The Good Soldiers
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Narrated by:
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Mark Boyett
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By:
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David Finkel
About this listen
Among those listening were the young, optimistic Army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them. Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home forever changed.
Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter David Finkel was with them in Bagdad almost every grueling step of the way. What was the true story of the surge? Was it really a success? Those are the questions he grapples with in his remarkable report from the front lines.
Combining the action of Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down with the literary brio of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, The Good Soldiers is an unforgettable work of reportage. And in telling the story of these good soldiers, the heroes and the ruined, David Finkel has also produced an eternal tale - not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time.
©2009 Dave Finkel (P)2009 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Editorial reviews
During the troop surge in Iraq in 2007, Washington Post journalist David Finkel was embedded for eight months with Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich - a determined, optimistic, inspired leader - and his unit: the 2-16 Second Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment from Fort Riley, Kansas.
The 2-16 were deployed at the time in an area of intense insurgent activity in eastern Baghdad. Finkel writes, “From the beginning I explained to [the soldiers] that my intent was to document their corner of the war, without agenda. This book, then, is that corner, unshaded.” In fact, much of the book’s success stems from the open access granted to Finkel and the soldiers’ willingness to share their stories.
Finkel casts light on virtually all aspects of the 2-16’s “corner of the war”, including unflinching descriptions of deaths, and the profoundly destructive injuries inflicted by improvised explosive devices. Finkel’s descriptions are deeply moving and in many cases profoundly disturbing. But this is war, this is what the soldiers experienced, and Finkel aims to document the sacrifices these soldiers made that enabled the surge to succeed.
The Good Soldiers, besides being a valuable and unforgettable document, honors the men of the 2-16 Second Battalion. Written as a nonfiction novel, its prose style is simple and brilliantly effective.
Relatively new to audiobook narration, actor Mark Boyett has a strong, young voice whose articulation, pace, and clarity will resonate inside a car, a hall, or your head. He easily and naturally shifts his voice from the narrator’s point of view to the words of the many people chronicled in this book. A great range of emotions is expressed in The Good Soldiers, and Boyett adeptly inhabits these characters as he gives voice to the words they express. –David Chasey
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Performance
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While serving a portion of his time under the Special Operations Command, Benjamin Sledge fought to keep his humanity amid the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. But war never leaves its participants unscathed. In Where Cowards Go to Die, Sledge reveals an unflinchingly honest portrait of war that few dare to tell.
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Couldn't stop listening
- By Matthew Orlandi on 07-29-22
By: Benjamin Sledge
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Echo in Ramadi
- The Firsthand Story of U.S. Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City
- By: Scott A. Huesing
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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From the winter of 2006 through the spring of 2007, 250 marines from Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment, fought daily in the dangerous, dense city streets of Ramadi, Iraq, during the Multi-National Forces Surge ordered by President George W. Bush. The marines' mission: to kill or capture anti-Iraqi forces. Their experience: like being in hell. Now Major Scott A. Huesing, the commander who led Echo Company through Ramadi, takes listeners back to the streets of Ramadi in a visceral, gripping portrayal of modern urban combat.
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Combat is Combat
- By Calvin Guthrie on 05-21-18
By: Scott A. Huesing
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Tough as They Come
- By: Travis Mills, Marcus Brotherton, Gary Sinise - foreword
- Narrated by: Travis Mills
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Thousands of soldiers die every year to defend their country. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure that he would become another statistic when, during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, he was caught in an IED blast four days before his 25th birthday. Against the odds, he lived, but at a severe cost - Travis became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation.
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So-so
- By Rachael Shook on 02-16-19
By: Travis Mills, and others
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Dispatches
- By: Michael Herr
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From its terrifying opening to its final eloquent words, Dispatches makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retellings of the day-to-day events in Vietnam take on the force of poetry, rendering clarity from one of the most incomprehensible and nightmarish events of our time.
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All of the reviews are correct.
- By Mark Thoreson on 01-18-22
By: Michael Herr
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The Gift of Valor
- A War Story
- By: Michael M. Phillips
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Every day ordinary young Americans are fighting and dying in Iraq, with the same bravery, honor, and sense of duty that have distinguished American troops throughout history. One of these is Jason Dunham, a 22-year-old Marine corporal from the one-stoplight town of Scio, New York, whose stunning story reporter Michael M. Phillips discovered while he was embedded with a Marine infantry battalion in the Iraqi desert.
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Semper Fi
- By James on 07-31-05
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Trident
- The Forging and Reforging of a Navy SEAL Leader
- By: Jason Redman, John Bruning
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 12 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Decorated Navy SEAL Lieutenant Jason Redman served his country courageously and with distinction in Colombia, Peru, Afghanistan, and Iraq, where he commanded mobility and assault forces. But his journey was not without its supreme challenges. He was critically wounded in 2007 when he was struck by machine-gun fire at point blank range. During his intense recovery period, Redman posted a sign on his door, warning all who entered not to "feel sorry for [his] wounds."
