This thick book gives one a close up look at the life of the fighting infantryman! Each of the 10 chapters covers a specific battle and the experiences of those who fought there. From the Pacific theatre to the European, from Vietnam to Iraq, you are there on the beaches, in the foxholes, the rice paddies and through the streets of Fallujah.

This book gives you a very good sense of the up close and personal war that is fought by each and every combat infantryman be they Marine or US Army. Harrowing accounts of night fighting and Banzai charges, fighting the elements and the Germans at the Bulge in this book you are there. Each chapter puts you in the heart of the action and gives you as close as any book can a sense of what it was like to be there.

In addition to the personal accounts, the book has good, in-depth analysis of the experiences of these combat veterans. This book brings the reader into the world of the infantryman and transports the reader into a world very foreign from our normal day to day lives. As quoted in the end of the book’s introduction, I feel that this passage sums up what this book brings to life more perfectly than I ever could! “There is no worse place than where the Infantry is…or what it has to do. A war is not over until the Infantry is done with it…finished moving on foot more than the other, finished killing more than the other. And when it is all done, and the Infantryman is home again, some of him will remain in that place…..forever.”

For the armor and figure modeler, this book will offer many diorama and vignette ideas. It will best appeal to the historian in each of us, for it puts us there in the mud with the fighting men. Most of us model objects, machines, the weapons of war. This book puts it all right there in front of you up close and personal! I really liked this book and recommend it to all who want to learn something, enjoy a good read and/or looking for an inspiration for there next figure or diorama project! Our thanks to NAL Caliber Trade Paperbacks for this review copy!