In March 2003, a US Army convoy was attacked in the city of An-Nasiriyah en route to Bagdad. Eleven soldiers were killed the rest were taken prisoner. This is the story as told by the author, Shoshana Johnson. The book is the story of her journey through this period of her life, from deployment to current day (2003-2010).

Really compelling story. Only complaint is the reader's mispronunciation of words. Still 2.5 hours to go, but good NF for listening while driving daily. ( )

We are living in a time where the cost of everything is rising and too many people are living in poverty. As a result, many young men and women attempt to do the only thing that seems sensible, join the military. What better way to gain hands-on experience, bring in a steady and for-sure income while earning money for college? Yea, that's the same thing that Shoshana Johnson figured when she decided to follow in the foot steps of her father and her sister and join the military.

In her debut memoir, Johnson recalls the day, as written by M. L. Doyle, she was taken as a P.O.W. after being left behind by her superiors in the middle of nowhere en route to Baghdad with very vivid details of incidents leading up to her capture.

"My life has forever changed because of what happened in An Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. One day, maybe I'll be able to get through a day when I don't think about it, when I don't wonder what I could have done to change things."

Johnson, now free from a gag order imposed by the military, is very honest and open about what happened in Iraq. Johnson also dispels many myths and untruths that imply it was the fault of the officers that led to the ambush and capture. According to Johnson, it was after being separated from the convey and wondering into a town that they were attacked by the residents of the city.

"My head whipped around as I looked to see where all this fire was coming from. I saw a man coming at us from between two buildings. He was about three hundred meters away when I first saw him, a young guy wearing a white shirt and dark pants, his tennis-shoed feet kicking up wisps of sand as he ran toward us. He was carrying a pistol and I knew he would use it."

I know many of you will ask how did they end up behind everyone. According to Johnson, her company, the 507th Maintenance Company, consisted of "mechanics, truck drivers, technicians, and supply specialists were the heart of the 507th. Three others and me were attached to the unit as cooks."

I guess it's okay to say the 507th was the clean-up crew. That meant that anytime a vehicle stopped due to maintenance and technical issues they had to stop and get the vehicles back on the road. No man left behind would be a great slogan but unfortunately they were left behind. To add insult to injury, many would blame the 507th for the incident, including the press.

"But the press didn't say anything about our orders to use that damn tape. They didn't say anything about our attempts to repair radios that didn't work and they didn't say anything about how TCP had abandoned us in the middle of the desert and, evidently forgotten that we were out there."

In this page-turning painfully true story, Johnson tells it like it is. It is horrifying that our soldiers would be exposed to war without working equipment and then be blamed for being attacked, wounded and captured. After reading many reviews about this book, I was not sure what to expect but it was worth my time to read it and I'm so proud of Shoshana for telling HERstory and we wont have to rely on HIStory!

"The decision to write this book was a difficult one to reach. I finally agreed to do it after several people convinced me that it was important to tell my side of the story. So much has been said about me and my experience in the press and little of it has been very accurate. I always wonder who it is they are talking and writing about. It just couldn't be me."

Johnson is now credited as being the first African-American (actually Panamanian-American) female P.O.W. and has received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals for her commitment, dedication and valor. She was held captive for 22 days and thanks the Marines that saved her life.

If you haven't read this book you should and it is a must have for your library. Let's make sure that even if history books decide not to cover Shoshana Johnson we do our part to make sure we know who she is and pass the knowledge to others, especially our children.

After reading this novel, I had many mixed emotions. I LOVE the United State of America and as of today there is no other place I'd rather be. But, it greatly saddens me when I hear stories of our soldiers not having proper equipment and support or getting adequate health care. These soldiers lay down their lives to defend our country and as citizens it's time to let our politrikans know that we will not tolerate the mistreatment of our soldiers. I was pissed that Shoshana had to call in help to fight for the benefits she deserved. America we have to do better, we just have to!
God Bless Our Troops and Veterans ( )

Thanks for the book, Tara!

