Nathaniel FickReseñas

A great memoir on becoming a Marine officer and fighting in the Iraq war. Spanning education, training, fighting, and camaraderie. Nathaniel does an excellent job explaining his journey through everything. Educational and heart wrenching.

Really, a very good book.

When I saw this book first come out, I knew I had to read it. Sure enough, I was transported back in time to my training to become an Officer of Marines. It is uncanny how much the training has remained so similar since the 10 years before when I went through OCS, TBS, my first platoon command, and eventual deployment for Desert Shield/Storm. Actually I'm not surprised because that tradition is what makes the Marine Corps what it is. Anyway, this is a great book, brought back fond memories, and I'm glad to see Fick doing well in civilian life today.

One Bullet Away kertoo, miten nuoren merijalkaväen upseerin elämä muuttuu Syyskuun 11. -iskujen jälkeen. Kirja kuvaa Afganistanin ja Irakin sodan taisteluissa olleen upseerin näkökulmasta sekä sodan kauhuja että amerikkalaisten joukkojen ajoittain kyseenalaisia, jopa tragikoomista, etenemistä Irakin sodan alkuvaiheessa. Mielenkiintoista antia kirjassa edustaa myös tarkat kuvaukset merijalkaväen koulutuslaitosten sisällöistä ja metodeista.

Nathaniel Fick decided while he was in college that he was going to join the Marines. He served as an Infantry Officer and later as a Recon Marine. During that time, he saw a good chunk of what the world had to offer, both good and bad. One Bullet Away is Fick’s account of the things he faced during those years.

I first became aware of Nathaniel Fick’s story when I read Generation Kill by Evan Wright a few years back. While I enjoyed Wright’s book, I have a different appreciation for One Bullet Away because of the different perspective. To read the account of someone who actually trained and served and couldn’t just go home after spending a while in a war zone is rather humbling.

One of the major pluses for One Bullet Away is the amount of ground that Fick covers. By that I mean that it’s not just a story about the gruesome aspects of war. Fick talks a lot about how he made the decision to join the Marines, what he went through in order to join, and the training he had to go through once he did get in and how that helped him to become the person he is. In addition, he mentions coming home from war and what it’s like adapting to civilian life again. He also discusses his decision to leave the Corps – how he went from believing the Corps would be his career to realizing that he needed to get out. He talks about all of this, and war, in such an honest and personal manner that it’s hard not to be captivated by his story.

In One Bullet Away Fick isn’t afraid to be candid about all things. He talks about himself, his feelings, his feelings about others and how things were done in a very straightforward manner. One Bullet Away is well written and easy to read. I didn’t want to put it down when I read it because I was so hooked by his story.

Bottom line, I honestly don’t have a bad thing to say about this book. People who serve in the armed forces endure a lot of things and that holds true for Nathaniel Fick and the men and women he served with. Definitely a great read.

Outstanding memoir by a young Marine lieutentant who led a platoon in Afghanistan and Iraq. Vivid, thoughtful and provocative.

http://www.andalittlewine.blogspot.com/2012/08/book-review-one-bullet-away-by.ht...

In his memoir One Bullet Away, Nate Fick shares his story of joining the Marine Corps as an officer, and deploying just before the September 11th terrorist attacks.

Fick's story, told in ways that are both too glib and too frank, confuses the hell out of me.

I understand the call to serve. I understand the frustration that clearly mounts as he is thrust into war zones, in Afghanistan and again in Iraq, that his training did not fully prepare him for by commanders more interested in jockeying for promotion than in the safety of Fick's platoon.

But I don't understand who Fick was writing for. Who does he think will love his book?

Fick starts off with a glorification of war, of the Marines, of martial life that is, to me, off-putting. "The grunt life was untainted," he writes. "Being a Marine... was a rite of passage in a society becoming so soft and homogenized that the very concept was often sneered at." I could spend all day trying to unpack what Fick means by "soft," but I think the quote shares the flavor of the opening chapters, and the hard-soft motif resurfaces throughout the memoir's nearly 400 pages.

