of a Marine slain in Iraq pays tribute not only to those who have died in battle, but also to all who bear witness to their final journey home.

It’s usually the duty of the casualty assistance calls officer to come face-to-face
with a grieving parent and attempt simultaneously to explain death and honor life on
a grateful nation’s behalf. In 2004, Lieutenant Colonel Strobl (played by Kevin Bacon) paused from churning out personnel reports at Quantico and volunteered to shoulder a portion of that burden himself. As depicted by Mr. Bacon, Strobl is guilt-stricken that he is neither in the fight nor doing a greater part to support Marines in harm’s way.

Recalling the actor’s 1992 portrayal of Captain Jack Ross in A Few Good Men, viewers may struggle to imagine anyone other than Bacon in this role. The psychological
juxtaposition of (Captain) Bacon thundering away at a witness in a courtroom
16 years ago with (Lieutenant Colonel) Bacon wrapping up a less-than-eventful
twilight tour adds another layer of realism to his present character. No matter how many degrees of separation he may be from the real thing, Kevin Bacon is to Marine officers as Al Pacino is to Sicilian dons.

The journey itself is predictable: we immediately know what happened to then-Private First Class Chance Phelps (his promotion warrant to lance corporal arrived after his death), we know where he is going, and we know the reason. Less certain, however, is Strobl’s internal compass, which is what keeps the film interesting, even engrossing. “What about you? What’s your deal?” asks a curly-haired civilian teenager while transporting Strobl from Dover to Philadelphia International Airport. “My deal is . . . complicated,” the officer replies. The reverse winds up
to be just as true: the young driver had signed up for casualty duty after two of his high school pals were sent to Iraq, yet he struggles to relate to Strobl’s passion and enthusiasm for the martial calling.

Stroble's reactions to the civilian interactions - most are respectful, others awkward— sustain Taking Chance’s dramatic thread. Strobl smiles thinly and nods after being upgraded to first class by a tearyeyed flight attendant, then stares down a TSA employee who badgers him about his bag of metal objects (PFC Phelps’s personal effects) and his metal-spangled Service Green Alpha uniform jacket. At each stop along the way—Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Billings—pilots, luggage handlers, and travelers place caps and hands over hearts, pausing to pay homage. As the hearse from Rafferty’s Funeral Home snakes through the arid mountain passes of Montana into Wyoming, carsand trucks turn on headlights, eventually forming an impromptu funeral procession led by an 18-wheeler.

The film strikes two particular emotional chords. First, Marines love each other. The
brotherhood is sometimes distilled into more antiseptic phrases, such as “fierce
devotion to duty.” The film avoids hollow sentimentality and instead conveys the
depth of enduring affection and fraternity that goes with wearing the uniform. More significant, Americans love that Marines love each other. We “support the troops,”
in part, because all of us—military or civilian—long for human connections of
such profundity and self-sacrifice that they would transcend death. The pudgy businessman and spindly cowgirl whose hands cover their hearts affirm as citizens that the Marine who died risked his fate on their behalf. And, rightly, they love him for it.

These are not new notions, but HBO’s restrained, exemplary illustration of them
makes this a striking film. Taking Chance has already been nominated for the Grand
Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival; it should also be considered for other
awards. Even if it receives no formal recognition, the film deserves praise for depicting the squared-away nobility and solemn grandeur of America’s relationship with her Marines. Make no mistake: Lance Corporal Chance Phelps would be proud of this film.

Mr. Danelo served in Iraq as a Marine captain in 2004. A frequent contributor to Proceedings, he is the author of Blood Stripes: The Grunt’s View of the War in Iraq (Stackpole Books, 2006). Mr. Danelo was wounded near Fallujah three days before Lance Corporal Chance Phelps was killed.

Citizen or Consumer ??

How Free People Move Mountains
by Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer
Harper Collins, 2008, $ 24.95
ISBN # 978-0-06-123352-4

These are ugly times in America. Wall Street has imploded, the out-going Administration insists on fighting the Afghan war (which is studiously ignored by the American public) with too-few troops, the national debt is virtually unserviceable - and the presidential campaign focused instead on lipstick, moose-skinning, and American flag pins. The parents and families of Marines and soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan must be shaking their heads in dismay.

"How Free People move Mountains," is a timely and unusual book for these hard times, and one well worth reading. Co-authors Kathy Roth-Douquet and Frank Schaeffer address the divide that has split the United States, threatens our being as a respected nation - and propose a solution that is elegant in its simplicity.

Frank Schaeffer and Kathy Roth-Douquet are unlikely co-authors, yet perhaps their differences are why their premise is ultimately successful. Schaeffer comes from a deeply evangelical Christian and unforgiving New England background while Roth-Douquet is liberal, Jewish, and a former Clinton aide, yet they successfully collaborated two years ago in "AWOL; The unexcused absence of the upper class from military service", which advanced the thesis that patriotism, national service, and duty to country was not just the province of lower-income Southerners and Midwesterners. It is interesting to note that Schaeffer's son enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Afghanistan while Roth-Douquet is married to a career Marine officer, so both understand better than most the concept of serving a cause greater than oneself. It is these unique backgrounds that enable the authors to unite in their belief in the intrinsic goodness of the United States - and that this is a crucial time for America to regain it.

"How Free People Move Mountains" is written in an engaging style. Set up as a discussion between 'Liberal Kathy' and 'Conservative Frank', the two authors talk about how Americans today have substituted the pursuit of consumer goods and wealth for religious faith and the laws of God (Frank), or a belief in the natural goodness of man (Kathy). While it is up to the reader to decide which road is correct, Schaeffer and Roth-Douquet's debate finishes in the same place; that of ignoring the politicians and talking heads who push the conservative-liberal, red state-blue state divisions for their own selfish reasons and instead take a direct interest in the future of their country.

Their well-reasoned solution is quite simple, and reflects the thoughts of our Founding Fathers: live a moral life, respect others, and work for the common good. The ideals of "Honor - Courage - Commitment" resound throughout the book, and throughout their ideas for breaking through the morass of mindless consumerism that they see as sapping America's spiritual strength. As 'Liberal Kathy' and 'Conservative Frank' are able to engage in spirited yet, civil debate, "How Free People Move Mountains" shows us the way to re-engage Americans in the future of our country.