If fate is against me and I’m killed, so be it, but make it quick and painless. If I’m wounded, don’t let me be crippled. But above all don’t let me fuck up the task.
What a job to have, IEDD (Improvised Explosive Device Disposal) in Iraq. I picked this paperback up on a whim from Big W about two weeks ago and finished reading it last night. To be quite frank, I’ll pretty much read any military based book I can find providing it is a true account. I find I don’t get immersed in fiction.
When I saw this book on the shelf, the title seemed interesting so I walked over and grabbed it for a closer look. Eight Lives Down is the day to day accounts of Major Chris Hunter, an ATO (Ammunition Technical Officer) in the British Army who served several months in Iraq.
The book was quite interesting, informative, vivid, funny and upsetting at times. The informative side is written in such a style that the author gives you an indication of how a certain bomb is assembled, but at the same time explains just how dangerous it really is. Some vivid parts include the story of an Iraqi father slitting his own daughters throat as retaliation against soldier’s who beat him up for disciplining her previously.
While the thought is extremely off putting, closer to the end of the book the author recalls an account of a house search where the occupants offered the soldiers Baclava (a rich, sweet pastry). This goes to show how friendly and spirited people can be, that not all Iraqi people are ‘animals’.
I find reading any books written by British soldiers somehow turn out to be quite amusing at times as well, those guys certainly have a sense of humour. Always calling each other tossers, or wankers and generally taking the piss out of each other. One thing that is evident in each book I read is that the teams really become a family, a very tightly knit group and generally remain friends for life – it is like a given. So when reading in the second last chapter, that two members of the authors team were redeployed to an IEDD squad and both had their legs severed in IED attack, you could only feel the authors pain and helplessness.
Overall, I thought it was quite a gripping book and a great read. I tried to limit myself to 2-3 chapters a night but sometimes went overboard I became that immersed. The play on the title was also done well, I thought it would be about 8 members of his team dying, yet it was referring to the author having nine lives like a cat and having already used up eight of those, choosing making the most of his last.
This article was posted on March 13, 2009 at 2:18 pm | Filed in books | why not add a comment?