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An Ordinary Soldier. Afghanistan: A Ferocious Enemy, A Bloody Conflict, One Man's Impossible Mission
An outstandingly written, first-person account of a decorated British soldier's experience of fighting Taliban forces in Afghanistan.
317 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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154 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 21, 2018
An excellent book. Well worth the read. Doug Beattie seems like the type of man you would want to sit down and have a pint with. Five stars.
September 4, 2021
Enlightening story of mission in Afghanistan and an honest and frank opinion of the difficulties faced. The forces went through horrors to help the people of a lost country where poverty creates a fickleness amongst its population where it is so easy to be forced to fight for something or someone you do not believe in just to save your family. I have read many accounts of this war and all say this same thing. It’s such a shame that these efforts have recently been ignored and the Taliban are now in power again, through force not through democracy.
July 22, 2019
An excellent book. A brilliant description of war. Well worth the read and earned its five stars.
April 4, 2023
Good back story, it is interesting to hear from the point of view of an ordinary soldier and not a former special forces as most books do, storr explains how Afghanistan, from the very beginning, was a completely unwinnable and waste of time war, soldiers on the frontline let down by the politicians at the top and the poorly motivated, Afghan National Army whom were being training to takeover. Only criticism with this book, it ends on nothing.
January 5, 2020
Good read about one mans attempts to do his job and make sense of his mission in Afghanistan. As an experienced soldier, now a captain that has walked the long way as an other rank before promoted out of retirement, he faces the shoestring reality at the front. To much to do with to little to do it with.
June 2, 2024
I’ve read a great many of these memoirs and I’m always in silent awe reading about the courage and fortitude of our armed forces. The reality is always so much more gritty and chaotic than the movie depiction of fighting. There’s also a documentary on YouTube about the events in this book. It’s by Sean Langan who accompanied the troops to Garmsir
August 14, 2021
Covering his experiences growing up and joining the army, Beattie also covers his experiences deployed to Helmand Province of Afghanistan and his return home. A really good read for anyone wanting to better understand the war in Afghanistan and the qualities of a good officer.
September 25, 2021
Gritty and fascinating
A very gritty read of what was effectively a two week long battle for a small Afghan town. The author writes very well and put’s you right there as it’s happening.
A very gritty read of what was effectively a two week long battle for a small Afghan town. The author writes very well and put’s you right there as it’s happening.
February 5, 2023
Excellent. A superb insight to to trials and tribulations faced by British forces in Afghanistan during the early part of the war. A remarkable story of consistent courage, tempered by real humanity at every turn.
March 17, 2024
This seemed to take me a while to get through! Not sure why but it just didn’t grip me.
Doug goes into detail of a 2 week period of him fighting on the front line with the ANA. It’s awful what these guys went through.
Doug goes into detail of a 2 week period of him fighting on the front line with the ANA. It’s awful what these guys went through.
July 2, 2025
A fascinating and insight riveting insight into a career infantry soldier and LE Officer. This account of fighting in Afghanistan alongside the ANA & ANP is about as honest and genuine as you’ll find.
April 6, 2020
A good read
I didn’t know much about the conflict before reading this book, but by the end I could feel it, a really good read.
I didn’t know much about the conflict before reading this book, but by the end I could feel it, a really good read.
April 19, 2020
Interesting by way of a ground-level view of operations gone wrong, especially in regards to ANA/ANP-ISAF relations. Not incredibly written which detracts from much of the engagement with the story.
November 25, 2020
A Rollercoaster of emotions
This is a wonderful story of dedicated, of the triumph of humanity and the ravages of war. Thank you Mr Beattie.
This is a wonderful story of dedicated, of the triumph of humanity and the ravages of war. Thank you Mr Beattie.
May 26, 2022
Fascinating insight into Doug's time on the front line. Highly recommended book and worth the 5 stars
March 18, 2023
Excellent read. If you know anyone that was over in Afghanistan, do read this book. My son 1 Armour, Australia, did tours in 2009. Brutal place. Wonderful people was his take.
