thedrifter
05-24-09, 08:56 AM
Marine writes about Iraq war
By GEORGE MORRIS
Advocate News Features staff
Published: May 24, 2009
JOKER ONE: A MARINE PLATOON’S STORY OF COURAGE, LEADERSHIP AND BROTHERHOOD
By Donovan Campbell
Random House ($26)
Regardless of whether they are about titanic battles or small firefights, stories of warfare are endlessly fascinating because they lay bare the best and worst of mankind — courage and cowardice, calm and panic, intelligence and stupidity, love and hate. It is hard to read an account of combat without developing or reaffirming an appreciation for those who step into harm’s way.
This is especially the case with Joker One, which recounts a platoon’s actions in Ramadi, Iraq, when the post-war insurgency began to ramp up in 2004. It helps that the author is both a good writer and an engaging story in his own right.
That Donovan Campbell was leading a combat platoon at all was unexpected. While in college, he enrolled in the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School as a résumé enhancement and ended up joining the Marines and landed in Ramadi on his first combat assignment with a platoon that was mostly just as untested as he was.
Campbell tells the story with refreshing honesty about his mistakes and insecurities and with admiration for the enlisted men who performed their duties admirably against an enemy that hid behind human shields, in heat that reached 130 degrees and on behalf of a populace that seemed to unanimously resent and even hate them.
Much in the way that Band of Brothers — both the Stephen Ambrose book and the HBO series — put a face on World War II soldiers, Joker One makes those serving in Iraq more real. In this, he does a favor to those servicemen, and to his readers.
Ellie
By GEORGE MORRIS
Advocate News Features staff
Published: May 24, 2009
JOKER ONE: A MARINE PLATOON’S STORY OF COURAGE, LEADERSHIP AND BROTHERHOOD
By Donovan Campbell
Random House ($26)
Regardless of whether they are about titanic battles or small firefights, stories of warfare are endlessly fascinating because they lay bare the best and worst of mankind — courage and cowardice, calm and panic, intelligence and stupidity, love and hate. It is hard to read an account of combat without developing or reaffirming an appreciation for those who step into harm’s way.
This is especially the case with Joker One, which recounts a platoon’s actions in Ramadi, Iraq, when the post-war insurgency began to ramp up in 2004. It helps that the author is both a good writer and an engaging story in his own right.
That Donovan Campbell was leading a combat platoon at all was unexpected. While in college, he enrolled in the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School as a résumé enhancement and ended up joining the Marines and landed in Ramadi on his first combat assignment with a platoon that was mostly just as untested as he was.
Campbell tells the story with refreshing honesty about his mistakes and insecurities and with admiration for the enlisted men who performed their duties admirably against an enemy that hid behind human shields, in heat that reached 130 degrees and on behalf of a populace that seemed to unanimously resent and even hate them.
Much in the way that Band of Brothers — both the Stephen Ambrose book and the HBO series — put a face on World War II soldiers, Joker One makes those serving in Iraq more real. In this, he does a favor to those servicemen, and to his readers.
Ellie