Joker One by Donovan Campbell

Donovan Campbell joined the USMC after graduating with honors from Princeton. He wrote this book as a firsthand account of his second tour of duty in Iraq, his first as an Infantry Platoon Leader. His style is detailed, without overdoing the details. Much like Nathan Frick's book "One Bullet Away" from several years earlier, Donovan describes the process of pulling together a team (under some unusual time pressure) and then adapting to an unexpected level of insurgent violence when they were sent to Ramadi. Moreso than Frick's book, which is a tremendously compelling firsthand account of leading the "point of the spear" in the assault on Baghdad, Campbell's book explores the feelings and emotions of one of the toughest war situation our troops have faced. Without being unnecessarily graphic, Campbell describes the emotional tension of bringing peace and order to Ramadi, without support or the slightest recognition from the local populace. The emotional and spiritual details are as gripping as the details of the battle tactics. Not for the lighthearted, but the best insight into going to war in this era.