Chasing Ghosts: Failures and Facades in Iraq: A Soldier's Perspective | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Rieckhoff
Publisher: NAL Trade
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  142 reviews
Sales Rank: 20608
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 355
ASIN: B0017I0KWC
Publication Date: May 1, 2007
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Condition: paperback that is brand new, clean and unmarked with uncreased spine, I ship daily in padded envelopes to protect your book. 5 Star Seller with 99% customer satisfaction rating.
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Product Description
The riveting, action-packed true story of the first soldier to challenge the war in Iraq.
As a 1st Lieutenant and Infantry Platoon Leader for the U.S. Army, charged with leading 38 young men in Iraq, Paul Rieckhoff was proud to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who served during Vietnam and WWII respectively. He and his soldiers spent almost a year in one of the most dangerous and volatile areas of Baghdad. And what they encountered there was chaos: not nearly enough troops, no humanitarian aid, no body armor, no radios, and no real plan for what to do after Baghdad fell.
Rieckhoff was shocked to see that sometimes the greatest challenges his platoon faced did not come from enemy combatants. He saw fi rsthand the disastrous results of disbanding the Iraqi army, sending thousands of armed, angry, and unemployed men out into the streets. And he saw what happened when we tried to conduct a war on the cheap, by bestowing government contracts to the lowest bidder and sending our military into battle inadequately protected and armed. What followed, over the next ten months, set him on a course that would forever change his life.
When he fi nally came home from his tour of duty, Rieckhoff vowed to tell Americans the truth about what was going on in Iraq. He demanded accountability from elected officials and was the first Iraq veteran to do so publicly. He created Operation Truth, the first and largest veterans' group specifically for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through this organization, he has become a leading spokesman for troops, veterans, and their families, and a critical voice in the ongoing debate surrounding this conflict.
What is really happening in Iraq? Should we be there? Should we stay? Rieckhoff is in a unique position to answer these crucial questions. Not only was he on the ground in the heat of battle but he is also on the front lines politically at home. He provides a grunt's-eye view of the harrowing, bloody battles on the streets of Baghdad and a patriot's vision of where America has gone wrong and how it can reset its path.
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Honest and Insightful November 10, 2008
Great book! I found it honest, to the point and there was no fooling around about the emotions and the reality of this war. I, for one, appreciate that.
An important read. October 4, 2008
Chasing Ghosts is an honest and powerful account of Reickhoff's experience in Iraq. While it's tough reading at points, I think it is good for us to recognize the reality of what we're asking the men and women of our armed forces to do for this country every day.
It took a lot of courage for Reickhoff to write this book and my hat goes off to him for doing it; and for the important work he's doing for veterans every day now.
Just the truth September 11, 2008
Rieckhoff is a well-spoken and thoughtful individual who, in this memoir of his service as part of the occupying force in Iraq, takes the reader on his journey from intelligent inductee to Generation Kill to intelligent advocate for peace. It's a good terse read with very little fluff or filler, and is required text for anyone wanting a soldier's perspective on the invasion and occupation.
 Short and Simple August 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a great book and an easy read as it kept you engaged and intrigued. Enjoy!
Thought-Provoking and Intelligent August 10, 2008
As someone who has read a large amount of literature concerning the current state of international affairs, specifically in the "War on Terror" and as a hopeful future officer in the United States Army, I found Paul Rieckhoff's account of his time as a platoon leader in Iraq to be not only well-written, but helpful and insightful. From the accounts of under-equipped Guard units, to the sometimes seemingly trivial nature of the Rules Of Engagement, the book paints a quite vivid, and scarily what I imagine to be accurate, picture of the face of America's first gander at twenty-first century warfare.
Though I found parts of the read to be erie in nature, and though the book provokes questions and doubts about our great nation's leadership and decision-makers, it in no way influenced me to give up joining the military. Rieckhoff has made it clear that the country's leadership is quite questionable, and in part of his writing acknowledges the fact that a new generation of veterans will soon be stepping into the political realm.
Chasing Ghosts deserves to be read.
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