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SEALS and Leadership
- By Pamela Dale Foster on 06-20-14
By: Jason Redman, and others
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All the Ways We Kill and Die
- An Elegy for a Fallen Comrade, and the Hunt for His Killer
- By: Brian Castner
- Narrated by: Brian Castner
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The EOD - explosive ordnance disposal - community is tight-knit, and when one of their own is hurt, an alarm goes out. When Brian Castner, an Iraq War vet, learns that his friend and EOD brother Matt has been killed by an IED in Afghanistan, he goes to console Matt's widow, but he also begins a personal investigation. Is the bomb maker who killed Matt the same man American forces have been hunting since Iraq, known as the Engineer?
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It was an eye opening book.
- By Travis Garrett on 10-09-17
By: Brian Castner
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Violence of Action
- The Untold Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror
- By: Charles Faint, Marty Skovlund Jr., Leo Jenkins
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden, Paul Boehmer, Emily Durante
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Violence of Action is much more than the true, first-person accounts of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Global War on Terror. Within this audio are the heartfelt, firsthand accounts from and about the men who lived, fought, and died for their country, their regiment, and each other. Objective Rhino, Haditha Dam, recovering Jessica Lynch, the hunt for Zarqawi, the recovery of Extortion 17, and everything in between...
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Great Book
- By shane on 06-18-15
By: Charles Faint, and others
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Two Wars
- One Hero's Fight on Two Fronts: Abroad and Within
- By: Nate Self
- Narrated by: Nate Self
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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For the first time, Army Ranger hero Nate Self tells his story. Self recounts the Roberts Ridge Rescue mission, the ferocious battles in Afghanistan, and the lone war of attrition that Nate Self has waged against post-traumatic stress disorder. This audio will become a go-to work for understanding the long-term effects of the war on terror. Thousands of families are fighting this battle, and Nate Self opens up his whole life - tragedies, successes, failures, and a struggle with suicidal thoughts - to share the facts.
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a incredible story of a true man of character
- By T Wilcox on 12-21-24
By: Nate Self
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City of Death
- Humanitarian Warriors in the Battle of Mosul
- By: Ephraim Mattos, Scott McEwen
- Narrated by: Ephraim Mattos
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the true story of Ephraim Mattos, a former US Navy SEAL, and what he witnessed while volunteering as a frontline combat medic during the historic battle to retake Mosul from ISIS - the deadliest urban combat the world has seen since WWII.
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An inspirational tour de force
- By TN760USER on 10-25-18
By: Ephraim Mattos, and others
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Operation Pineapple Express
- By: Scott Mann
- Narrated by: Lt. Col. Scott Mann
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In April 2021, an urgent call was placed from a Special Forces operator serving overseas. The message was clear: Get Nezam out of Afghanistan now. Nezam was part of the Afghan National Army’s first group of American-trained commandos; he passed through Fort Bragg’s legendary Q course and served alongside the US Special Forces for over a decade. But Afghanistan’s government and army were on the edge of collapse, and Nezam was receiving threatening texts from the Taliban.
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amazing, uplifting, heart wrenching
- By Lisa L. Weinley on 09-13-22
By: Scott Mann
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Pumpkinflowers
- A Soldier's Story
- By: Matti Friedman
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Using humor, pop culture, and even musical references, Michael Friedman re-creates the wartime experience in a narrative that is part memoir, part journalism, part military history. The years in question were pivotal ones, seeing the perfection of a type of warfare that would eventually be exported to Afghanistan and Iraq and has come to seem like the only kind of warfare in existence - wars in which there is never any clear victory, but not quite enough lives are lost to rally the country against it.
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Israeli Defense Fighter’s Story of War in Lebanon
- By Debbie on 05-02-19
By: Matti Friedman
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I Lost My Love in Baghdad
- A Modern War Story
- By: Michael Hastings
- Narrated by: Michael Hastings
- Length: 7 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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At age 25, Michael Hastings arrived in Baghdad to cover the war in Iraq for Newsweek. He had at his disposal a little Hemingway romanticism and all the apparatus of a 21st-century reporter: cell phones, high-speed Internet access, digital video cameras, fixers, drivers, guards, and translators.
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Sad story...
- By kathryn on 01-01-09
By: Michael Hastings
What listeners say about The Good Soldiers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- C. Irwin
- 03-01-10
This book is amazing, but brutal
The journalist writing this book is awesome at putting this story together. A lot of the reviews talk about the repetiveness, but that was an effect the author was using to drive home particular points. I loved it and thought it was well used and totally appropriate. The narrator for this book was perfect as well. I've had good audiobooks with terrible narrators that made the listen unbearable. Not so with this book.
