Karl Marlantes What It's Like To Go To War

Having PTSD myself I was keen to read In Karl Marlantes own amazingly frank words “What its like to go to War” If you like the typical Vietnam `Shoot em up  I doubt this one will be the one for you?. Written like a degree paper in psychology with a forensic examination of the modern day Warrior history and violent flashes of the battlefields of Vietnam it truly bring the battlefield to the reader with its brilliantly written honesty. What upset me the most was when he describes getting on a train in his Marines uniform and a woman walking up to him and spitting in his face and walking away like it’s the most natural thing in the world. I wonder if that woman is still alive and still proud of her actions? Actions like this that will have undoubtedly led to Vietnam veterans committing suicide. I could not put this book down, its one of those special books that will have a long lasting effect upon me, in a good way I hope. The next time our Prime Ministers and Presidents are planning to send our young men and woman in harms way, before we load the Tomahawks and send in the Marines this book should be handed out with a priority `must read` attached. Only then will they truly understand the consequences to us all of War.