Fick handles death lightly. All of his platoon members survive his tour in Iraq, though some are wounded or killed later. The people who die are enemies, othered, and largely nondescript. Threats among the Marines to kill each other if they screw up, as Fick does when one of his men offers to blow an undetonated bomb, are common. But the story lacks the grittiness, the nastiness of military memoirs that have lately been turned into successful movies.

But as much as Fick loves the Marines, his platoon, his life as a soldier, he ultimately leaves the Corps because of its seemingly mindless bureaucracy. He leaves because he can't imagine putting himself back in harms way if he is surrounded by the kind of people he served his first Iraq deployment with- the idiots who drive down every road with guns blazing, endangering allies and civilians, or the ladder climbing fools who want to call in air support strikes simply become another company had called one earlier. So the book is not written, I think, for the military enthusiast.

Fick makes a compelling case for the re-assessment of American readiness. "I was noticing a trend in my career: train to lead a rifle platoon, but get a weapons platoon; train to raid the coastline in rubber boats, but go to war in a landlocked country; train to jump into patrols via parachute, but use boots or Humvees in the real world." Fick chooses to see this train for Plan A, fight with Plan B as "a tribute to flexibility," but given the dysfunction evident throughout his dealings with military command, it smacks of mismanagement.

In sharp contrast to Buzzell’s Gen X rock and roll version of war, Fick is a red blooded dude who joined the Marine Corps so he could struggle his way into the toughest jobs inside an already tough organization. This is red meat for those who served, and well-written enough to carry along everyone else. The story covers Fick’s training, and takes the reader through the early days of the March 2003 invasion. Elements of distrust, signs of poor leadership and acts of laziness that cause Fick to question the value of what he was doing at times read better knowing how hard it was for the author to admit the ideals he ascribed to his organization were not always upheld by all of its members.

(posted on my blog: davenichols.net)

US Marine Corps officer Nathaniel Fick's memoir describes his experiences in Marine Corps OCS, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War. As a Lieutenant, Fick was a lower-grade officer who saw a great deal of front line action, especially while commanding a platoon in Bravo Company, First Force Recon as part of the tip of the spear during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. His memoir is very well written and provides a key insight into the positives and negatives of fighting wars within the Marine Corps command chain.

Fick decided to join the Marines in order to test himself, and enlists in OCS prior to his senior year at Columbia. After completing his training, he finished school before officially joining the Corps and heading off for training which included a variety of tough tests, including SERE training.

Fick was shipping off for his first international deployment when September 11 took place, and while at sea, his unit got orders to prepare for the invasion of Afghanistan. He took part in a few missions in that theater before being offered a chance to join the elite Recon Marines.

As part of First Force Recon, Fick led his platoon across the berms and into Iraq during the invasion, and was often involved in heavy firefights. Fick, an intelligent and tactically-aware commander, often chaffed under the rigid Marine Corps command structure and openly challenged his CO a couple of times when the orders were clearly wrongheaded. His attitude was not necessarily acceptable to his commanders, and once or twice nearly caused him to be punished, but his men knew they had a strong leader looking out for them and ensuring their ability to accomplish the mission was never compromised.

Fick's insights into the early days of the way, and especially the ways in which the strategies played out, open a unique view of the seeds planted which later turned into a full-blown insurgency. An easy read from start-to-finish, One Bullet Away is a solid addition to the shelves of any military reader, along with Generation Kill, journalist Evan Wright's book (and HBO miniseries) which saw Wright embedded in Fick's platoon. Four stars.

After being introduced to Fick via Generation Kill and being quite intrigued by this earnest young officer, it was interesting to explore his experiences is this detail and depth. His romanticisation of bygone eras of military greatness adds an interesting element to his tale, settling it in a clear framework of challenge, honour and comradeship that he struggles (although usually succeeds) in maintaining throughout each of his missions. His candour throughout is wonderful - to admit to fears and tears and frustrations requires as much courage as war itself (although his image of big burly marines getting all squeamish about deadly creatures in Australia simply made me laugh). Fick is an engaging and intelligent writer - I want to criticise him for a few platitudes, cliches and general naivete but even this old cynic ultimately found his earnestness a little disarming. Ultimately, this is an interesting account of a young officer's experiences that asks its reader to think about some of the challenges and complexities of contemporary warfare and military culture.½

