Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death Reading Group discussion
Introduction and first thoughts
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Apr 11, 2011 06:13AM
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While I have not read this book (and probably won't for many years), I came to this group because it mentioned you would be talking about the boots on the ground reporting. I was in Iraq from March of 2003 to 2004 and one of the embedded reporters sticks in my head.I'm ashamed to say I don't remember his name, but he took care of us. After making his nightly report, he would hand his satellite phone to one of us and let us call our family. He made sure we received accurate reports in his newspaper, and just hung out with us. That's the kind of reporter soldier like having with them, one that is willing to be one of them, not just an outsider in their midst.
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There was only one media member who I had issue with, Geraldo, and I have serious problems with him. I was with the 101st and was in fact involved in the mission which he released information about prior to the mission. His actions could have gotten us injured or killed. Things like that are where the issues come from, but we know that the majority of media really do want to help and portray us in a positive light.
Hi Jim,I just found this site and wanted to say that I really enjoyed your book although the story was pretty horrific. One thing that I would like to comment on was what happened to those in command of this unit after they returned to the US. It seems that the only people held accountable were those directly involved and nothing mentioned about the lack or direction or control from those in command of the battalion. What are your feelings on this?
Hi there Jim, I am really glad to see this discussion crop up.I read Black Hearts not long ago. Ah..off the top of my head, about 3 weeks ago. I read it close on the heels of The Good Soldiers and I clicked more with your book. Although I take nothing away from the power of The Good Soldiers or the skill of the author.
There were a couple issues/events in Black Hearts that well and truly got me in the gut.
Kunk..I had a difficult time with his form of leadership and indeed, his personality as portrayed in your book. I find it troubling that an officer with his, ahem, 'outlook and disposition' (for wont of a few better words), could go on to advance within the military. To retain an esteemed career despite his close orbit of this war crime and the lead up to it and the fall out after it.
Another thing that really floored me was the war crime itself. As a woman I actually felt the deep violation of this crime and I had a couple sleepless nights because of it. I even got nauseas as I read through the scene of the crime, and then in the end of Black Hearts, the playing out of the crime. But I would not have had you do it any differently. The fact that it affected me in the way that it did is testimony to your ability with the pen. Thankyou for making me feel what I did.
Lastly, can I say that the courtroom fracas that eventuated with the victims family post judgement..which did not include a death sentence. It was a foreign outburst to me. No, that is not right. Not foreign exactly. How do I explain this?
It is expected that a family would erupt, especially if they had expected recompense in the form of a death sentence. But I have been enlightened more to the real reasons behind their eruption since the other week I watched a documentary called The Frankincense Trail.
The last episode of that, they were in Saudi Arabia and a local man was interviewed in a square that is used for beheadings. The Saudi went on to explain that if a crime is committed it is the family's right to choose sentence. they can forgive the criminal that wronged them, or they could sentence them to death.
Watching this Saudi explain this, I began to undertand two things, I began to understand why beheading is such a integrated part of some middle eastern justice. But most importantly I suddenly understood, on another level, the outrage the family felt in that American courtroom.
In their culture it is the victims family that has the right to give or take the life of the criminal. When they were not given a life in exchange for their kin, it must have been a heady mix of agony and confusion.
Hi Jim, I just want to say how much I enjoyed reading your book. A very difficult topic on so many levels but you made it very readable (emotionally) and I think it is a must-read book for everyone. I think it should be required reading at military schools to show how important good, competent leadership is to the success of the mission and the soldiers. I found myself having so many feelings when reading your story. I felt such frustration and anger at Kunk. I felt compassion, sadness and anger at the soldiers and the horrible situations and conditions they had to endure. The anger at the war crime but understanding how it went so wrong, and how it was even possible, was something I could never have understood without reading your book.
Reading your book and seeing a reference to On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society led me to reading that book as well.
It has been a little while now since I've read the book, but my friends Terri
and Rick have asked some questions above that I'm interested in hearing your comments on, so for now, I'll just wait for your reply on those issues.
