Jon Buchan

Fair only. Well written by an intelligent man, this is an opportunity missed. An educated soldier with some understanding of, at least, the language, this book rarely graduates from 'up to our knees in blood and empty cartridges' war story to a thoughtful analysis of what the Western nations were trying to do in Afghanistan. His motives and personal decisions are odd and suspect. If one loathes routine and bullshit, why join a Guards battalion? It's their raison d'etre. Most of the time, he comes across as a Hooray Henry looking for the glamour of war, rather than interrogating Western motives. It's not an awful book, just a pale imitation of other bombs n' bullets memoirs of how many Terry Taliban we slotted.