Sean Michael Flynn

An interesting addition to this storied unit's history. The transformation of the unit from its poor state of readiness on Sept 11 into the highly effective force that eventually policed the airport road in Baghdad is an excellent study on effective leadership. The impact of the battalion commander can not be overstated, his efforts were the driving force behind the unit's recovery.

As a civil war buff I could appreciate the irony of the 69th's attachment orders for their Iraqi deployment. The battalion was attached to the 256th Infantry Brigade Combat Team which traces its lineage back to the Louisiana Tigers of civil war fame, their fire support was provided by 1-141 Artillery which had once deployed its guns as the Army of Northern Virginia's "Washington Artillery" contesting the 69th New York Volunteer Infantry on many a bloody field.… (mais)

As travel books go, this one's pretty lame, and were it just any travel book I'd have abandonded it after a few pages.
The saving grace is that the terrain discussed is Alaska which is interesting enough to put up with the rest of the material.

BTW the publisher would like to have you believe that this is a searing expose of the US military; don't fall for it. Like a thousand other books of its ilk it goes out on the daring limb of telling us that the air force is mighty bureaucratic, while probing zero distance beyond that banal observation.… (mais)