Combat and Other Shenanigans: Tales of the Absurd from a Deployment to Iraq

Was told about this book by a vet who one of the (name has been changed) Soldier characterized in it. A good quick read. Gives outsiders a realistic look at what the war was about from the perspective of Soldiers who were out in the mix regularly.

What I like about this book on the u.s. military in Iraq is it touches on those things that soldiers do on the lighter side in spite of the brutality going on all around them. The military is a different world from civilian life and this is espically true in combat. These guys are all business when they are performing their job but during down time they strive to forget the war and come up with all these comical ways that borders on the absurd to accomplish just that. As a former marine sergeant I believe I would fit in well with this unit even though they had a weak commanding officer. But fortunately they had strong n.c.o. Leadership which are the people that run the day today operations. This author gives us good insight into the military world in combat. Thank god we still have brave men like these guys. What we need now is to rid ourselves of the politicians that put our brave people in no win situations and then continue to keep them there when all hope of success is lost. In closing thank you for this book but more than anything thank you for the sacrifices you and these men made for this country.you guys are truly heroes!!!

Ron RohnFilled with the boring mundane, that is.military life, punctuated with the sudden violance and lifethreatinng actionof all battlefields. A good read. I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop .the syle of writingwas engaging and painted the picture of one mans experiance of his first time in the modern feld of battle. May we send no more young men and women into harms way to satisfy old mens ambitions!

This was a nice read, not too serious but serious when it needed to be. I can understand his feelings of not having "experienced" as much or as deeply as others doing the same job. I think we do TBE best that we can and we all see things differently. What happened during this you may have been considered difficult by another. I think the author has a keen sense of humor and that helped with his ability to make it through his tour relatively unscathed. Good story teller. I enjoyed reading this book.

Considering that Piers Platt is already an accomplished author he is able to bring the real story of American Servicemen in Iraq during hostilities.He is able to portray the life of a serviceman during a deployment, the boredom, poor rations, the sand, the squalor. silly army regulations, questionable leadership. The army at its best is basically dysfunctional, ask anyone who has served.They manage to get by, there are problems with equipment,men who should never have been enlisted because of their low standards. But what makes the book interesting are those few, the exception to the rule, the men who excel at what they do. They were born to be soldiers and they must carry the weight, have the answers, be able to keep the riff raft in line and hold them to the mission and keep what ever discipline they can muster. This is not to be confused with WWII or Korea, this is America flexing its muscle which really comes down to our advance technology. Oh how important good leadership is and there we seem to be lacking. The author illustrates some close calls, but calls into question, WTF were we doing their?

This is probably the most interesting of the many such journals I have about war experiences. This includes the unpublished one I had written for my family members only. The author documents his experiences with the vernacular used by soldiers. If you get upset with comments that are not “politically correct,” or are Chauvinistic, or are vulgar, then don’t read this book. For those that want to see how our soldiers conduct combat operations today, this is the book to read. Veterans of other wars should also read this to see how much things have changed. The author did change the names of some of the characters mentioned to avoid embarrassing them. I am sure he also did not mention other things that might have offended even the most callused of readers.As I was finishing the book, national news was reporting that almost the entire city of Samarra was now in the hands of the Taliban. This city figured prominently in this book. What a shame that this entire battle, if not the war, appears to have been fought for nothing!

A well written adventure sharing a typical soldier experience through a tour in Iraq. I’m sure the authors story that he experienced was to him a wild, dangerous and absurd year in combat and he is right to be proud of his service. If your looking for a nice soldier story surviving the tedious year away from home it’s a well written book and record of this soldiers experience. If your looking for exciting war stories your probably going to be disappointed like a was waiting for the big battles and life and death moments in many of the great books available today. Absurd, not at all.

This book came out just as I was retiring from the Army. I served in this platoon as "SGT Shore". While reading it many memories came flooding back. My wife said she hadn't seen me laugh so hard in a long long time, as I didn't have much to laugh about at that time. The book brought great closure to me and my military career. I just wanted to thank LT Platt publicly for writing this book. Most of the death and destruction was left out of it and I think there are enough books out there like that (mostly exaggerated) this book focuses on the brotherhood we had over there. I paints a very real picture and is 100% accurate. I can't say how awesome it is to have a period of my life I thought was for nothing and would be forgotten forever in print, something I can pass on to my family to explain things to them I never could put into words. Thanks again sir-RED 5 EAGLE-

Very funny!

Reminds me of the the book Sniper One by Dan Mills and that is high praise indeed. An honest and amusing account of western forces in Iraq.

Excellent read, well written that allowed me to feel I was there with you brave warriorsthat step up to a high level to protect each other and make a difference to the innocent peoplethey are protecting. Loved the humor in your book.........