The subject matter is hard to digest at times. The author spares nothing and the stories he tells of the American soldiers and the Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire is heartbreaking. The people and places are real. You can google the KIA and read their tributes in the Washington Post. It makes the war very real. We all should be paying attention whats going on in the Middle East and supporting our troops no matter how we feel about the war. This book brings that home.
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64 people found this helpful
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- Michael Moore
- 02-27-10
Not for the Fainthearted!
A searing account of the trials, wounds, and frustrations of a battalion of combat infantry soldiers posted to a dangerous region of Baghdad during the 2007 "surge." The writing is riveting: direct, factual and first-hand. The author was "embedded" with the soldiers for eight months of their 15 month tour of duty. He describes in vivid detail the injuries (14 were killed) suffered by the soldiers from hidden roadside explosives, a menace these troops faced every day. You will take from this book an unforgettable appreciation of the combat horrors our troops face in Iraq and Afghanistan. We all owe them a monumental debt of gratitude for the dangers they face and the wounds so many of them and their families have endured.
My only criticism of the book is that its focus on the frustrations, injuries and deaths suffered by these soldiers appears calculated to lead to a foreordained conclusion that the whole deployment was pointless and that the Iraqis they were trying to help were hopeless, incompetent, or hostile. There is an "Oh, by the way" tone to the relatively few mentions of the successes that were achieved during the surge: much reduced death rates among coalition troops, improved security in much of Baghdad; even functioning gas stations in the battalion's own area.
The book clearly illustrates the hard choices we face in dealing with the violent extremists in the Middle East. They are brutal and without conscience or good sense in inflicting terror, torture and destruction on any (including their neighbors) whom they see in their way. Our military response is at best a stopgap: it is necessary for self defense, but it does not build the personal ties or trust and goodwill we need in order to build lasting peace and security.
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3 people found this helpful
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- John C
- 06-07-18
A real war story
If your looking for RAMBO or some other type of movie-ish type book. This ain’t it. Very jeering,raw and gritty. Definitely worth your time.
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- Jimmy K
- 09-13-18
Enlightening
This book gave me for the first time in my life a clear understanding of war. The effect war has on the soldiers, their families and the interpreters who risk their lives to assist. The description of the wounded soldiers , the hospitals and rehabilitation center was just so informative. I wish our countries leaders would think about the devastating effects on all who participate before committing our military forces to such horrendous circumstances.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-28-18
Good insight into war on the ground
What made the experience of listening to The Good Soldiers the most enjoyable?
Excellent writing by the author. Also read well by the narrator. Because it is an "on the ground" narrative, there is little perspective on the overall war effort and the motivation to launch "the surge". Despite this, the futility of the "war to win hearts and minds" came through the writing clearly. I am searching for the book which explains why such a noble-sounding initiative didn't work.
What did you like best about this story?
Information about the Iraq War in 2008
Have you listened to any of Mark Boyett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
No
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
Who said it would be easy?
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- Amanda Poe
- 07-26-18
Excellent
An excellent book! Drives home how much our soldiers sacrifice. Narrator puts listener with them.
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- em
- 08-16-18
Good read
This is an excellent book that vividly describes the horrors of combat. The author does a good job balancing the violence and politics of war. I thoroughly enjoyed how the author captured the point of view from all levels of leadership from field grade officers down to brand new privates. The book is a little repetitive. I understood the point of the repetition; to drive in specific points or to simply demonstrate the monotony of a deployment.
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- Shelly Dee
- 06-05-18
Some Football Players Need to Read This
The stress, stench, and unimaginable horrors described on these pages gives a new understanding to the whys of PTSD. I had to listen to this in small doses -- the vision of "Bob" will be a lasting one in my mind's eye. Perhaps this should be required reading for American football players and others who choose to spit in the face of America. Stellar reporting; excellent narration.
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- Ali Dadpay
- 07-02-18
Sobering and Surreal
very moving narrative, focused only on the soldiers and nothing else. some might say any story about Iraq should include the people, the fact that only few are represented here speaks volume of the alienated nature of war. The writer highlights the death and the pain soldiers encountered with little mention of any achievement. The book is good to understand the pain and the sufferings soldiers endured and nothing morem
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- DPM
- 02-28-14
Compelling, moving, disturbing
I listened to this book right after " Duty" by Robert Gates ( the latter which, without hesitation, I also recommend). Althought there have been books books and news articles and tv shows and documentaries on the two wars, Gates ( from high above) and Finkel ( down with the troops) give the listener the perspective of the danger, resolution and disillusionment of the men ( as much as any of us safe at home can begin to understand). I found the narrator excellent and fit exactly the sentiment of the book
Excellent excellent book. I recommend
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15 people found this helpful