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I just found this site and wanted to say that I really enjoyed your book although the story was pretty horrific. One thing that I would like to comment on was what happened to those in c..."
Hi Aussie Rick. Thanks for joining and your comments. I just discovered that Black Hearts was discussed in the History Book Club and I really enjoyed reading your comments and thanks for participating here.
You asked about accountability. In Black Hearts and a couple times at TIME, where I am a writer and an editor, I have written about accountability, and I think it is true that, in this case, and in many cases, the Army tends to talk a better game about accountability than it lives up to. There is a saying that "A commander is responsible for everything his or her soldiers do--or fail to do." And, as Black Hearts shows, sometimes that's just not true. Responsibility and accountability tend to be localized at the squad or platoon level or maybe the company level.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has started championing an increase in accountability, but that's going to be an uphill climb. There is a good quote from Army Lieutenant Colonel Paul Yingling who said this in a 2007 article in the Armed Forces Journal: "A general who presides over a massive human rights scandal or a substantial deterioration in security ought to be retired at a lower rank ... As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war."
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I read Black Hearts not long ago. Ah..off the top of my head, about 3 weeks ago. I read it close on the heels of [book:The Good Soldi..."
Hi Terri. Thanks for your extensive and very thoughtful comments. I am, in a way, sorry that you found the book difficult to read but, of course, I am flattered, because the book was designed to be that way. It was a difficult crime to cover and research and definitely write about, but if it moved you in some way, if you felt the horror of it, then I do feel like it was successful.
Likewise, I am sorry you had a difficult time reconciling yourself with Kunk's leadership style, but also this was by design, since so many of his men also seemed to have the same difficulty.
And, yes, the family fracas was indeed chaotic, but you are right, it did seem to stem from a deep and unreconcilable cultural chasm. The family could not believe it, could not believe, that Green was not put to death. It was beyond their comprehension, and so they chalked it up to racism. I don't believe this. I do think that the mitigating testimony of how difficult Green's childhood was would have saved his life with this jury even if his victims had been Americans but it would have been difficult explaining that mechanism of compassion in our courts to them.
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And I am glad you decided to read Dave Grossman's book. I find his work fascinating, and also fairly rare. I have not found a lot of researchers who look at the questions he does in the way he does.
I would also highly, highly recommend Achilles in Vietnam. That book informed much of my thinking of the Black Hearts crime and helped me get to the point where I myself could understand how it happened.
Hi Jim, thanks for taking the time to reply to our questions, I'm sure there will be more to follow:)Your book highlighted some issues that are not always mentioned, for instance, the suicide of many returning veterans. Do you still have contact with the men that you wrote about? Have you heard how they are coping?
What was the reaction in the United States on the publication of your book? Did you find that people who believed in the war would not or could not accept the events as described in your book as being the truth? What sort of reaction did you get from the troops on the ground?
Do you have any plans to write another book on Iraq or maybe Afghanistan?
Hi again Jim and thank you for chatting with us. :)I did see, in Black Hearts, that you rated Achilles In Vietnam : Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character highly. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to source this book as I rely heavily on my library, but I have a bit of a weakness for books written on that particular conflict.
When I found your book and suggested to Aussie Rick that we read it as a buddy read in The History Book Club, it was only after some persuasive letters to my library that I was able to get it in. Thank goodness for good libraries that are open to buying books like this.
It was great having my friends Rick and Tasha to read it with as it is definitely a book better read with others than alone.
Tasha and I have since quit that group, otherwise I would have liked to hear your opinion on our comments on that particular History Book Club thread.
Although I don't post in The History Book Club anymore, I better dart back and read my comments on Black Hearts. make sure I didn't sound like a complete nonger. :-) Or, egad, insult you...
You may like to know that since the library bought Black Hearts in for me and I read it and returned it, the Reserves on it have been building up. Now, I realise this may not be good news for you seeing as you are missing out on the sales ;-), but at least the message within your book is reaching people. People that would otherwise not have been able to afford to buy Black Hearts.