August 12, 2024
It took me a while to read it, it did not hook me up. I found it a bit tiring. There are better books
December 30, 2024
Brilliantly written. It almost felt like you were on the ground with Captain Doug Beattie. Well presented giving a very small insight into what our guys went through in Afghanistan
April 1, 2011
Doug Beattie won me over from the very first moment with his smart and honest Preface, in which he not only tells us that he originally wrote this book for himself and his family (in other words, he couldn't care less what we all think), but with the same breath welcomes us to criticise him and his book, because "it was my choice to open up my life to scrutiny."
Oh, Mr. Beattie, who are you and where have you been these past decades? Don't you know that in the age of the internet, where marriages are made via facebook and politics via twitter, nobody takes responsibility like that anymore?
But, I for one, think the world would be a much more enjoyable place if anyone thought like that, and so I realized I liked Doug Beattie then and there. And with every sentence of "An Ordinary Soldier" that I read from there on, I would only like him more.
See, Beattie, unlike many of the others whose books I've read, is not only a career soldier, he is a late entry officer with more than twenty years of experience, who is stuck with training young recruits, when he is sent to Afghanistan shortly before his retirement. While originally send there for some in-the-field-office-job, he suddenly finds himself in the thick of things. And by that I mean he practically takes fire every day, which is apparently, even in Afghanistan, kind of unusual.
Beattie, despite his age, has a rather limited battlefield experience, but because of his age, all the more life experience, and it is that which makes his writing so special. He is not a teenager out to kill people in the breaks between Hustler and his gameboy, or a twenty-year old responsible for leading men into battle when he barely knows what to do with his own life.
Beattie is a husband, a father, and someone who knows quite well what he wants from life. And because of this, his way of looking at things, of describing his experiences, is different. I wish I knew how, but it is hard to describe. I could say "more honest", but others seemed honest, too. More human doesn't fit either, because most people's accounts were very human, and Beattie's is certainly among the top. I think what fits best is more heartfelt. From all the stories I read, I could relate to Beattie the most - and feel with him more than with others.
It's his direct way to write things - never dramatic, but instead always filled with real emotions. When Beattie writes that he thinks the army is a wonderful place to have a career, I believe him just as much as when he critices certain choices that were made in Afghanistan, in general and towards him, personally.
Beattie isn't afraid to show his doubts, as a soldier and as a human being. He has to shoot someone on his first day in Garmsir, and when he wonders if the man he shot was married, had children - I have rarely felt so emotionally close to a book.
Since I completely suck at describing what I mean, here's a quote:
"War is about dirty disgusting realities that are rightly an affront to most people. It is about blood and guts and pain and distress. Nothing more."
And he doesn't just say this, he makes the reader feel it in everything he describes and writes about, and his feelings when faced with death and battle are so real and human that I could not NOT relate to them if I had tried.
I highly recommend this book, and if you've been reading and liking any biographies of soldiers or battle accounts, you won't be done until you read this one.
(Oh, and then there is the fact that Beattie included the most unfortunate family picture I have ever seen in his book, and really, how can you not like a man who is not afraid to not only reveal his family pictures, but that kind of family picture to the world?)
Oh, Mr. Beattie, who are you and where have you been these past decades? Don't you know that in the age of the internet, where marriages are made via facebook and politics via twitter, nobody takes responsibility like that anymore?
But, I for one, think the world would be a much more enjoyable place if anyone thought like that, and so I realized I liked Doug Beattie then and there. And with every sentence of "An Ordinary Soldier" that I read from there on, I would only like him more.
See, Beattie, unlike many of the others whose books I've read, is not only a career soldier, he is a late entry officer with more than twenty years of experience, who is stuck with training young recruits, when he is sent to Afghanistan shortly before his retirement. While originally send there for some in-the-field-office-job, he suddenly finds himself in the thick of things. And by that I mean he practically takes fire every day, which is apparently, even in Afghanistan, kind of unusual.
Beattie, despite his age, has a rather limited battlefield experience, but because of his age, all the more life experience, and it is that which makes his writing so special. He is not a teenager out to kill people in the breaks between Hustler and his gameboy, or a twenty-year old responsible for leading men into battle when he barely knows what to do with his own life.
