The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education

When does education mean the difference between life and death? Well...in life or death situations. The education system has its problems at all different levels and factions, but sans formal education, the learning curve is a lot steeper when you're holding another's life in your hands. At the same time there's no equivalent to hands on experience. The big question becomes how much can formal education prepare you before experience takes its toll?

Throughout his memoir, Craig Mullaney explores the education he received to become a U.S. Army Captain and lead an infantry platoon. The book is split into three sections: (1) student (2) soldier (3) veteran. Mullaney is a West Point graduate. His recap of his college years is quite different than the 'traditional' university education. 6am runs followed by class, wrestling, drills, being harassed by upperclassmen, studying, target practice, etc., etc., etc. This is a system strictly meant for vocational work i.e. soldiering (yes, I may have invented a verb). The critical thinking skills Mullaney learns in his history classes and as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford help him have a more critical mind and analyze at a deeper level. Although given test after test in school, in field training, and in Ranger school, Mullaney unfortunately learns that when the unforgiving minute comes and the bullets are real, training only goes so far.

As a soldier, Mullaney is sent to Afghanistan to lead a platoon. There he fights boredom, sand, routine, and chaos. While sweeping an area, Mullaney's men land upon surprised terrorists. It is in this instance that all the education and training should assist him, but in his first battle, Mullaney freezes for a bit. What do you do? How do you react when the blood is real? When you're not firing at a piece of paper, but at a person? It's on Losano Ridge that Mullaney loses a soldier. At this point, Craig begins to question what his training has done for him and what mistakes he made. In the end he figures out that maybe there was nothing he could have done and fate took hold. One of the lessons the war teaches him is "combat was both the ultimate test of courage and its classroom".

As a veteran, Mullaney begins teaching at the Naval Academy. Here he hopes to impart the critical thinking skills that aided him in the battlefield and eventually he uses his own experience to try and teach his students how to help themselves when their moment comes.

This book is a pleasure to read. Craig Mullaney is both a warrior and a scholar. His story is well written and easily accessible. It marries personal details with his upbringing as a soldier. I enjoyed the vulnerability that Craig showed throughout the book. Soldiers are viewed as men-men (another term coined by yours truly) across the world, so it's nice to see that under the Kevlar vests there are emotions, fears, doubts, and regrets. Here is a great glimpse into the making of a soldier and the memoir of a man's toughest story to tell.

You Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming

Never date a military man. That is the lesson "You Know When the Men are Gone" by Siobhan Fallon taught me. The book is a collection of short, loosely tied together stories. They are all about the relationships of military personnel and the families of these persons. Perspectives change from story to story, but the themes run deep from frustration, fear, hurt, heartbreak, hope, loss, disappointment, love, and longing as individuals make their way through their deployment or that of a loved one in Iraq.

The stories circle around Fort Hood, a military base in Texas, where wives wait for their men to return from war. The men overseas dream about the women who they believe are yearning for them. Here is a book that opens your eyes to the complications of living an army life and the strain it puts on personal relationships. How fragile relationships are and how even the strongest men have weaknesses. The one thing you think you can rely on, your love and family, become twisted and complicated. It's not just the distance affecting the relationship and sometimes love isn't enough to make it work.

This is a fascinating read. Fallon held my attention from page to page, story to story. One of my worries was having to get to know each new narrator, but I found myself drawn into each character. The stories are captivating. Since the author is a woman, I expected all the stories to be from the female perspective, but was happily surprised to find many stories from the male point of view as well. However, you could tell that this is a woman writing because the stories got into the emotional world of each character in a way that I rarely see men tap into. You won't want to put this one down. I highly suggest reading it.