So how did this journalist write something that garnered so much respect among military professionals? Quite simply, he tells the soldiers' tales and he tells them straight. The political backdrop, the larger strategic military picture, the command decisions made outside of Mog—these he treats lightly and only as much as needed to provide context for the first-hand accounts of the Americans and Somalis that were actually there. This is a street-level, blow-by-blow narrative of some of the most intense combat American forces have faced since the Vietnam War, and nearly every word of it is drawn either from interviews with combatants, from transcripts of radio traffic, or from video footage shot by U.S. military personnel.

I read this book over Memorial Day weekend this year. It was extremely appropriate. Overall I really enjoyed this book and feel I've learned quite a bit from the experience. I had already read a shorter account of overlapping events—from the CIA perspective—written by Vernon Loeb for the Washington Post, titled "After Action Report", but this book fills in details that the other perspective lacked. (At the same time, I strongly recommend you read "After Action Report" as well.) I've heard criticisms of the film that said it was often hard to tell one character from another; I could say the same for the book. At the same time, the sense of confusion that sometimes creeps into the narrative is, in fact, a natural consequence of the fact that this is combat, as experienced by modern soldiers. By the time you complete the book, you'll have enough information to get a remarkably complete picture of the "Battle of the Black Sea"; while in the midst of it, though, you may well find yourself flipping back through the book to remind yourself which unit and which part of the city you are currently reading about.

All in all, this is a book well worth reading, and have added it to my Warblogger's Bookshelf. It is an insight into the terrible human experience of modern warfare, set within a significant series of events whose importance were not fully understood in their own time. If it were fiction, I'd say it was a brilliant, thrilling "page turner"; it, however, is not. It is the story of a handful of American soldiers who really lived and (some of them) died, often in stunningly heroic ways. To understand a part of what emboldened enemies such as Al Qaeda, to learn what modern unconventional combat can be like, to renew your faith in the courage and skill of the folks in America's armed forces, read this book. You can buy it now at Amazon.com.