One Bullet Away is perhaps the most detailed and complete record of a combat tour in Iraq that I have yet read. Fick must have kept daily notes or a diary. In fact the accumulation of day to day details becomes a bit repetitious and almost tedious at times. Lt Fick's dedication to his trade and affection and concern for his men become obvious in the course of his narrative, and you cannot help but admire him for any number of reasons. He is articulate and thoughtful throughout the book, a reflection of his education at Dartmouth, where he studied the Greeks and Romans. The one thing that bothered me here was the fact that, although I understand Fick was raised Catholic and was, like me, an altar boy, there is almost no mention of God or of praying during these extremely stressful and often frightening days. There is one mention of attending Mass, but otherwise nada. They say there are no atheists in foxholes, but I wonder. Was Fick the exception. It would be interesting to talk with him about this. But maybe that's just me. This is a darn bood book. I'm glad the author survived and made it back home to tell the tale. I will recommend his memoir highly.

One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer is an interesting account of a young Marine officer's experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, solidly told and without too many self-serving moments. It makes a great companion piece for Evan Wright's Generation Kill.

An excellent foil to Generation Kill, One Bullet Away tells the story of the initial invasion of the Second Gulf War from the perspective of an officer. Where Generation Kill gave us a unique look into the front line soldiers that lead the charge into Iraq, One Bullet Away gives an equally unique look at the same events from an officers perspective. It also delves into the invasion of Afghanistan in the wake of September 11 and finishes with a poignant look at how war can affect even the most well adjusted and idealistic men.½

A good read and a decent companion to "Generation Kill", Fick's book tends to over-think and over-write dialogue. This is a nice version of the story, but I can't help but think about how phoney it is. Fick says what we want him to say and thinks what we want him to think. Nothing he says is terribly surprising or rings terribly true. He's too high up to give us the "Joe" perspective, and too low on the totem pole to talk about military strategy. This book is interesting enough, but it smacks of Kennedy's tendency to toot his own ("modest") horn. I'm sure we'll see this guy in politics soon.

A brillant book. An officer acts like he should, takes care of his Marines and accomplishes even stupid missions. Keeps his bearing and never does anything to embarrass himself or the Corps. "In keeping with the highest traditions of the Marine Corps. . . "

very good look at leadership and war, author is LT mentioned in "generation kill"½

I work at a library, this book is NEVER on the shelf...I had to break down and buy a copy.

AMAZING!

Everyother chapter will have you vacillating between wanting to join the Marines and thanking god that there are men like Recon out there so you don't have to.

Must Read--can't say it enough--MUST READ!

As memoirs go, you have to take in all the written details with a grain of salt. The perceptions of the author aren't always shared by others who witnessed the same event or shared the same ordeal in the same place at the same moment. That is, after all, how history has always been recorded: different points of view and opinions shape one single action into a complete story. However, it doesn't mean that every view is accurate, but each one still contributes significantly to the historical record if it's remembered a hundred years from now.

Last year I read Generation Kill by Evan Wright, and I liked it very much because it was straightforward and uncensored. Then I discovered that one of the Marine officers that Wright had met while embedded with the First Recon Battalion had also written a book, and I was finally able to buy it last week. Well, let me tell you - One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick is damn good reading.

Wright and Fick's separate accounts do complement one another, even from their different angles. One of the most amusing similarities both share is the caricature of the incompetent Bravo Company commander and the equally idiotic battalion second-in-command, the sergeant major. Of course, there was also Major "Benelli," another Officer Dufus. All three of these gentlemen remain "anonymous" in both books, or are given mocking nicknames to reflect the disgust and dislike of the Marines under their command by the time they pulled out of Iraq.

Anyway, I can't recommend Fick's book highly enough. Five stars.

Great look at Military life from the perspective of an educated person.½

A Dartmouth classical studies graduate decides to become a Marine. He is trained in peace, deployed in war. An interesting look at the military and the war in Iraq. Honest, well-written, thoughtful and intelligent.