Not a Good Day to Die

Title: Not a Good Day to Die

Author: Sean Naylor

Pages: 425

Genre: Current Affairs

Grade: A-

Synopsis: This book tells the story of Operation Anaconda which took place in the Shahikot Valley in Afghanistan in early 2002. The operation was a couple of months after the infamous Tora Bora incident (where intelligence indicates that Osama bin Laden was there, but the US military was unable to capture him). The Shahikot Valley is a small valley where hundreds of Taliban fighters were hiding. The US military, NATO forces and Afghan fighters prepared a plan to attack the valley from multiple sides. Communications issues and chain-of command issues plagued the mission from the earliest stages and virtually guaranteed that there would be problems.

Why I Read this Book: This book is on the reading list of one of the Generals at Hill Air Force Base. It was recommended to my dad who then recommended it to me.

My Review: This was one of the most fascinating books that I have read in a long time. The first 80 pages or so are a little tough to get through as the author sets up the chain-of-command and goes through dozens and dozens of military abbreviations. Once the fighting is close, then the book is hard to put down. Many of the incidents in the book will disgust you as commanders that know very little about the terrain and plans of attack but decide to take control of decisions anyways. Between Donald Rumsfeld, General Tommy Franks and other OPCOM guys micromanaging the war from 3,000+ miles away, they greatly hindered the effectiveness of the operation.

Before the fighting even starts the miscommunication problems affect the battle. For example, as the fighters are trying to insert themselves into the valley to start fighting, they expect the Air Force to start a 55 minute bomb barrage on enemy positions. Instead, the Air Force drops a small handful of bombs in just over a minute and actually attacks one of the US fighter's positions. As far as I could tell, there would have been no casualties in this operation if the men on the ground that had been planning the operation were allowed to command the operation. The book is pretty scathing towards the military and hopefully they are learning from the experience to keep our armed forces strong and safe.

Disclaimer: As you can imagine, the language in the army is pretty vulgar and there is a lot of fighting, blood and death. Regardless, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book.