The Good Soldiers

Book four of the New York Times Book Review's best ten books of 2009 is The Good Soldiers, by David Finkel, who spent several months embedded with a battalion of the U.S. Army in a dusty outpost of Iraq during the much-publicized "surge." The account is written in narrative style, without political snark, though each chapter is opened with a quote by George W. Bush, that may or may not be ironic considering what is going on on the ground.

This is an excellent book, but I must admit to a bit of fatigue on books about Iraq. However, this one does not heap on the political outrage, but instead serves to simply chronicle the lives of soldiers in their everyday life. The 2-16, as they are designated, are based out of Fort Riley, Kansas, and that's where Finkel begins. We meet their commanding officer, Ralph Kauzlich, who is earnest and well-meaning and has a habit of saying "It's all good." We will start to feel for him as he deals with all sorts of problems, none so more than having to write and give memorial speeches for his fallen soldiers.

Finkel covers all aspects of military life, whether it's mordantly humorous, such as how to go about removing the body of a dead Iraqi out a septic tank in an abandoned spaghetti factory, or the tension of the monthly soldier-of-the-month contest, to the terror of not knowing when an IED or EFP (the book is heavy on acronyms) will rip a soldier to bits. The book is punctuated by the deaths or injuries of soldiers, and it is testimony to Finkel's skill that though these become sadly common, they are never lessened in effect.

Perhaps the most gripping chapter is a visit to a rehabilitation center, when Kauzlich visits his wounded men. One soldier, with severe brain damage, is tended to by his wife and mother, and even thinking about it now it makes me emotional. These men, most of them boys, are working in impossible conditions, facing daily violence, for a purpose that seems to be ill-conceived and ill-defined.

As Finkel states: "They were soldiers whose choices had ended when they had signed contracts and taken their oaths. Whether they had joined for reasons of patriotism, of romantic notions, to escape a broken home of some sort, or out of economic need, their job now was to follow the orders of other soldiers who were following orders, too."

If you had to read one book about the lives of American serviceman in Iraq, and don't want to get too invested in the political arguments of the deployment, The Good Soldiers would be a good choice.