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Off the shelf - New year’s reads
Volume 50, No. 1, February 8, 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 really 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
FIRST HAND 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 10 years of conflict into quiet a manageable length.
– SGT Damian Griffin
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