August 27, 2007

In The Mail

In today's mail: House to House: An Epic Memoir of War, by SSG. David Bellavia, an account of the Battle of Fallujah.

Although I had too much to do today, I made the mistake of opening it to read the first couple of pages and pretty soon I was on page 70. It's gripping.

Thank you, Simon & Schuster, for offering the review copy.

Update: Finished the book. Gripping from start to finish. The book tells the story of Third Platoon, Alpha Company, as it fights house-to-house, sustaining heavy losses, in the Second Battle of Fallujah, some of the hardest urban combat of the War on Terror and yet a battle too few Americans really know much about. I finished the book and prayed a prayer of thanks to God that He provides America with fighting men like David Bellavia and his men, so that a few hundred million Americans can work and play and sleep and raise children in uninterrupted comfort.

Without soldiers like David Bellavia and the men of Third Platoon, Alpha Company, you and I and the rest of our fellow countrymen would soon be living - or, more likely, dying - under sharia law.

Bellavia is retired from the Army now, and has a new civilian-side mission, Vets for Freedom.

Here's a video of Bellavia discussing his experience in Iraq.