Beattie is a husband, a father, and someone who knows quite well what he wants from life. And because of this, his way of looking at things, of describing his experiences, is different. I wish I knew how, but it is hard to describe. I could say "more honest", but others seemed honest, too. More human doesn't fit either, because most people's accounts were very human, and Beattie's is certainly among the top. I think what fits best is more heartfelt. From all the stories I read, I could relate to Beattie the most - and feel with him more than with others.
It's his direct way to write things - never dramatic, but instead always filled with real emotions. When Beattie writes that he thinks the army is a wonderful place to have a career, I believe him just as much as when he critices certain choices that were made in Afghanistan, in general and towards him, personally.
Beattie isn't afraid to show his doubts, as a soldier and as a human being. He has to shoot someone on his first day in Garmsir, and when he wonders if the man he shot was married, had children - I have rarely felt so emotionally close to a book.
Since I completely suck at describing what I mean, here's a quote:
"War is about dirty disgusting realities that are rightly an affront to most people. It is about blood and guts and pain and distress. Nothing more."
And he doesn't just say this, he makes the reader feel it in everything he describes and writes about, and his feelings when faced with death and battle are so real and human that I could not NOT relate to them if I had tried.
I highly recommend this book, and if you've been reading and liking any biographies of soldiers or battle accounts, you won't be done until you read this one.
(Oh, and then there is the fact that Beattie included the most unfortunate family picture I have ever seen in his book, and really, how can you not like a man who is not afraid to not only reveal his family pictures, but that kind of family picture to the world?)
December 2, 2014
This book was a triumph in my eyes. Doug Beattie opens this book up with some gruesome lines very descriptive but written well and written with fear! Fear I have not yet come across in other books in this subject (no doubt I will read it in others). During combat Doug Beattie admits he was scared though sometime not actually being able to think about fear in the middle of battle, between the lulls his mind wonders back to the what if’s. Most definitely the questions you wouldn’t want to torture yourself with as you get on with your job.
The battles scene (which is 75% of the book) are exceptionally written and put you right on his shoulder almost covering him. The ‘Fighting the Taliban’ documentary that dispatches shown is actually footage of the battle in this book to tie it in and the fear on the faces.
There are some seriously laugh out loud moment that are definitely blokes banter moment. Towards the end of the book I laughed out loud at his description as he neared the end of his battle, but deep down it was a banter laughter to disguise the pain written. It really hit home to me the suffering, the fear the fact he tells it straight ‘He was scared’ something people don’t associate with soldiers for some reason and that is not always written in the books.
I’m still most definitely in War mood, hungry for more tales from these people that are doing a job, sometimes not understanding why and why people that are telling them to do the job are none the wiser as to what is going on. An all too familiar picture in modern day lives which hinders us all, but imagine decisions where it is your life is on the line.
Fantastic book which gives a terrific insight in to a front line fighter taking up the fight with men who are probably stabbing him in the back (ANA & ANP) as he attempts to take the town Garmsir with limited ISAF forces.
These books show us the real truth that soldiers feel and make my hatred for governments and news agencies even stronger for all their cover-ups. While men like Doug Beattie puts his life on the line. Yep, he’s a soldier, it’s his job but they deserve the backing from the very people that are brave enough to send them in to battle, something that is not very visible to the rest of us.
The battles scene (which is 75% of the book) are exceptionally written and put you right on his shoulder almost covering him. The ‘Fighting the Taliban’ documentary that dispatches shown is actually footage of the battle in this book to tie it in and the fear on the faces.
There are some seriously laugh out loud moment that are definitely blokes banter moment. Towards the end of the book I laughed out loud at his description as he neared the end of his battle, but deep down it was a banter laughter to disguise the pain written. It really hit home to me the suffering, the fear the fact he tells it straight ‘He was scared’ something people don’t associate with soldiers for some reason and that is not always written in the books.
I’m still most definitely in War mood, hungry for more tales from these people that are doing a job, sometimes not understanding why and why people that are telling them to do the job are none the wiser as to what is going on. An all too familiar picture in modern day lives which hinders us all, but imagine decisions where it is your life is on the line.
