Insightful and compelling | The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education

Honest and Clear | The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education | Craig M. Mullaney

books:


	• The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education Craig M. Mullaney Penguin Press HC, The, 2009 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 163 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

A life-changing book

Put plainly, this book changed my life. Craig Michael Mullaney captures the ethos of West Point, the Army, Army Ranger School, Oxford, Afghanistan, and the front lines of war in an authentic and heartfelt memoir that is accessible for one who has never experienced any of those crucibles. Mullaney's tale evoked in me a desire to be a better person. Thank you, Craig, for your service, your sacrifice, and your example.

Insightful and compelling

I found this memoir well-written, engaging, and honest. I felt like I came away with a glimpse of what our soldiers experience in their training, and in their deployments. I got a sense of the deep commitments they carry toward each other. He illustrated beautifully that physical and intellectual strength and ability need not be in competition with each other, and that both are needed in military leadership. Mullaney does not paint himself as a hero of any kind, and is just as honest about his own struggles and perceived failings as his great successes. I strongly recommend this book.

for more information click here

Honest and Clear

I stumbled upon this book on Amazon, normally I'm not interested in Military stuff but as a biography covering recent warfare, I thought it would be an interesting read. Whilst getting through Westpoint and Ranger School required intensity, what stood out for me were the author's boyish observations and clear moral framework. Whilst he was always questioning himself internally, his background, upbringing underpin his will and decisions.

This book takes leadership lessons out of the sanitary corporate context into a different place. Whilst my perspective about military ranks has often been respect is based on rank, in this book, the author clearly outlines how respect is earned how responsibility comes before privilege, leadership is about serving and protecting - to love and cherish those you have been given.

Besides that I love the way the sometimes wildly different threads of what he experiences all add up to prepare him for that one unforgiving minute. Life as a journey and a destination is outlined in its full glory.

This has been a slightly emotional review simply because the book brought these things out of me. I'm inspired :)

for more information click here

Articulate and Beautifully Written Memoir

The Unforgiving Minute is exactly what its subtitle says -- it is the memoir of a soldier's education -- from West Point, to Oxford, to the battle fields of Afghanistan. This particular soldier, Craig Mullaney, is an intelligent observer and articulate and eloquent writer, so he brings a perspective that is very fruitful for the reader. Particularly heartfelt is his description of a savage firefight in Afghanistan that led to the death of one of the soldiers under his command -- and the toll this death took on him emotionally. An excellent book.

A West Point grad, Rhodes Scholar, and Army Ranger recounts his unique education and struggles with the hard lessons that only war can teach.

One haunting afternoon on Losano Ridge in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Captain Craig Mullaney and his infantry platoon were caught in a deadly firefight with Al Qaeda fighters, when a message came over the radio: one of his soldiers had been killed by the enemy.

Mullaney?s education,the four years he spent at West Point, and the harrowing test of Ranger School, readied him for a career in the Army. His subsequent experience as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford couldn?t have been further from the Army and his working-class roots, and yet the unorthodox education he received there would be surprisingly relevant as a combat leader.

But despite all his preparation, the hardest questions remained. When the call came to lead his platoon into battle and earn his soldiers? salutes, would he be ready? Was his education sufficient for the unforgiving minutes he?d face?

Years later, after that excruciating experience in Afghanistan, he would return to the United States to teach history to future Navy and Marine Corps officers at the Naval Academy. He had been in their position once, not long ago. How would he use his own life-changing experience to prepare them?

Written with unflinching honesty,The Unforgiving Minute is an unforgettable portrait of a young soldier grappling with the weight of his hard-earned knowledge, while at last coming to terms with what it really means to be a man.

for more information click here