I saw an excellent Youtube video where the author spoke about the death of the Left or Liberalism and its descent into Fascism. His bio introduced him as a war correspondent who was on the ground for most of the conflicts (post WWII) during my lifetime. I bought the book thinking that he would be telling some first-hand experiences from war zones. THIS IS NOT WHAT THIS BOOK IS. This book was a collaboration between the author and some university and think tank types. The entire book is a set of questions and answers. The book is full of statistics such as: "How likely you are to be wounded in battle? What kinds of wounds are the most fatal? If you are captured how will you be tortured and what methods of torture are likely to be used." This book is ideally what a parent should give a young man who thinks he wants to join the military. It is a sobering take on the reality of war. Just the facts. No emotion. Few adjectives and adverbs. Very dry. For the majority of people who do not enlist in military service and do not see combat, it is an eye-opener. If you agree with the power elites who control the politicians who send our citizens off to fight modern wars of empire and conquest, you can disabuse yourself of the nobility and "rightness" of going to war. War is hell. ( )

Read the Title! ( )

War for dummies

At least 108 million people were killed in wars in the 20th century. War is an inevitable part of the human condition, according to the author of this book. In a Q&A-format he describes the effects of war: "what it does to bodies, to minds and souls", and that "in raw detail". The book is aimed at soldiers, veterans, their families and the (American) voting public. The answer to every question is supported by a footnote with references. The answers are factual and often quantitative.

So we learn that most people join the US army for educational purposes. Even in peace time they pay a price for that: the payment is relatively low and rises more slowly than in the civilian world, spouses work less and generate less income, family members may suffer from stress because of the frequent relocations, and the divorce rate is higher than average. On the other hand, blacks are only twice as likely to land in jail in the military, whereas it is six times as likely in civilian life.

These are just some of the facts about military life. But the book mostly looks at what armed struggle means for the men and women in the boots on the ground. Do not expect much attention for tactics or weapons or other tools. Even the often reported boredom gets ample attention. This book is about what it means to get wounded or die in armed combat, and about the one in five chance to get wounded or killed as an infantry soldier and the one on fifty change in other branches of the armed forces. It is about the chance you will get "to strike back" at the enemy if you are terminally ill because of exposure to nuclear radiation. Equally, it covers what happens to you when you kill or get killed, and the increased likelyhood that you will go to believe in a higher power.

What will the battle environment feel like?
You will most likely be subject to loud noise and vibration as well as a lack of oxygen, choking fumes, chemicals, skin irritants, bright lights, and haze. You may be carrying heavy packs and weapons over unstable and uneven ground while being fired upon. You may be wet or very cold or very hot.

And so it goes on. The book explains that you best get wounded through your arm, hand or foot, or in your stomach when it is empty. Head wounds on the contrary are the worst. Leg wounds are the most common. Avoiding being seen is your best defence against getting wounded; luckily the army often uses inclement weather or darkness to attack. If you are wounded your survival is to a large extent defined by your loss of blood; the loss of 8 pints of blood will kill the average man, hence the danger of severed arteries. You may also die because of a crushed throat or of a punctured lung. The book covers bullet and fragmentation wounds, but there is also information about incendiary weapons, and atomic, chemical and biological bombs. When you are wounded you may not feel pain because of an endorphin release. Your heart will start beating faster to compensate for blood loss and eventually you will get into a coma. Finally your muscles, including your anal sphincter, will relax. You have a one in five chance to die from your wounds.

Combat causes your brain to activate a "fight or flight" system with 200 heartbeats per minute. Your biggest fear will be injury or letting your comrades down. Most likely you will feel guilty after killing in combat. After 60 days of continuous combat, 98 percent of all those who survived will have become psychiatric casualties.

If, on the other hand, you are taken prisoner you have a serious chance to get raped. You will confess about anything if tortured and feel ashamed about it.

As a positive point, the average American serviceman slept with 25 women in the last year of the Second World War in Europe.

This is a book about war different from most others. Highly informative. ( )

An eye opening book re a soldier's experience of war what every American should be required to read. ( )

A truly informative book on the reality of war and its effects on people. The book is a quick read and incredibly interesting, with the text in a question-and-answer format. I found the arc of chapters clever as well, following the progression of a person from joining the military to questions of combat, wounds and injuries, dying, and life after the war.

The sections which caught my attention was how people adapt to combat. The vast majority of people do not like to kill other people. It's difficult. Media portrayals of combat show a sanitized reality of death and destruction, with whole bodies and peaceful expressions of death, but the truth is that bodies can be mutilated, disfigured, or burned, and soldiers can remain alive after being wounded.

Soldiers must be conditioned to kill. There's a quip from Lt. Col Grossman, who also wrote the book Killology, that "It is not too far off the mark to observe that there's something about continuous, inescapable combat which will drive 98 percent of all men insane, and the other two percent were crazy when they got there." The remaining two percent had aggressive psychopathic personalities which allows them to not be affected by the stresses of combat. That statistic reminds me of Daniel Goleman (who wrote 'Emotional Intelligence') that one percent of all people have a sociopathic personality who lack empathy for others and only think of themselves. Perhaps there is a correlation? For typical soldiers however, experiencing traumatic events in war can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (around fifty percent for WWII and Vietnam vets, and twenty percent for Gulf War I vets) which has real consequences on health and family.

Overall, the costs of war are more than material but human as well. Asking citizen-soldiers to go to war and experience death and destruction is no light task and re-affirms the responsibility of the executive branch to use their power wisely.

"War, the blood-swollen god, asks us to sacrifice our young. Beware of that sacrifice. Fear it." ( )