"The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education" by Craig Mullaney Final Assessment

Several days ago, before I got too sick to do much of anything, I finished Mullaney's top rate memoir. In fact, I skipped an evening of television--a big deal for me--because I couldn't pull myself away from seeing how Mullaney's tour in Afghanistan ended and the rest of his story unfolded.

His chapters on his combat time in-country were very interesting. In his one tour his platoon experienced a wide range of things. From the intensity of close contact with Taliban fighters along the Pakistani border to uncertainty coupled with well-deserved pride of providing security during a humanitarian mission to the boredom of service at Khandahar Air Base Mullaney received a very full picture of our military's endeavor's on the front line of the "Global War on Terror."

In the end and all throughout this book the reader is presented with a very patriotic and thoughtful approach to what it means to serve these United States in uniform. Sadly, I feel the need to put the words patriotic and thoughtful together, because all too often over the last eight years being thoughtful and patriotic have not always been respected. And perhaps as a pastor whose only uniforms have ever been a preaching robe and a high school band uniform perhaps I don't have the right to be thoughtful about my patriotism. But no one should question the right of Craig Mullaney to question our nation's endeavors overseas, especially as a West Point graduate who has seen action in the very lion's den of our nation's foreign policy.

Again, if you haven't already, go out and buy this book or borrow it from me or you local library!

"The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education" by Craig M. Mullaney--250 pages in

One of the things I find difficult about this whole blogging exercise is whether or not people are reading what I bother writing about. Not to make any of you feel guilty, its just when i see "0" comments it makes me wonder.

And so again I want to appeal to anyone out there who might read this post. Please read this book!!! It is not only a page turner, but also a great work of literature. It is a coming of age story, but also so much more. From West Point and the peculiar culture that is one of our nation's military academies to the peculiarities of Oxford University in England and then on to the confusion and frustration that is Afghanistan; this memoir is compelling reading for anyone interested in our role overseas as a nation and as a people.

Not only does Mullaney give an insiders' view of the American Armed Forces, but also he gives us a look at what it means to be engaged in Nation Building in a place that can just barely be considered a "nation". Equally compelling are his passages regarding his lead up to deployment. Receiving information about the flora and fauna of Afghanistan, while interesting, was not much help when faced with the indifference of people he was being sent to help.

Mullaney's book is a must-read for anyone curious about our continued role in Afghanistan--whether you are a died-in-the-wool supporter of the "Global War on Terror" or you wonder about how Obama will make new strides as Commander-in-Chief, this book is well worth your time and effort.

"The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education" by Craig M. Mullaney

As I turn on the TV after reading Eric's bedtime stories from a Children's Bible and a condensed version of "Robin Hood" what catches my attention is "Saving Private Ryan." This reminded me that I am reading a new memoir by a new author, Craig M. Mullaney who has crafted quite the page-turner in "The Unforgiving Minute".

Mullaney describes his upbringing in a blue-collar family and then attending and graduating from West Point. I am at the point in the book where he has graduated and is attending Ranger School between West Point and going to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. The book then moves onto Oxford and Afghanistan where Mullaney sees combat in the War on Terror and finally moves into a third faze where he is a veteran whose brother is going into the armed forces in his brother's footsteps.

I guess what has intrigued me so much about this book is that it has so far received a five star rating by Amazon.com through 41 reviews. Also Mullaney's book has received critical acclaim from General Petraeus on the one hand and General Wesley Clark on the other hand. Now that's saying something; from George W. Bush's man in Iraq to a former Democratic Presidential Candidate says to me that this book speaks a truth that transcends the bickering and bitterness that has consumed too much of our country. And now that I am 100 pages into the book it is not only a balm for the ills of our nation but also a fantastic and compelling story of one young man's commitment to this nation and her values.

If you have the time, please, please consider reading Craig M. Mullaney's masterful memoir of duty and sacrifice. It may just restore your sense of what it means to love this country and more importantly to serve something larger than your own self interest.