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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.7044373
EAN num: 9780811703185
ISBN number: 0811703185
Label: Stackpole Books
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: January 10, 2008
Publishing house: Stackpole Books
Sale Popularity Level: 160646
Studio: Stackpole Books
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
In this raw and provocative new book, readers wear desert camouflage, climb to rooftops, and get behind the rifle with a platoon of elite Marine snipers and scouts in Iraq. Author Mike Tucker embedded with the unit for its entire combat tour in 2005 06 to tell this exclusive from-the-frontlines story. Ronin captures true-grit Marines at war as they reconnoiter Iraqi villages, track terrorist targets, grapple with unrealistic rules of engagement, and get the kill. It also contains the only firsthand accounts of such previously unreported actions as an Al Qaeda attack on a police station and the winter of the sniper when terrorist gunmen plagued Coalition forces in Fallujah.
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Rated by buyers 
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The book gives a good inside view in the life of snipers in combat.
As a non military person I can only have the deepest respect for people who fight for world peace and protect democracy.
Rated by buyers 
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I had high hopes for this book, but was very dissapointed. The author feels the need to keep returning to the same event - granted it was pivital, but did not have to be repeated over and over again. The writing style was an endeavor to convey feelings/opinions from Marines downrange, but the constant bravado and thrashing of the command structure really wears on the reader... Avoid this and save your money!
Rated by buyers -
This book is more about the author than the "grunts". It is an endeavor to tell the story of a unit in combat and does not come close to filling this goal. I don't doubt the author is brave, but he never really let's the men talk in detail in a coordinated manner. Totally disjointed writing.
Rated by buyers -
I recommend Ronin to any military person getting ready to deploy to a combat zone. This book is an oral history with a lot of lessons to be learned. It is told from the actual Marines on the ground point of view. You can listen to the heartaches Ronin and others went through.
This book shows how ignorant and lack of knowledge, on the leaders part, can compromise the mission of scout/snipers. A scout/snipers basic employment tactic comes from common sense, which you will find is a key trait missing among the higher ups in this book.
After reading this book I hope other units and military leaders don't make the same mistakes Ronin's leaders made. It is a very simple concept to remember, listen to the Marines with the knowledge and experience. Scout/sniper school is one of the hardest, if not hardest school in the military, and when you combine that with 3 and 4 deployments its foolish to close your ears and turn your backs to them.
SEMPER FI
Rated by buyers -
First of all, I would like to say that although I am not a literary critic, I am a literate person, which is more than I can say for Mike Tucker or his editor. This book is the journalistic equivalent of a Curious George book in terms of basic grammar, editing quality, literary prowess, and intellectual content. Though Hemingway is often mentioned by an infatuated author, he would more than likely use this book as toilet paper or kindling. I regret having wasted my time reading a book where the author thinks that a series of interviews strung together actually makes a worthwhile novel. I am even more disappointed that although the author was able to heavily edit interviews and inject everything from his own actions and opinions to his own voice, he was somehow unable or unwilling to edit them in a way to make them cogent and succinct.
Secondly, I served with G/2/6 during the featured deployment to Fallujah, alongside Capt Maas, Ronin, and unfortunately in the presence of Mike Tucker. At best, I can say that I initially considered Mike to be well intentioned, but given the heavy stench of vendetta contained in his book, I can no longer even offer that as a selling point for reading his efforts. He might as well make his subsequent book an expose of what really happens at McDonalds and interview a series of disgruntled teenage fry cooks who have a problem showing up on time and not burning the fries. He could have them all comment on the corporate strategy of the McDonalds food chain, and their insights would be about the equivalent of what he has delivered to us in this endeavor at a novel.
I do not recommend Tucker's book to anyone trying to learn anything. There are many, much better books out there from "No True Glory" by Bing West, to the latest Danielle Steele novel.
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