| Product: |
Eight Lives Down - Chris Hunter |
| Date: |
17/07/08 (77 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: fantastically written,
Disadvantages: not a subject for everyone
Once again I took a risk on a recommendation from the same group who previously recommended Sink the Belgrano. This book though covering yet another military topic is a far more modern war and modern warfare in particular.
Major Hunter, an EOD specialist has served alongside most branches of the Army in his career and has served in almost every recent Operation. This book covers the months during which he was a part of Op Telic, in Iraq.
His book starts with him in the Colombian jungles assisting the Colombian army in learning how to defuse IED's set by FARC with assistance from the IRA. On his arrival back in the UK we meet his wife Lucy and two daughters, and that his marriage is under strain due to the amount of time he has had to spend away from them on Ops. Yet shortly after this he is once again being deployed.
As with many people in specialist trades the introduction to life in Iraq was of the 'in at the deep end' variety, from this point the chapters are headed by the date and day number of his tour so you get a feel for the times that are quiet and that where sometimes you might think events should be over several days the sheer volume of work for an ATO (ammunition technical officer) during a period of IED led insurgency, and this tour was right at the start of the insurgents love affair with the IED.
Through the quality of the writing the day to day mundane tasks, and adrenaline rushes of his work come alive the to the reader, and despite a feeling that this man is totally and utterly immersed in the world he is working in you also realise that the problems at home weigh on his mind, he misses his wife and kids. More than anything though the fear that he will lose them, and the counter balance of him having to push this away in order to do his job certainly gives an insight in to what it must be like for a soldier on the ground.
Other high profile events occurred during the period Chris Hunter was out there including the events that led to Johnson Beharry recieving his Victoria Cross and the tragic events which led to a number of RMP being killed in a firefight. These are touched upon and show how these things though will impact on others in the region cannot be allowed to have a personal impact. The sense of team and cameraderie comes through and that Maj Hunter becomes a target for the insurgents because of his ability to disarm and make safe so many of the devices he is tasked to - events which eventually lead to him being promoted while in theatre and moved to an office based role tracking down those responsible for setting the IED's.
Told with humour which is recognisable as military yet does not over step the bounds of decency (as seems to happen frequently among the Forces - or is that just the people I know?) and with enough detail to keep even someone who has served interested yet equally draw a complete newcomer to the world of the military in to the events I have to add my recommendation to read this book.
At 500 pages long I found myself losing track of time reading it, and at once point discovered I had read as far as the second set of photographs before I'd even paused to look at the first set! Typically you can buy this from the usual sources from £3.00 up to the RRP of £6.99
Summary: The ninth life should be lived to the full.
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Last comment:
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T4imbo3107 - 17/07/08 Major Chris Hunter - Interesting... is that a passtime as in he lhunts for people called Chris in a major way?? |
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