I am wondering. In all, what percentage of soldiers that you were surrounded by during your embedding, are understanding of the Iraqi culture and it's traditions?
I was staggered to read your statistics on rape during war. I knew it would be an issue, an ugly, ugly issue, but it wasn't until I read your researched statistics and comments on it, that it sunk in to me.
RE: Green's sentence,
I suppose it is easy for me to accept that no matter what he did, it did not warrant a death sentence. There is no capital punishment in Australia. If Green had gotten death, I would have been uncomfortable with that.....but then that is a totally different discussion isn't it.
Jim, I'll definitely be checking out Achilles in Vietnam. Thanks for the recommendation and respoding.Rick, great questions, I can't wait to hear the answers.
Oh, and I also had an obscure question. The soldier that burned his face off with the JP-8 fuel? You never said whether he got the wrong fuel by accident, or he used it on purpose. As I said, obscure, :-), but for some reason, when I read your book I wished I had known.
It likely stemmed from an incredulity that someone, especially a soldier, would knowingly choose jet fuel to light a fire. lol
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Your book highlighted some issues that are not always mentioned, for instance, the suicide o..."
Hi again, Aussie Rick. I am happy to take questions for as long as anybody is interested in asking them. I cannot guarantee I will be able to respond in 24 hours or less, but I'll do my best to try.
Your first questions on staying in touch with the soldiers in the book: Yes, I am in touch with a lot of them. I'd say I have been in touch one way or another with pretty much everyone I interviewed, if only for them to give me their feedback, or to say thanks, or for me to try to send them a book. Then, I would say there are about 20 or 30 soldiers that one way or another I talk to or Facebook with or email every few months. We just check in on each other, see how they are doing and whatnot. And finally, there are about five or six soldiers that I speak to maybe every couple of weeks.
How are they doing? I would say it varies very very widely. Most of them are doing what they would call "okay." PTSD is very very common, but most of the men have highly functioning lives, jobs, wives, families. We don't talk on a deeply emotional level very much, but a lot of them are in counseling, a lot of them complain about the VA, express concern about anger management problems or depression, but to you and me and they outside face they present, they are completely normal solid members of society.
That said, a few of them are definitely having trouble assimilating back into society. Drinking, difficulty holding a job. And not within the immediate circle of soldiers I knew best, but there have been a few suicides that have sent ripples throughout their extended networks.
I should also add that a fair number of soldiers, if not from 1st Platoon, then certainly Bravo Company and 1st Battalion, are still in the Army and are on their fifth and sixth deployments. John Diem, if you remember him from the book, he is for example still in Bravo Company and on, I think, his fifth or sixth deployment. He's arguably spent most of his adult life at war.
And your second question about how the book was received: To my great relief and delight, the book has been very well received by communities of every political persuasion. I did have a fear before publication that maybe the book would be perceived as anti-American or anti-Army when, in my mind, the book is resolutely apolitical. That is also part of the reason that my sources and endnotes are so extensive. I knew that the book needed to be factually bulletproof, because I was afraid that, yes, somebody would come after it, questioning the veracity of the events or challenging my integrity. To my relief, that never happened. I have never had any reaction from any quarter, of people who have tried to deny or denigrate the versions of events that I outline, even among the staunchest of the war's supporters. I also think even the most conservative of readers realize that the book's mission is not really to criticize the Army or America or whatever, but to criticize THIS chain of command specifically, THESE events specifically.
So the editorial reviews were very positive and support from communities of every political persuasion were really gratifying, but beyond that the outpouring of support soldiers has been the biggest reward. As I said, I am still in touch with many of the characters in the book. But I also get emails from other soldiers on a nearly daily basis who said they loved the book because even aside from the events, which they find horrifying too, they thought I captured what it was like to really be there.
