Books : Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground

Rating: - excellent book
I thought this book was a great behind the scenes look at the US military at work in various countries around the world. You often hear that the US militay is on the ground in one hundred plus countries, well here is what they are doing.

My only real criticism is that Kaplan paints a simplistic picture of the soldiers: Special Forces guys are all rednecks who like to hunt and fish, Marines are all mean youngsters from troubled backgrounds chanelling their energy, and most eveybody is a born again Christian.

I don't know if we should be nation building all over the world. Maybe it is necessary, maybe it is more important to take care of domestic matters and mind our own business. Certainly works for Switzerland.

But anyway, I wonder, since Kaplan presents the soldiers as god-like figures who are on a mission to do good, apparently none of them have any bad qualities, where the hell was he during the Vietnam war? He glorifies the soldiers and their missions so much. He would seem to be the right age to have fought in Vietnam, but he only mentions being in the Israeli army. I found this strange for a US citizen.

Is this the case of another journalist looking to have someone else do the dirty work, either for a story or to do the heavy lifting for Israel?

---

Rating: - Interesting and creative work on the war on terror!
I enjoyed reading this book and reading Hog Pilots the author's other work because they provide a rare and in depth view of how the real grunts who are fighting the war on terror are actually working. It shows how they are working with developing nations to reform their militaries to better ensure a working democracy. The author has an obvious bias in favor of the subjects he is portraying but then again he makes no claim to being unbiased.

Still, I found this a very engaging work as it portrays some of America's finest doing their best to project strong American ideals like freedom and protecting the rights of the oppressed to nations whose concepts of these ideas maybe rough. I would recommend anyone interested in a profile in how the war on terror is being fought.

---

Rating: - Brilliant and Excellent
Great read and a good job on Mr. Kaplan's part. Reading this book increased my respect for the brave american troops deployed world wide. Loved it and it is a recommended read!

---

Rating: - Boots on the ground firmly grounded in reality
Right off the bat let me say that I have no axe to grind about the military bureaucracy and I'm not looking to make any pronouncements about the war in Iraq. Though I served in the Army over 40 years ago and briefly with Treasury department about five years later, it's safe to say that over a generation later I have little or no clue how these institutions operate these days. Nonetheless, those two episodes introduced me to a bunch of folks who were practical, courageous, innovative, honest and humble. Imperial Grunts is proof that these kinds of people are thankfully still serving our country. I'm grateful to Robert Kaplan for allowing me to spend some time with them again.

---

Rating: - The War that Few Hear About
Imperial Grunts is a well written book that begins to look at the Global War of Terrorism from a much larger perspective than the normal "military interest" books that are now flooding the market.
In it you begin to see the bigger effort that encompasses not only Iraq and Afghanistan but the whole global community.
These are the stories that you should be hearing about. I highly recommended this book for those who want the "bigger picture".