Review: One Bullet Away
Editorial Review - Kirkus ReviewsFrom the front lines in the war on terror, a former Marine captain's lucid account of his transformation from privileged college student to fighter in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fick, now a student at Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government, intended to go to med school until flunking a chemistry class at Dartmouth persuaded him to major in classics. Feeling insufficiently challenged by both academics and athletics, he gravitated toward Officer Candidate School for an experience he hoped would be "more transformative. Something that might kill me—or leave me better, stronger, and more capable." He gets it. A grueling summer of training is a mere prelude to more elite challenges, where Fick's teachers push him past the point of consciousness, instruct him on how to suppress panic, avoid capture and resist torture. Eventually, he makes it to Recon, the Marines' special operations force. To Fick's credit, these sections are every bit as compelling as his recollections of putting his training into practice, whether in Afghanistan just weeks after 9/11, where he helped recover a downed Black Hawk helicopter, or Iraq, where on his order—"Light him up!"—his platoon fired on vehicles speeding toward them. Quoting Plutarch and Thucydides, Fick's memoir is steeped in duty, honor and tradition. Moreover, his commitment to the soldiers in his charge is unwavering: He took 65 men to war and brought them all back. Sure to be compared to Anthony Swofford's profane, self-loathing Jarhead, Fick's account puts the Marines in a vastly more flattering light. Far more than a glory-soaked collection of war stories, this memoir proves the ideal of the scholar-soldier as alive and well. One can hardly imagine a finer boots-on-the-ground chronicle of this open-ended conflict, no matter how long it may last.
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
Editorial Review - Bookreporter.com - Joe HartlaubA memorable cinematic passage is contained in the movie Full Metal Jacket, wherein a new squad of marine recruits arrives at boot camp and is immediately dressed down, singly and collectively, by their drill sergeant. The episode is so dramatic that one almost forgets that the paramount reason behind the rough treatment afforded to the recruits is to decondition their selfpreservative reflexive ... Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - John Beck - Goodreadshttp://2012/08/book-review-one-bullet-away-by.ht... In his memoir One Bullet Away, Nate Fick shares his story of joining the Marine Corps as an officer, and deploying just before the September 11th ... Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - David - GoodreadsIf you want a very good account of the trials and difficulties of today's combat leaders, look no further than this book. I highly recommend it for better understanding of our two currents wars. Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - Eddy Allen - GoodreadsIf the Marines are "the few, the proud,” Recon Marines are the fewest and the proudest. Nathaniel Fick's career begins with a hellish summer at Quantico, after his junior year at Dartmouth. He leads a ... Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - Keith Barton - GoodreadsIt saddens me (as a former Marine) to read about one of the most elite units in the Marine Corps being so damn dysfunctional - meaning seeing how the officers in First Recon behaved during this ... Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - Tom Dabney - GoodreadsThe author's dad suggested I read it.Could not put it down> Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - Brian - GoodreadsFirst person account of USMC officer training then deployment in Afghanistan and combat in Iraq. A quick & interesting read although some parts are more interesting than others. I especially found ... Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - Adam - GoodreadsExcellent read. Intelligent, concise, factual account of men at war. Apolitical. Read full review
Review: One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
User Review - Jeff Smith - GoodreadsAstonishing story of one man's journey to become a special forces officer, some of his life and death experiences being on the tipity tip of the spear in the 2003 invasion of Iraq (documented in Generation Kill), and the after life in the civilian world. Riveting read. Read full review
