Best Defense

Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Ignorantest newspaper line of the day

The following sentences, printed under the byline of Julie Bosman of the New York Times, could only be written by someone who has not been paying attention: “Now that American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is winding down, the warriors are telling their stories. . . The books appear to be part of the next ...

The following sentences, printed under the byline of Julie Bosman of the New York Times, could only be written by someone who has not been paying attention:

The following sentences, printed under the byline of Julie Bosman of the New York Times, could only be written by someone who has not been paying attention:

“Now that American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is winding down, the warriors are telling their stories. . . The books appear to be part of the next generation of writing from the wars, following a first crop of books by journalists, like “Imperial Life in the Emerald City” by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, about Iraq.

Actually, one of the surprises of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq has been just the opposite: How many fine memoirs have been written over the last 10 years by soldiers, including many by enlisted ones.

As a public service, here is a remedial reading list for Ms. Bosman:

Nathaniel Fick, One Bullet Away

Andrew Exum, This Man’s Army

Craig Mullaney, The Unforgiving Minute

Peter Mansoor, Baghdad at Sunrise

Kayla Williams,  Love My Rifle More Than You

Matt Gallagher, Kaboom

Benjamin Tupper, Greetings from Afghanistan

Seth Folsom, The Highway War

David Bellavia, House to House

Joe LeBleu, Long Rifle

Milo Afong, Hogs in the Shadows

Donovan Campbell, Joker One

Nick Popaditch, Once a Marine

John Crawford, The Last True

Jeremiah Workman, Shadow of the Sword

Jason Hartley, Just Another Soldier

Paul Rieckhoff, Chasing Ghosts

Nathan Sassaman, Warrior King

Vivian Gembara, Drowning in the Desert

Rusty Bradley, Lions of Kandahar

Sean Parnell, Outlaw Platoon

Brandon Friedman, The War I Always Wanted

Nate Self, Two Wars

Michael Franzak, A Nightmare’s Prayer

I know I am leaving out a bunch more, but all my books are 600 miles from where I am writing this. And I haven’t even included memoirs by spies, diplomats and other civilian officials. I suggest that as penance, Ms. Bosman read at least five of these memoirs.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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