They Fought For Each Other: The Triumph And Tragedy Of The Hardest Hit Unit In Iraq (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
As a soldier that served in Charlie Company, 1/26 in Adhamiya, I can speak from personal experience when i say this book is FULL of errors. Some of the mistakes are minor, stuff that any half-way decent author or editor should've caught before publication (example: on page 273 she writes 1st BN, 25th Regiment instead of 1/26). Many other errors are much more serious.I could rant on and on about those errors, but I'll leave only a few here. Page 215, she mentions all the soldiers injured/killed in the 3rd platoon Humvee that caught on fire - except for Flemming. I don't know how you could forget a whole soldier injured so horribly that 90% of his body was covered in burn wounds. That is more than a simple oversight. Another example: Page 183, you mention that Chagoya, Lawson, and Garcia were in the casualty evacuation truck that was hit by the IED. I don't know where you got your facts from, but his is completely incorrect. I know because I WAS IN THAT TRUCK. Our Humvee, that consisted of Garcia, Richardson, and myself, was the one that was hit with the IED. The medic, Lawson, and Chagoya were not in the vehicle. The same shrapnel that hit and killed Garcia also injured me, both in the back and leg. This all seems like pretty standard information that a reporter could have easily attained by looking at either patrol logs, sworn statements, incident reports, or by simply interviewing people who were actually there that day, rather than interviewing only a select few as she obviously did.It comes to no surprise that whenever I ask another service member from Charlie Company if they have read this book, that they all say no. Some attest to having tried to read it but became overly-frustrated only a little ways into it due to how horribly inaccurate so many of the "facts" in the book are. Others have heard such atrocious reviews that they have never even bothered picking it up. The only people that seem to have given this book 5 stars are those that weren't there, which seems to me is a horrible way to promote a book. This book was supposedly written to tell our (Charlie Company) story, so why is it that all of us can't stand the book? From the words of SSG Ian Newland: "Good initiative, bad judgement." This book might have been written to tell our story but it was executed so poorly that it is almost disgraceful to our unit. If you are going to write a book about us, spend the time and effort to get it right. I know you can't get everything correct, that mistakes are bound to happen, but there is a huge difference between misspelling someone's name and leaving out their entire experience and sacrifice. (I nearly chucked the book across the room when I noticed you left out Flemming's name). Appalling.Do Not Recommend. *Spoiler*“They Fought for Each Other” by Kelly Kennedy is a non-fiction story of Charlie Company 1-26 of the United States Army stationed in Adhamiya, Iraq. The Pentagon believed that insurgents were based in Adhamiya so they sent Charlie Company over to a suburb of Baghdad. The company was led by Captain Mike Baka and First Sergeant Kenneth Hendrix.Charlie Company 1-26 is based at Schweinfurt, Germany. The soldiers first come to Schweinfurt and then get deployed to Iraq. A soldier’s daily life would be to go on a Bradley tank out of Apache Base and to go on patrol. The soldiers have to look for roadside bombs, snipers, and IEDs which are mines. The IEDs are the biggest threat and are responsible of 60% of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers are to also start a relationship with the people of the city. Captain Baka will go into a family’s house and start talking about if there is anything suspicious going around in the neighborhood. He then will show a picture of his wife, five year old daughter, and his newborn son. If the Iraqis are parents, they will cooperate with Baka and start liking the US soldiers.Captain McKinney was a new Captain while Captain Baka was on temporary leave. On patrols, Captain McKinney would start singing songs from famous commercials or famous kid movies to lessen the stress of the patrol. After feeling guilty of not being able to save Private First Class Jay Fain’s leg, Captain McKinney goes through depression. He stops eating, he can’t sleep, and doesn’t show the same vibe he had before. One day, an Iraqi interpreter is being too cautious on a patrol. Captain McKinney has enough and brings his M-4 to his jaw, ending his life. “At the end of the service, Hendrix put his hand on Floyd’s shoulder. ‘McKinney might have shot himself,’ Hendrix said. ‘But he didn’t kill himself. Iraq killed him’” (Kennedy pg. 263). The soldiers try not to blame each other for the loss of their friends, they say that if it wasn’t for Iraq, their friends could have still lived. Even though the soldiers are told that they are not causing their fellow soldiers’ deaths, they still blame themselves for not protecting their friends.‘“I can’t- I don’t understand,’ he finally said. ‘That’s a human being there on the ground, and nobody cares.’ ‘Every household has an AK-47, yet they don’t take of their own,’ Baka said. ‘And where are the ambulances? Why are we the only ones providing medical assistance ‘“(Kennedy pg. 31)? The American Soldiers are shocked that Iraqis don’t help human beings crying for help on the streets. The soldiers don’t say this to others but it is no surprise that the soldiers look at the Iraqis as inhumane. Captain Baka finally says something about this in the quote above. He also says that the Americans are the only ones helping the wounded Iraqis. He complains that the households have protection with machine guns, but can’t help people in the streets that are breathing their final breaths.After a big IED explosion killing five soldiers, the remaining soldiers were never the same again. The soldiers weren’t as cheerful and more serious on their patrols. They were more protective of one another and kept recalling their friends who died with honor. “ The Blue Spaders wanted people to know who had died: That Campos had a son who would grow up without a father. That Agami would give up the shirt from his own back to make sure Johnson had clothing after his laundry had been stolen. That McGinnis would throw himself on the grenade. That Hartge always had a grin, even on the worst days. The men who died had stories. ‘Americans?’ Johnson said talking at the TV. ‘You don’t support us. You don’t know. You don’t have a clue. Say thanks and walk away. Leave us alone. We don’t want to talk about it. If you want to know, sign up and find out. Other than that, live in your happy fairytale world’” (Kennedy pg. 248). Some soldiers do not want want the people to know and are unappreciative of the citizens back home. The soldiers do not want people to know the horrors of Iraq and do not want the people’s sympathy because they do not know what it is really like. “McGinnis’s death earned the Iraqi kid $50. It earned McGinnis the Medal of Honor” (Kennedy pg. 113). Private First Class Ross McGinnis was in a Humvee while on patrol. He was the only one who saw a grenade in the Humvee and gave several warnings. His fellow soldiers couldn’t find the grenade so he jumped on the grenade sacrificing his own life by saving others. The Iraqi kid of about fifteen years, got fifty dollars from the insurgents. McGinnis sacrificed his life so that his other friends could live. Sacrifice was a huge part in this book because all the soldiers sacrificed their time, service, and sometimes life for our freedom.Kathy Kennedy wrote this book so Americans can know about war and battlefield stress first hand. Many people feel bad for the soldiers having to sacrifice their lives, but like Johnson said, people do not really know and many people do not care. This book is about strength, honor, sacrifice, humanity, and coping with stress. This book is worth reading and a very good book if you want to join the military and want to see what war is really like.
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Interesting content, but the girl cannot write.
—brebearxo
