For more information: Advance Praise for One Bullet AwayRichard Clarke, former national coordinator for security and counterterrorism; author, Against All Enemies This is the war on terrorism at the working level, where it's very cold or very hot, where you're dirty and you don't get much sleep, and your life can be over in the next breath. Washington poobahs do grand strategy; people like Fick do the work. This is their story of the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fick is in the tradition of Joshua Chamberlain, who put down his Latin book at a New England college and went off to Gettysburg. Fick's Latin book was at Dartmouth and his war was in Afghanistan and then Iraq. One Bullet Away makes those wars become real, with all the heroism and the mistakes that still come with ground combat. James Fallows, national correspondent, Atlantic Monthly Nathaniel Fick, after leading his platoon of Marines with courage and honor, has written a remarkable memoir of his progression from Ivy League classics major to experienced combat veteran. This is a remarkable book that will give today's readers a much fuller picture of the realities of their military, and one that will be read for many years to come because of its vivid, humane, unsparing, but also humorous portrayal of the making of a warrior. Robert D. Kaplan, author of Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground The psychological distance between those who serve and fight, and those who publish and pontificate, is vast. Nathaniel Fick has closed the gap considerably with this fine book. Kirkus Reviews (starred review) From the front lines in the war on terror, [ One Bullet Away is]
a former Marine captain's lucid account of his transformation from privileged
college student to fighter in Afghanistan and Iraq. Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire and The Virtues of War All great combat memoirs have one thing in common: they're written by born writers. Plenty of guys come out of wartime with keen perceptions, ambition, and storytelling skills, but damn few can (or will) sit down and make it sing on paper. Nate Fick is one of that rare breed who can claim credentials in both worlds, as a warrior--Marine platoon commander in Afghanistan and, later, Recon platoon commander in Iraq--and as a writer. His One Bullet Away is a brilliant, absolutely no bullshit piece of under-the-helmet reporting, and real literature besides. I can't believe a better book will come out of the second Iraq War. Captain Fick takes you reader with him from preenlistment days (when his path diverged from those of his fellow Ivy Leaguers) through training at The Basic School at Quantico, deployment, the drop into Afghanistan after 9/11, then Recon training and the assault on Baghdad, up through the first days of human-to-human contact between Marines and Iraqis, and the escalating dysfunction of occupation. If you've been frustrated by mainstream war reporting, this is the book you've been waiting for. Captain Fick tells it straight: the good, the bad, and the ugly. But his book is much more than a chronicle of war. Its center is the man himself, inside his head and heart, and that's what makes it a standout. Captain Fick is a hard-core Marine, cut from cloth that Chesty Puller would be proud of, but at the same time he's a Dartmouth classics major, with that infernal writer's brain that won't let him take people or events at face value. His book is no polemic. He doesn't take sides. He just lays it out as he saw it and lived it. Nate Fick is a Marine, but in the end, he's not all Marines. He's his own man. Publishers Weekly The global war on terrorism has spawned some excellent combat narratives, mostly by journalists. Warriors, like Marine Corps officer Fick, bring a different and essential perspective to the story. Fick joined the Marines in 1998 because he "wanted to go on a great adventure . . . to do something so hard that no one could ever talk shit to me." Thus begins his odyssey through the grueling regimen of Marine training and wartime deployments--an odyssey that he recounts in vivid detail in this candid and fast-paced memoir. Fick was first deployed to Afghanistan, where he saw little combat, but his Operation Iraqi Freedom unit, the elite First Reconnaissance Battalion, helped spearhead the invasion of Iraq and "battled through every town on Highway 7," from Nasiriyah to Al Kut. ( Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright's provocative Generation Kill is based on his travels with Fick's unit.) Like the best combat memoirs, Fick's focuses on the men doing the fighting and avoids hyperbole and sensationalism. He does not shrink from the truth, however personal or unpleasant. "I was aware enough," he admits after a firefight, "to be concerned that I was starting to enjoy it." Thomas E. Ricks, military correspondent, the Washington Post, and author of Making the Corps and A Soldier's Duty This is a heartfelt letter from today's front lines and from the post-9/11 military, and one of the best books on the Marine Corps in a long time. If you want to understand what it takes to become a Marine today, read this. Then, if you want to really understand what it takes to serve in today's wars, read it again. Nathaniel Fick is a man of our time and country--an Ivy League classics major turned two-war Recon Marine. One Bullet Away is a terrific account of the Marine Corps that is fighting today in Afghanistan and Iraq. Luckily for us, he also is a natural writer. Not everyone will agree with everything in it, but no one will doubt its honesty. Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D., senior adviser for ethics and leadership, U.S. Army, and author of Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character and Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming Never, never has a trustworthy moral compass been so important as now. In One Bullet Away we learn this truth at the primary--supposedly "lowest"--level of military leadership and small-unit teamwork. Former Marine captain Nathaniel Fick doesn't preach. He shows that shared ethical commitments of the junior enlisted Marines, their sergeants, and Fick, their platoon commander, annealed by excellent training, are combat multipliers and armor for the soul. The kids who volunteer for this want to get it right. They care about innocent lives. Everyone who cynically dismisses "the rules of war," saying "there are no rules," should read this book. The moral unity of Fick's platoon was a sinew of war. These Marines won their fights and--we have every reason to expect--came home intact. Lessons here for military "middle management" and "top executives" are no less pointed. For them this is a must-read. And for everyone else it is a great read, for the drama of becoming a Marine Recon officer and going to war, and because Fick has written One Bullet Away with clarity, pace, and unmannered art. Lieutenant General Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (retired) What is it like to lead men into battle? It's an awesome responsibility and beyond the capability of most. But the Marines know how to develop leaders who are not only skilled, courageous, and tough, but also humane. Join one of them in battle as he leads a Marine Reconnaissance platoon on the road to Baghdad and beyond. One Bullet Away is a highly charged and riveting account of the Iraq war as seen through the eyes of a young lieutenant. Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill One Bullet Away is a singular literary achievement, a gripping account of twenty-first-century war by a twenty-first-century warrior. Perhaps most astounding is Nathaniel Fick's candor concerning his own emotions, fears, and moral quandaries as he rises to the challenges of leadership. One Bullet Away lays bare the key dilemmas our nation faces in the ongoing war on terrorism. Fick has written the story of our times. General Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (retired), former commander in chief, U.S. Central Command, and coauthor (with Tom Clancy) of Battle Ready A superb account of the challenges that confront a young officer in today's conflicts. Fick offers exceptionally vivid descriptions of leadership, duty, and brotherhood in battle. One Bullet Away is brilliant, a must-read for anyone who wants to truly understand what our troops face. |