I finally finished reading Desert of Death last night which I picked up quite cheaply at a bookstore. I think this has been one of the most enjoyable military books I’ve read so far as the writing style feels a bit more personal and is quite easy to follow compared to some of the other books I’ve read.
The book is a recollection of first-hand events and time spent in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan by Captain Leo Docherty who was deployed there in 2006. At the start of this book, you are introduced to a solider who is full of passion, confidence, is excited to experience the culture and people and is eager to make a difference in Afghanistan with the British campaign. But when you starting getting towards the middle of the book, you begin to see that the actual campaigns purpose is very vague, there is no clear indication when International aid will begin, or how the improvement of life for the local people will happen. The author writes in such a way that you can clearly feel his frustration and see that he is confused as to why they are even there and what the actual purpose of the campaign is when soldiers eventually start getting shot at, severely injured or even killed.
I find books written from a soldier’s accounts show the type of life over in countries such as Afghanistan. There is a specific town structure, where the elders make decisions for the town in meetings called Shura’s. Police are generally corrupt, the rob, assault and sometimes even kill locals. The local people themselves are often quite poor, are forced to work and harvest in poppy fields for opium distribution. Afghanistan is one of, if not the largest source of opium distribution in the world and apparently 46% of it comes from the Helmand Province (2006/2007) where the author was situated.
What made this book interesting was the fact the author actually publicly spoke out about his experiences to the media, which is a big no-no if you are in the military.
To be honest, if I was as frustrated as he was – I probably would of done the same thing. To his surprise, his comments and opinion reached an international audience making headlines everywhere. For example, the Asia Times, but mainly in local news. As he was exiting the Army, his punishment wasn’t as severe as it could of been if he was to remain in his unit.
The epilogue of the book went through a brief rundown of what happened after the author finished his tour. How the fighting in Helmand suddenly became rampant, brief statistics of ‘collateral’ damage inflicted to civilians and the fact nothing really had improved for the people.
Overall, I found this book a more down to earth read and quite enjoyable. If you can find it on the shelf, it is worth a read.