And the reaction from the broader, larger institutional Army has been nothing short of amazing. The Army, in a remarkable display of maturity and openness to criticism has definitely taken the book in a great degree the way I intended it, which is as a meditation on leadership, particularly bad leadership. I have been invited up to West Point three times already to speak to cadets, the commandant of West Point put the book on his personal recommended books reading list, and I have heard stories from other training centers around the country that the book is required reading in many units. That, to me, is an incredible honor, because I thought as I was writing it that if I could change the outlook of one young lieutenant out there and if I made him think about leadership styles at all differently, then I had succeeded. So, it is really gratifying, a career highlight, really, to know that there are thousands of young lieutenants and captains out there reading the book.
And to your final question: I definitely want to write another book. But whether it will be about Iraq or Afghanistan I couldn't really say. I am open to anything if it is a story that really grabs me.
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I did see, in Black Hearts, that you rated Achilles In Vietnam : Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character highly. Unfortunately, ..."
Hi Teri. Thanks for your note, and for reading the book. And no worries about relying on the library! I'd rather be read than not read.
As to your questions about understanding of Iraqi culture and traditions, I would say that it is all over the map and almost varies soldier to soldier. And I was embedded in 2008, so I think even then the level of cultural understanding was higher than it was even two years previous. Some soldiers had pretty good Arabic and were interested in learning and respecting the locals' views. Other soldiers were pretty hardened and bitter and just didn't have any interest in knowing anything about Iraqis whatsoever. It really depended.
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As I said, ob..."
It was definitely an accident. The soldier would not have used JP-8 on purpose. But there is some lingering controversy about whether this soldier just stupidly picked up the wrong can (which should have been prominently labeled as JP-8 and even a different color from the diesel cans) or whether the cans themselves were mislabeled. I have never been able to sort out definitely which one it was.
I really enjoyed reading your answers to these questions. Thanks so much. I am really glad that your book has had this type of impact and reception. I thought that it should definitely be a required reading for soldiers after I finished reading so that is just awesome. Congrats and I'm sure it will be have lasting impact on future leaders in the services.
Had a quick look at your Black Hearts facebook page. The photos that you have on there? Are they the photos from the book? And are they the only photos in the book? I was extremely disappointed that the U.K edition didn't have any photos in it. It is good to have photos in non fiction as it helps you relate and visualise better.
When you can look into the eyes of the soldiers, it helps.
In response to your remarks about cultures and traditions...did you get a chance to speak much with many locals over there? Speak of other things not related to the war crime?
Did they express to you their feelings on post invasion Iraq?
Could they see Iraq being a better place to live as the troop numbers start to wind back?
When I was reading the back half of Black Hearts I wanted so desperately to reach out to the young soldier who broke silence on the crime. What he did was right. What he did was human. No matter how bad our minds and morale suffers, we should always try and retain our humanity. Or, Hell, we may as well go back to being apes.
I do understand the 'all for one, one for all', 'no talking out of class' or, as we call it in Australia 'dobbing'. I get that 'dobbing' is frowned upon. It is not noble, apparently, to 'dob in a mate'.
But in some cases, there needs to be an understanding of what is dobbing and what is human.
That the young soldier was blacklisted by many for blowing the lid off the rape and murders is yet another sign of how war dehumanizes our thought process.
I wanted that soldier to know that I feel what he did was right and no-one would have stopped me from doing what he did too. His father was wise to advise his son to do what is right.
Quote Jim;
I did have a fear before publication that maybe the book would be perceived as anti-American or anti-Army when, in my mind, the book is resolutely apolitical.
I wanted YOU to know that one of the reasons I connected so well with your book is because it WAS apolitical, and it was not anti military. I do not like books that are either or both of those. So, well done there. ;-) I actually made comments to my book group friends at the time of reading BH, that it was refreshing not to have to read someone else's agenda regarding politics and the military.
Hi Jim, again many thanks for taking the time to answer the host of questions posted here. Hopefully these may attract some attention with other readers and prompt some to read your brilliant book if they haven't already done so.