This memoir is written by the first black American (actually, Panamanian-American) female soldier to be held as a prisoner of war in Iraq. After the initial description of the attack, her lost convoy ambushed, some soldiers killed and some taken prisoner, the story alternates between describing her life leading up to the attack and her life as a POW and later. She was captured on March 23, 2003, and rescued on April 13, 2003.

First, let me get my negative thoughts out of the way. I found it disturbing that Shoshana seemed to choose a military career as the path of least resistance. She dropped out of college because she didn't really know what she wanted to do, and was working dead-end jobs when she decided that a “safe” job in the Army didn't sound so bad despite her other options. After her daughter was born while Shana was in the Army, Shana, now a single parent, chose to sign up for another three-year stint, never expecting to go to Iraq. I think it is unfair for a single parent to expect his or her family to raise the child while the parent is gone, and I don't think it is fair to the child to have no parent for an extended period of time and to possibly lose her only parent in war. Just my opinion, and I know many disagree with me. Also I'm not Shoshana and I don't know what I would have decided had I been in her shoes.

Shana repeatedly questioned why she was in the convoy in Iraq when she was just a cook, when she should have been somewhere safer. I don't think any soldier is ever guaranteed safety in war, and the “why me? I didn't sign up for this” attitude got old.

Now for the positive. Shana's story was, for the most part, well written and engaging. Although I have some criticism of her decisions, I don't think for a minute that she was anything less than honorable when she was a prisoner, and I admire her resolve to get through the situation the best she could, despite severe wounds that were poorly treated and horribly painful. I admire that she very much appreciated the actions and sacrifices of her fellow soldiers, most of whom behaved as admirably as she did but got little recognition for it. The POWs were often moved, never in one place long, never knowing what was going to happen next, and as the lone woman in her group, she was isolated much more than the men. I admire that she did not paint all Iraqis with the same broad brush, that she was able to see that some were kinder than others and some crueler, even though they were holding her prisoner. As horrible as her experience was, I am glad that it was relatively short (although it must have seemed a thousand years to the POWs) and that her group was rescued. I am so glad she and her fellow POWS survived. I wish we could say the same for all the soldiers.

The book even had a little humor. There are disposable devices that allow women to pee standing up, but she had to pay out of her own pocket for them and had to practice. And then there is the red underwear, and the care that “black hair” takes.

Shana questioned some of the Army decisions, not only the one that allowed the ambush to take place but also what happened after she returned home. And it sounds like many mistakes were made. It's pretty easy to make the right decisions with the advantage of hindsight.

As a nit, there were quite a few grammatical and typo mistakes in the ARC copy I read, which is pretty common, and I hope and expect that they were corrected in the published edition. In the end, I think this is a very good read for anyone interested in the life of a soldier. ( )

Shoshana Johnson is the first black Latin American woman to be taken P.O.W and this is her story of her twenty two days of captivity in Iraq.

Shoshana joined the army to earn money for culinary school. When the war broke out in 2003, she was sent along with her unit to Iraq where they proceed to drive a convoy across the desert. The convoy was ill planned from the start. Tape jammed their rifle magazines. The group was ill trained and ill prepared. To sum it up, some higher ups weren't doing their jobs and this becomes obvious when the last 14 or so trucks in the convoy gets lost. One wrong turn leads to a very bad situation. Shoshana and a few others are captured. She is shot in both ankles. What can she do?

This is her thoughts, fears, hopes, and ordeals during her twenty two days. It tops off with her rescue, the press houndings, and where she is today. Did she ever make it to culinary school?

Four stars despite it being a well told story. Why? Throughout the telling, Shoshana keeps repeating three words and one recurring theme. "I'm a cook. Why did they send me?" Coming from a very military family myself, this began to irritate me because when you sign up for the American military, your primary and number one job is defense of your country. The fact that you are a cook, sheet metal mechanic, truck driver, or whatever else they have spent the money training you to do, is your secondary job. After free medical care, free training, and constant support of your military family, can you really question them when they ask for you assistance in homeland defense?

Despite that irritation, I enjoyed her story and I recommend it. ( )