http://blogs.reuters.com/afghanistan/2010/07/06/essential-reading-an-afghan-primer/ Lifting the veil on conflict, culture and politics Sat, 04 May 2013 12:41:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 http://blogs.reuters.com/afghanistan/2010/07/06/essential-reading-an-afghan-primer/comment-page-1/#comment-6799 PMG111 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:03:49 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/afghanistan/?p=2060#comment-6799 This is an excellent list, but with a subject area as big as Afghanistan clearly it can only scratch the surface. If I was to add a single title to the ten above then it would be An Ordinary Soldier, by Captain Doug Beattie of the Royal Irish Regiment. The book was a bestseller in the UK. When he first went to 'Afghan', Beattie was a man of a certain age (40) and surely one of the oldest troops to serve on the front line. He had previously made his way up through the ranks of his regiment have started as a lowly Ranger (a private), later acting as Regimental Sergeant Major to Colonel Tim Collins (whose eve of battle speech in Iraq 2003 made it onto the wall of the President in the White House). Two things make Doug's book stand out. His insight - as a thoughtful and passionate individual - into the chaos of battle, and his illumination of the relationship between British (and coalition) troops and the Afghans they are supposed to help. To say this relationship is fractious would be an understatement. An Ordinary Soldier concentrates on Doug's Afghan experiences in Helmand in 2006. But his experiences of the War on Terror did not stop there. He returned for a second tour in 2008. And went back for a third time in 2010. Whatever you might say about him, you cannot criticise either his commitment to his colleagues and the Afghans, or his bravery (bravery which was rewarded with the Military Cross). I should declare an interest. I met Doug in Afghanistan in 2006 whilst I was there as a journalist. He was inspirational. I would like to think that his decision to write the book was down to me. Certainly I encouraged him to do so. You could understandably say I was biased towards this book. But when judging whether it is worth reading you might also want to consider this comment from the Daily Mail: "Of the battalion of courageous tales to emerge from the Iraq and Afghan conflicts, this extraordinary account of 'an ordinary soldier' is one of the finest." This is an excellent list, but with a subject area as big as Afghanistan clearly it can only scratch the surface. If I was to add a single title to the ten above then it would be An Ordinary Soldier, by Captain Doug Beattie of the Royal Irish Regiment. The book was a bestseller in the UK. When he first went to ‘Afghan’, Beattie was a man of a certain age (40) and surely one of the oldest troops to serve on the front line. He had previously made his way up through the ranks of his regiment have started as a lowly Ranger (a private), later acting as Regimental Sergeant Major to Colonel Tim Collins (whose eve of battle speech in Iraq 2003 made it onto the wall of the President in the White House). Two things make Doug’s book stand out. His insight – as a thoughtful and passionate individual – into the chaos of battle, and his illumination of the relationship between British (and coalition) troops and the Afghans they are supposed to help. To say this relationship is fractious would be an understatement. An Ordinary Soldier concentrates on Doug’s Afghan experiences in Helmand in 2006. But his experiences of the War on Terror did not stop there. He returned for a second tour in 2008. And went back for a third time in 2010. Whatever you might say about him, you cannot criticise either his commitment to his colleagues and the Afghans, or his bravery (bravery which was rewarded with the Military Cross).
I should declare an interest. I met Doug in Afghanistan in 2006 whilst I was there as a journalist. He was inspirational. I would like to think that his decision to write the book was down to me. Certainly I encouraged him to do so. You could understandably say I was biased towards this book. But when judging whether it is worth reading you might also want to consider this comment from the Daily Mail: “Of the battalion of courageous tales to emerge from the Iraq and Afghan conflicts, this extraordinary account of ‘an ordinary soldier’ is one of the finest.”

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