It is a shame that none of us saw this discussion until a few days after it had started. And I wonder how many other Goodreads members, who have read Black Hearts, never saw the 'memo'. If Aussie Rick hadn't seen the discussion mentioned in the GR newsletter and contacted Tasha and I, then we would never have known it had happened.
I will make sure I subscribe to the Goodreads newsletter from now on.
I have some more questions for you Jim, but I don't want to load you down all in one post. Best to stagger them me thinks. :-)
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I was extremely disappointed t..."
Hi Terri. The photos on the Facebook page are not the photos from the book. Some of the soldiers have uploaded their own photos. But if you have the UK edition, your copy should absolutely positively have the photos. There is about an 8 page glossy color insert in the middle of the book with a lot of snapshots of the soldiers who appear in the book. I had several copies of the UK edition sent to me, so I know they are in there. Is it at all possible you have missed them, or maybe you have a bootleg copy, or they were cut out? I don't know about the UK Kindle edition but I do know that the US Kindle edition the photos are in there, too, even if they are very very hard to find.
Yes, while I was in Iraq, I would say that I had a lot of time to speak to a lot of Iraqis while I was there. Not so much in the Triangle of Death--during that time it was too dangerous to travel there without the Army, and the time you spend talking to Iraqis when you are embedded is not as great as most journalists would like. But I spent a fair amount of time at TIME's bureau in Baghdad, which was located in the Red Zone and I spoke to many Baghdad residents at great length.
Their feelings informed much of my impressions of their impressions that I describe in the book. To say that they were weary of the occupation and all the chaos that the invasion brought would be an understatement. I think this is hard for Americans to hear, but I do think that overall--and of course opinions vary and it is hard to generalize across a whole country--most of the Iraqis I spoke to, if given a choice, would take Saddam back, even the Shi'ites, because I think they would say that oppressed stability is preferrable to "liberated" chaos and lawlessness.
Oddly, and again it varied person to person, but most of the Iraqis I spoke to really at that point just wanted the Americans to leave, even if they acknowledged that that might lead to, yes, even more chaos. And, without question, Iraq was a much safer place in 2008 than 2006, and it is hard to argue that the US military did not have a lot to do with that turnaround. So, to say it was a complicated situation would be an understatement.
RE: photosThat is odd. I know that some editions of books can come out without photos. A friend who read Generation Kill by Evan Wright hadn't any photos in their copy while I did. And Tasha had the same problem recently with One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, or was it The Good Soldiers, I had photos and she didn't. All legitimately sourced books.
Nope, definitely no pics in the Commonwealth edition I had. The library had bought it in brand new and I was the first to read it. It was pristine and hadn't been tampered with. Nope, couldn't miss them. I am fairly observant, LOL!
And bootleg? I like to think the libraries sources for books would be legitimate sellers. No buying off a greasy man out the back of a truck, so to speak. :-) I am thinking that there may be a difference between U.K edition and Commonwealth edition for export.
I have since had a look for Black Hearts in a couple bookstores so that I could see the photos, but they didn't have a very good military section and, suffice it to say, BH wasn't there.
Have you the photos uploaded with descriptions somewhere online? I did do a google search, but came up empty handed.
Quote Jim;
most of the Iraqis I spoke to, if given a choice, would take Saddam back, even the Shi'ites, because I think they would say that oppressed stability is preferrable to "liberated" chaos and lawlessness.
Yes, I did wonder this.
You may have caught my comments about this on The History Book Club Black Hearts buddy read thread.
I pondered whether, despite the torture etc..whether the Iraqi's were better off as a nation under Saddam.
Afghanistan under the Taliban, different situation, but Iraq under Saddam? As you say, oppression is sometimes better than being broken and smashed under the pall of complete chaos.
On another topic, Green. It has been a few weeks since I read BH and I have read quite a few books since so I may have forgotten this...but..
I never felt your own opinion towards the issue of the young soldier who blew the lid of the crime. Do you have an opinion on whether you too would do it? Or do you not talk of it because of your closeness to the vets and soldiers from Bravo Company?