Fantastic book which gives a terrific insight in to a front line fighter taking up the fight with men who are probably stabbing him in the back (ANA & ANP) as he attempts to take the town Garmsir with limited ISAF forces.
These books show us the real truth that soldiers feel and make my hatred for governments and news agencies even stronger for all their cover-ups. While men like Doug Beattie puts his life on the line. Yep, he’s a soldier, it’s his job but they deserve the backing from the very people that are brave enough to send them in to battle, something that is not very visible to the rest of us.
January 9, 2014
This is the memoire of a soldier from the Royal Irish Regiment assigned to advise the Afghan National Police in a 12-day battle to recover a small town from the Taliban in 2006. "Advise" is too weak a term--it often meant showing them how it is done, going in and clearing rooms, killing the enemy within with pistol, rifle, bayonet, and grenade. They were frequently exposed to heavy fire, but fortunately it seems that the Taliban learned marksmanship from Imperial Storm Troopers--bullets zinged all around the Brits but only wounded one. (The Afghans did suffer several killed and more wounded). The British detachment had only a couple of Land Rovers mounting heavy machine guns, and at times a mortar section, but they were the heavy firepower backing up the Afghans. They were able to call in Allied air power, using a tactical satellite radio. Professionally speaking, the air-ground coordination was wonderfully good--air support was provided by high-flying B-1s, British Harriers, Navy F-18s, USAF A-10s, army Apache helicopters, and Dutch F-16s according to what was available, all with similar speed, efficiency, and precision. Any visible source of fire far enough from the Afghans would soon receive a bomb or strafing that silenced it. However, air power can't hold ground and afterwards the Afhan troops had to go forward and take it. Perhaps surprizingly, the Afghans come off well--they are brave and dedicated, if a little short on discipline and military skill. The author seems to be a man of great dedication and awe-inspiring bravery, and perhaps a little more introspective than one expects from such a splendid soldier.
September 23, 2012
After watching Doug Beattie fighting the Taliban on panorama when I was 11 I bought his book and a late this year I spoke to him on twitter. Doug wrote his book because he couldn't talk to anyone about what he'd done, he didn't feel comfortable about telling his wife what happened so he put his thoughts to paper. His book is a real insight into a modern officer’s life on the battlefield, fighting a formidable enemy that is well prepared and well trained. It really is a bloody conflict, and one that seems to be against Doug and his men. He shows the frustration of working with the ANA and ANP. This book is really one to read to uncover what life is like for our modern troops fighting a tough enemy with little equipment and supplies and yet Doug is able to carry on his missions and keep his men’s moral up and keep them alive.
September 13, 2013
Enjoyed this on a number of different levels, the author's early years and joining the Irish Rangers and a soldier's perspective of Col. Tim Collins (read "Rules of Engagement" for a brilliant view of military leadership). And then the author ends up in a village that nobody has heard of fighting the Taliban, supported by the Afgan Army and Police. You sense this is typical, fighting to claim territory in places that nobody outside the region wil ever hear of. The politics and challenges of working with the Afgans along with their bravery and determination was very interesting to read and to give a perspective of the complexity of the relationships out there.
The fighting is brutal and it is no surprise to see the author was awarded a military medal for his bravery.
This is an honest and interesting account that gives a good perspective of the real ground war out there.
The fighting is brutal and it is no surprise to see the author was awarded a military medal for his bravery.
This is an honest and interesting account that gives a good perspective of the real ground war out there.
August 3, 2016
What an incredible read! This book humbly explains the theatre with in which Beattie operated during the capture of the town of Garmsir and how his decisions changed the course of the campaign. It effortlessly describes the thought process of a soldier in all phases of war, with out assumption nor being condescending.
June 8, 2016
Here we glimpse one mans war, doubts & blemishes. A simple view of the trials & tribulations faced in front line fighting, lack of resources & distance to family. Well written, enthralling & factual. Definitely recommended by me.
January 31, 2010
This is one of the best books written on the conflict in Afghanistan. It gave me much better understanding of the war on the ground.
November 15, 2010
Written by a local man, i found it very interesting of a soldiers account of the war in Afghanistan.
November 7, 2016
Very well written account of the service of a man who went from ranger to captain. Great book from a member of a great family.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews