Books & more: My war

Skater and punk fan Colby Buzzell is 26 years old and makes ends meet with occasional McJobs in San Francisco when he meets a U.S. Army recruiter. After a short training period, Buzzell finds himself in Iraq as a "Gunner" of an armored Stryker vehicle. He documents his experiences under a pseudonym in a blog. This blog is not only regularly read by his comrades, but also gains more readers in America because: Here, an unfiltered voice reports directly from Iraq. Buzzell describes daily life in the Army camps as well as attacks by insurgents with RPGs or automatic weapons on patrol vehicles. From his very personal perspective, he portrays his interactions with the Iraqi civilian population, his dealings with superiors within the Army, and his struggles to readjust to civilian life afterwards. The book is peppered with "Army-Speak" and Four-Letter-Words. The reader quickly becomes accustomed to both. It is interspersed with posts from Buzzell's original blog and with material from other sources (e.g. Rules of Engagement of the Army, etc.). Fascinating to read because of its authenticity. Not least the account of the iPod generation - at the trigger of an M240 machine gun in the crisis zone of Iraq. (Review of the book by "Steffen" on Amazon.de - taken without permission)

Colbin Buzzel, "My War: Killing Time in Iraq", Random House UK, 416 pages, Euro 12.10 available on Amazon. For those who want to read the blog online: May War!

And an illustration of a Stryker from Buzzell's new book "Men in Black":