| Off the shelf
Volume 11, No. 59, February 08, 2007
 Love My Rifle More Than You
Kayla Williams
Phoenix
$24.95
BRUTALLY honest best sums up Kayla Williams’ Love My Rifle More Than You.
It is a no-holds-barred account of what it is like to be young and female in the US Army. This is no chick-lit book.
Kayla Williams calls it as it is, from joining the US Army to serving in Iraq. Written in a conversational style, Williams explores it all – the triumphs, the boredom, the promiscuity, the courage and the military incompetence.
She describes what it is like to be the only woman among 200 men, and holding up an entire convoy because it is difficult for a woman to pee while wearing a chemical weapons suit.
– Cpl Mike McSweeney
 From Baghdad with love
Jay Kopelman with Melinda Roth
The lyons press
$22.95
IF YOU’RE looking at the cover thinking this book is going to be sap – you’re on the money.
I thought the same, but somehow temptation got the better of my “judge a book by its cover” judgement and I thought I’d give it a shot.
Basically, it’s a book about a US Marine Lieutenant Colonel who found a puppy in a house his company was using as a command post in Fallujah and of his struggles to bring it back to the US. I really liked the first 100-odd pages and was enjoying hearing about how he fed the little blighter on ration packs, and how it wormed its way not just into his sleeping bag at night, but into his heart.
But then it just got really boring
– Sgt Damian Griffin
 Eyewitness Vietnam
Donald Gilmore with D.M. Giangreco
Sterling Publishing
$16.95
FIRSTHAND accounts from Operation Rolling Thunder, right through to the Fall of Saigon.
Eyewitness Vietnam tells the story of the Vietnam War as it was seen through the eyes of both US and Vietnamese veterans.
Accompanied by a DVD of selected interviews (unfortunately no Australians), the book is a treasure trove of easy to read chapters that each contain a specific operation.
Unfortunately, Australia’s contribution to the war is only sporadically mentioned throughout, with occasional pictures.
But overall, it’s still a really great read and has condensed the more than ten years of conflict into quite a manageable length.
– Sgt Damian Griffin
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