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 enlarge | Author: David Bellavia
Creator: John Bruning
Publisher: Free Press
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy New: $9.75
You Save: $16.25 (62%)
New (7) Used (7) Collectible (1) from $9.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  147 reviews
Sales Rank: 365290
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.70443092
ASIN: B0017ODVOU
Publication Date: September 4, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Dancing Iraqis, the dance of death October 21, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I loved this book and couldn't put it down. I read it on the Kindle. Life took a backseat while I read it.
Fallujah now I know better than I ever thought I'd know it.
I laughed, too. The description of the Iraqi soldiers dancing together a la Shakira is hilarious. The description of war is immediate and pressing it truly is as if the reader participates in the hell of combat, where human will often decides who wins and loses.
There's a scene reminiscent of the brutal "Saving Private Ryan" scene where the fighting literally become tooth, claw, and knife.
War truly is hell, and this book shows that soldiers die for each other out of love. Not for the big, noble causes, but to be there for his comrade.
This book is similar to Black Hawk Down and almost as good.
The only bone of contention I have is, as an English teacher, the spelling of "all right" not acceptable as "alright." It makes my skin crawl.
I hope Americans realize he tremendous sacrifices that soldiers and Marines have made in the Iraqi and Afghani campaigns. This book is so effective for being so evocative and as a labor of love. David Bellavia is so effective for writing from the heart, laying it all bare.
Great job, Sarge. Thanks for your service. Hoo-yah!
No cliches October 18, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is worth every minute of reading time. I read it through without stopping, it was so compelling and real. Thanks for the snapshot of that world, and for your service, Sargeant.
Simply the Best! October 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The many reviews alrady posted about this book already to a good job summing-up its content and subject matter. Therefore, I'll simply say this is absolutely the single best memoir yet written about the Iraq War, specifically from the perspective of an Infantry NCO. I eagerly devoured this book within a 24 hour period and was enthralled by Bellavia's story on every page. Highly recommended and should be required reading for soldiers, politicians, journalists (especially journalists), and, hell, the general public.
Mr. Bellavia, words cannot possibly thank you and your fellow veterans enough for what you have done for this country.
A true story of heroes in a horrid situation October 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Bellavia is a highly decorated vet of the Battle of Fallujah in 2004. This is his account of the time leading up to the battle and of the battle itself. People need to be constantly reminded of two things; first, how totally brutal real war is, and second, how important it is to honor the people who go to war on our behalf. This book does both in spades. The gritty description of the action as the US Military faced the early stages of the Iraqi insurgency is gripping. There were many times when I found myself on the edge of my seat, or I had to take a break from the reading and unwind. It also describes the bonds developed by combat vets quite well. This bond comes from facing mortal danger and unimaginable hardship together. It is something we should all strive to understand. Without any spoilers I will say that the dramatic climax is personal and gripping, combat writing at its best.
Everyone should Read this October 5, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have never had the urge to write a review before, but this book has overwhelmingly compelled me to do so.
What made this book an astonishing standout to me was not only the constant gripping action, but the brutal honesty with which the author writes. Brutal honesty not only about the events, but the real and hardcore emotions he goes through in dealing with the events as they unfold. It is hard enough to imagine doing the things he has done for his country, but even harder still to imagine coming to terms with those things and sharing those horrors with others - completely uncensored. Now that really takes some guts in my opinion.
When I first ordered this book, I was really hoping it wasn't going to be just another journal of long patrols, and daily discomforts, with the occasional bit of action thrown in to spice things up. I was not disappointed. From the minute you open this book, David Bellavia smacks you in the face with the gut-wrenching, filthy, inhumane realities of the boots-on-the-ground perspective of the U.S. Army shooters in Iraq. The action starts almost instantly, and takes you for a ride throughout the book that is as intriguing to read as it is exhausting. What you are left with at the end is a new perspective that the headlines and news stories could never give, and a profound new respect for what our soldiers go through to protect and defend our most basic rights of freedom.
Some of the reviews have commented on the use of language (to which this book is chock full of obscenities), but I think anyone who has served the military as an enlisted person already knows, that kind of language is just par for the course. If anything, I think there were probably more swear words left OUT of the book, than were actually spoken in real life on the battlefield. That's reality. And that's why the language is in the book. Its not meant to offend, or exaggerate, its meant to epitomize what it is truly like when your right there next to your buddies and the bullets start flying. I personally am glad Sgt. Bell' didn't clean up the book - war is not clean, or nice, or polite, and it should not be presented that way.
Ultimately I think this book is a perfect illustration of an old quote that I have always held in high esteem...
"Freedom has a taste to those who have fought for it, that the protected will never know." (author unknown)
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