How is that kid doing? Did anyone in 1st Platoon, or Bravo C, really come forward to him and tell him he did the right thing? Or stick up for him?
(I am sorry I have misplaced his name...this happens, as you would know, when you are a busy person and can only absorb so much new information). :-)
Of all the soldiers, I think I liked Lauzier the most as a person. Well, at least, I connected with the Lauzier you described. Maybe in real life I wouldn't connect to his personality at all, but in the book, the Lauzier you describe. I liked. I felt he was a good honest soldier and leader. Does the whole incident in 1st platoon still weigh heavy on him?
When reading Black Hearts I was really feeling anger towards the Iraqi's for not accepting help or helping themselves. But that is me not understanding their culture of thinking. Why would they want to help themselves when it can all come down tomorrow.
If our soldiers suffer from PTSD, imagine what numbers of the Iraqi's must be suffering from it and yet they can't access mental health facilities or specialists.
I have recently finished Kill or Capture by Matthew Alexander and this man blew my mind. In case you aren't aware of Matthew Alexander he is an ex-interrogator who worked in Iraq.
I always assumed Iraqi's don't respond to tolerance and kindness anymore than they respond to aggression and threat. It appears this is not so.
I wish the Coalition could go back and do it all again. A do over. Knowing what we know now.
Re: my last post I said I couldn't recall the soldiers name. The one that came forward.The name just came to me. Watt. ;-) Watt was the whistle blower.
Phew, thank goodness for that. He did a mighty thing, I shall never forget his name again.
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I just wanted to find something to show that there are definitely no images in the U.K/Commonwealth paperback edition of Black Hearts that the library bought in.
Here are the books details as found on the library database.
Main Title: Black hearts : one platoon's descent into madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death / Jim Frederick.
Author: Frederick, Jim, 1971-
Imprint: London : Macmillan, 2010.
Collation: xxiii, 439 p. : maps ; 24 cm.
Notes: First published: New York : Harmony.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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hehe...No photos. lol. :-)
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Here's an example of how it reads when there are images in a book
Main Title: Kill or capture : how a special operations task force took down a notorious al Qaeda terrorist / Matthew Alexander.
Author: Alexander, Matthew, 1970-
Imprint: New York : St. Martin's Press, c2011.
Collation: viii, 292 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9780312656874 (hbk)
Dewey Class: 956.704438
956.7044
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The name just came to me. Watt. ;-) Watt was the whistle blower.
Phew, thank goodness for that. He did a mi..."
Hi Terri. I will be traveling most of today so I probably won't be able to post, and not nearly to the degree your questions/comments deserve, but I will be sure to do so on Tuesday.
Okay, Jim, thanks muchly for letting me know. :-)
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That is odd. I know that some editions of books can come out without photos. A friend who read Generation Kill by Evan Wright hadn't any photos in their copy while I did. And Tasha had t..."
Terri: That is all really interesting about the photos. I always thought that the UK edition and the Commonwealth edition were the same. I will have to ask my publisher about that. I don't own all the rights to all of the photos in the book, but I may be able to put the ones I do own in a photo gallery online somewhere soon. Let me see if I can dig them up.
About Watt, the whistleblower: Absolutely he did the right thing. Without question. And he is one of the soldiers I speak with the most to this day. He is a really great guy. I think while he was in country still, the amount of support really varied from soldier to soldier. I think everybody in C Company, from what I am told, also supported him, and these days even among 1st Platoon and all of Bravo company, especially with the healing hindsight of time, it is hard to find a soldier who will claim he did the wrong thing.
Funny you would mention both Lauzier and Watt in the same post because Lauzier is probably the other soldier I speak to them most these days. He is getting on with his life, of course, but I do think the event of that summer do weigh heavy on him to this day.
