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The Outpost Review
Jan. 22nd, 2013 04:05 pmHey,
So I stayed up late and finished reading The Outpost by Jake Tapper. It's the story of an American Combat Outpost tucked away in the mountains of Afghanistan.
This book has only one serious failing. If they spend any amount of time talking about a soldier -- especially if they talk about their hopes and dreams, their wives and children, the way the Army turned their lives around and made them better people -- that soldier is pretty much going to get killed (or sent back to Germany with war-ending wounds). The foreshadowing needs to be dialed back down to 5 or 6 from 800 where it is now.
That said, it's a great book discussing the reasons why a base was built and what kept it going even as it became more apparent that these guys might be more effective somewhere else. It also illustrates the shifting thinking that went on in the military as Afghanistan dragged on. The final third covers the closure of the outpost. With only a week left before the camp was closed down, a huge wave of insurgents pounded the base and nearly overran it. A handful of GIs spend the better part of the day riding out a hail of bullets and RPGs. They managed to survive (at some cost). After they were evacuated the base was "closed" by B1 bombing runs.
As with most of these books, I think it's an important read because the way in which we decide to use or not use military power and how we follow through on our military commitments has a direct bearing on how and why our fellow citizens die for us.
later
Tom
p.s. An awful lot of guys from Nebraska wound up in Afghanistan.
So I stayed up late and finished reading The Outpost by Jake Tapper. It's the story of an American Combat Outpost tucked away in the mountains of Afghanistan.
This book has only one serious failing. If they spend any amount of time talking about a soldier -- especially if they talk about their hopes and dreams, their wives and children, the way the Army turned their lives around and made them better people -- that soldier is pretty much going to get killed (or sent back to Germany with war-ending wounds). The foreshadowing needs to be dialed back down to 5 or 6 from 800 where it is now.
That said, it's a great book discussing the reasons why a base was built and what kept it going even as it became more apparent that these guys might be more effective somewhere else. It also illustrates the shifting thinking that went on in the military as Afghanistan dragged on. The final third covers the closure of the outpost. With only a week left before the camp was closed down, a huge wave of insurgents pounded the base and nearly overran it. A handful of GIs spend the better part of the day riding out a hail of bullets and RPGs. They managed to survive (at some cost). After they were evacuated the base was "closed" by B1 bombing runs.
As with most of these books, I think it's an important read because the way in which we decide to use or not use military power and how we follow through on our military commitments has a direct bearing on how and why our fellow citizens die for us.
later
Tom
p.s. An awful lot of guys from Nebraska wound up in Afghanistan.
