My Share of the Task is an exceptionally candid and impressive autobiographical memoir rendered by General Stanley McChrystal as he reflects on his unique career in the United States Military. McChrystal's primary motive with this memoir is to underscore the impressive qualities of the men and women who life threw at him to mold him into an effective leader much like his soldier father before him.

McChrystal's humility is glaringly conspicuous from the first word. Rather than preen himself as some sole once-in-a-generation military leader (which he is), he bestows all credit upon his multiple mentors who guided him to success.

The true value of this book is two-pronged. For historians, McChrystal's lucid recollection of the more critical moments of Iraqi and Afghanistani theatres of battle post-9/11 backed up by substantive evidence makes this a memoir of considerable worth. An element augmented by the fact that McChrystal only adopts an opinionated stance on events in which he had a direct role but otherwise foregoes directly opinionated comments on the bigger picture.

The second valuable bedrock of this book is rooted on the fact that it provides valuable insight into the art of leadership from a true blue military perspective. We hear much of military leadership being valuable in the non-military world but McChrystal provides efficient advise as to how this can be done.

Overall, this book is easy to comprehend. Its beauty lies in the simplicity of its analysis. What's more, it is an established fact that the Obama administration made an immense gaffe by prematurely forcing McChrystal into resignation over a fallacious magazine article. Yet McChrystal betrays no reservations on this part and rather treats it like a natural event and offers no comment on the matter. This is not a sign of guilt but rather a symbol of true soldiery in which the soldier serves for the security of his nation and not for its politicians' whims. ( )

Prior to 1990, I was not really familiar with places like Baghdad, Mosul, Fallujah, Ramadi, Kabul, and Kandahar, however, when the Gulf War began these places were in the news almost daily, and I watched the news intently. We have had operations in these areas for a quarter century. I just finished a book that helped provide some important background to these operations. General Stanley McChrystal wrote a book called My Share of the Task: A Memoir*, which gave insight into the operations from his perspective. He was a commander on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This book not only provided context to the Gulf War but also discussed in great detail leadership and team building. Read more ( )

Well-written, earnest and intense memoir of General Stan McChrystal's career, with a focus on his time leading the Special Forces in Iraq and US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. By well written, I mean primarily that the account is clear and crisp, and that I felt like I knew a little bit about General McChrystal's character after reading it.

I have to say, I thought that President Obama had no choice but to accept McChrystal's resignation after the _Rolling Stone_ article mess. Now, after reading this, I think that President Obama made a mistake, that McChrystal is no MacArthur (i.e., a prima donna general who needs to be fired to keep the military in line). I think that we would be better off if President Obama had refused to accept McChrystal's resignation and if McChrystal were still serving the country instead of clients of his consulting group... ( )

This is a nuts and bolts description of what a person does in the military from the time one enters West Point until one retires several years later, rising from the lowest of the low as a second lieutenant to the top grade of four star general. Over the years, he acquired much in the way of experience and developed very strong ideas on leadership. His professed thinking was that of a very open and eager-to-learn professional soldier. He speaks of a wife often but she is no more than a bit player in his story. Clearly, his main spouse is the Army. As might be expected, his progression through the ranks meant new and more pressing duties but he never faltered, never had a second thought. And what is the final payoff for a sturdy actor? A Rolling Stones article brings him down. Would he have fared better under a different administration? What if's are not the things of history. I thank him for his service. ( )

This was a slog. I liked it and was glad I read it , but, honestly, I felt it could have been a little bit shorter. I had to read it with the aid of an atlas. It was fascinating, but be prepared for a lot of military jargon. I would warn readers, though, this is really not a memoir. More of a personal/military history of the last 20 years of war in the Middle East, told from an insider's perspective. It was totally worth the read! ( )