This may sound odd, but could you give them my best? Lauzier and Watt? Or in the very least, Watt? If it is appropriate, could you please let him know that I truly beleive that he did the right thing? Not that it would matter to him. Or that he would want to hear it, but I just felt so damn bad for the crap he copped in Iraq, and then at home. I haven't got the words to express the good that I feel he did by coming forward. It was an enormous risk he took. It proves though that no matter the situation, his moral compass is spot on. His parents did a good job raising him. Gave him the tools to make right choices :-)
And Lauzier. Well, I just feel he did his best in that pressure cooker, when other guys were losing the plot and their grip on reality. He seemed to have the mental strength to keep strong leadership amidst mayhem. He could have given up. Given in.
Please let me know if you can track down the images and load them online for me (would be great if you could caption them too so I know who the faces are and where the images were taken). I am on facebook, although *gasp* I rarely go on it. You are quite welcome to send me a private message on Goodreads, to let me know where I can access the images. I would even go so far as to send you my email. I trust you. lol. You look harmless enough.
I would just like to see these people I read about and the environment they were living and working in if it is at all possible.
And if it isn't? Well, Que sera sera. We tried. :-)
Jim, first of all thank you so much for opening this post. As I have said before in another post your book is essential reading for anybody interested in Modern Warfare/the Iraq war.You last sentence struck me (in your last post), as you mentioned Mr. Lauzier, how the events of that summer weigh heavy on him to this day.
Of all the books I've read on the last Iraq war and the Afghan campaign (doing research) yours was among the ones weighing heaviest - as a whole I mean - on me as a reader.
There are scenes in other books that will stay with me for a lifetime - like f.e. the single combat scene in House to House, interrogation methods in Kill or Capture, or certain statements made by soldiers in What was Asked of Us.
When I say weighing heaviest I don't mean it just in a sleep depriving sense. I mean that it's one of the few books that you just can't forget - the entire thing. The people - soldiers and civilians, the action, what went on inside of me as I started understanding all the different layers - be it emotions or truths.
I once read Danny Dietz's wife's statement - long before I read Lone Survivor - but what she wrote about her husband and their special relationship stayed with me much the same way.
Often when talking with others who never went to war or the military I find it hard to get them to see the single man/woman, the human side; men/women like you or me, our neighbors, the engineer, the postman, the student, they all could have served, went through hell, yet we - basically ignorant when it comes to war (most of us would not even stand a chance of finishing one single day in basic training) - dare to judge them based on the very limited and often tainted information we received through the news.
Your book helps all of us to open our eyes and understand a bit more. That's why it is so important.
Best wishes to you and everyone else reading this.
Hi Jim, I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to answer the host of questions posted here, I am sure all those who have read your book are very appreciative and I hope that it provokes others into reading your very important book. Best of luck on your future endeavours.
Hey Mr. Frederick,I wanted to say thank you for both the investigation and writing involved with this book. I was actually assigned to read this as part of my Army ROTC class (by our commander who knew some of the characters none-the-less) prior to commissioning as a second lieutenant last month. It really illustrates some of the problems inherent to American military culture and the all-volunteer force. While my primary interest lies in medicine, I am constantly intrigued by the difficulties that my organization faces, specifically those involving mental health or public relations. The definition of a soldier has been questioned numerous times since the Vietnam War, and I think this book is a good commentary on that confusion.
On more practical terms, I am glad that, even though it is an extremely sad one, the story thoroughly outlines different leadership styles and their effects on the soldiers. It has been a valuable source of study for us to remember who we serve and how to serve.
I hope you and other readers will be happy to know that America's next cohort of military leaders are studying accounts such as these to educated ourselves, but more importantly improve upon, both the glorious traditions and the irreparable failures of the vanguard before us.
Hi Patrick, Firstly I'd like to wish you all the best in your chosen career, a very honourable one with a long line of tradition and history. It’s also good to learn that the US military are doing their best to learn from incidents like the one mentioned in “Black Hearts”, we can only hope that the lessons are taken to heart and acted upon.
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent Into...
Books mentioned in this topic
Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist (other topics)Black Hearts: One platoon's descent into madness in the Iraq war's triangle of death (other topics)
Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (other topics)
Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character (other topics)
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society (other topics)
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