Average Customer Rating: (10 votes)

#A Glowing but Solemn Tribute to the Canadian Men and Women in Modern War (2008-01-27) I took on this book because I wanted to be better informed as to what the Canadian mission in Afghanistan is all about. While the names of the fallen and injured in Blatchford s account are well-known to most of us - most prominently the gallantry of Captain Goddard - through news services like CTV and CBC, the stories of their singular efforts may not be. Blatchford, a seasoned and savvy journalist, decided in 2006 to break out of the typical mould of an embedded reporter who hung around base, and connect with the troops on a more compelling, personal plane. What she discovered was both fascinating and revealing. These men and women are both dedicated to and trained for the mission of rooting out the Taliban from southern Afghanistan. Facing death every moment of the day, soldiers of the Princess Pats regiment - commissioned and regular - do their job with a strong sense of respect for vicissitudes of war, the needs of the local inhabitants, and the emotional burdens of each other. This book is the full-meal deal as far as we, Canadians, are going to get without being there ourselves. War is brutal but it also has a wonderful way of bringing together people in a common cause. While Blatchford never tries to soft-soap the reasons for Canada being in this war zone, she lets it be known that Canadians need to see what an incredible difference their soldiers are making on foreign soil. All is not doom and gloom as portrayed in those too-often-repeated ramp ceremonies and military funerals back home. One might be slightly critical as to how the book was laid out in terms of the fifteen days of death, but this is not the time or the place to take issue with such a picayune matter. A great collection of heroic stories told from many different angles.

#Blatchford gives readers the troops perspectives. (2008-01-15) Fifteen Days is not a history textbook, nor, do I expect, was it ever meant to be, as some reviewers have suggested in their criticisms of the book s accuracy. Instead, Christie Blatchford gives us her perspective, and the perspectives of some of the Canadian soldiers she spent time with over the course of her three trips to Afghanistan in 2006. The physical and psychological stress, violence, and devastation that these soldiers experienced during active combat in Afghanistan, mainly in the volatile Panjwaii district, are vividly described in Blatchford s writing. She captures combat in a very realistic, albeit, sometimes chaotic way, mimicking the chaos and catrastrophe of battle. Many of the soldiers stories trigger outrage, pride, admiration, and sorrow. The soldiers whose stories are presented become very familiar to the reader, their personalities, strengths, and, in some cases, weaknesses, are apparent on every page of this book. As Blatchford s title suggests, this is a book about soldiers stories from the frontline, and on that level the book is successful. Readers will gain a better insight into many of the situations the Canadian troops are up against every time they venture out into Panjwaii and the surrounding districts in Afghanistan. [Amy MacDougall]

#Not so harsh...given the circumstances... (2008-01-14) I wasn t there and won t be. The warfare that I trained for, was to be in Europe fighting the Soviets. Having experienced the camaraderie of units within the forces, I feel for the young men and women on tour in Kandahar. The book brings forward compelling descriptions of the combat, fellowship, frustration, fearlessness and professionalism of our Canadians. Christie may not have gotten to talk to every soldier over there but I m certain that she would have wanted to if it weren t for being paralyzed in fear in the back of a LAV. Maybe it isn t what some would have said or would have wanted to be told but for the folks back home it brings the war to the doorstep. I m proud to be a Canadian, but I m even prouder after reading about the soldiering by these brave young men and women. I highly recommend the book. I truthfully couldn t put it down until I had finished it.

#not so accurate (2007-12-31) this is a great book for canadians to read to see what we face over there but . . . . not all of her stories are accurate . . . christie only talked to certain soldiers to write this book . . . and some of her descriptions of what happened to us on certain days , are not accurate at all . . . . OUTSIDE THE WIRE is a much more in depth and more accurate book from all angles and is actually wrote by the soldiers and not by a reporter . . . . . it is published by random house and can be bought on here or in any book store accross the country .

#Well worth the time... (2007-12-19) The structure of this book is, ultimately, horrifying. I do not mean this in a negative sense at all, for each day is a day of death, the death of a highly admirable person, and once you are aware of this it becomes more and more difficult to start a new chapter. Finally, November 11th reconciles the sacrifices of both the living and the dead - an inspired chapter describing the outcome of an inspired thought. Christie Blatchford herself is an admirable person (for a broken-down newspaper hack), but in this book she puts herself much farther in the background than one would expect from an embedded columnist. . . and this makes her subjects so much more luminous that it is difficult to grasp that the new Canadian army is filled with people like these. I was grateful for her reference to Dispatches and to the Stone family. I am not always taken by her writing style, I am used to her column length articles, so the chapters can feel stretched. Therefore I suggest new readers ration themselves to one chapter per day. . . and I further suggest to re-read each chapter on the day in question. I certainly intend to.