Jen Rothmeyer's Reviews > The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

I spent some time in the U.S. Army National Guard, but I will immediately disclose that I did not deploy overseas during my commitment. My opinions on this book come primarily as an American citizen with a little flavor of former military POG through in. (POG means “person other than grunt” or someone who is typically in a support role far away from combat.) Now that my disclaimer is out of the way, let’s move on to the real review of the book.

Once I actually received the book and started reading it, I had an inner debate raging. At points, I was so emotionally drained by remotely experiencing what these military-brothers of mine had experienced, that I absolutely had to put the book down. Sometimes I would drop the book even in the middle of a described skirmish because I just couldn’t take it anymore. At other times, though, I wanted to keep reading and race through to find out exactly how the soldiers fared. I will admit that because I kept imagining friends of mine who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan going through similar situations, I may have been even more connected to the narrative than someone who has not experienced many losses because of these wars.

Halfway through the novel, I posted my recommendation to my personal Facebook page for my friends and family:

"I’m almost halfway through the book The Outpost by Jake Tapper about Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan. I can’t say that I love the book, because it is impossible to reconcile the emotion “love” with the Bad Shit our troops have gone through during these operations, but I will say that I heavily recommend this book to anyone who does the lip service of saying they support the troops without having the faintest idea of what that even means. (While I appreciate the gesture, that’s all that comment and “thank you for your service,” typically is: an empty gesture.)

As always, I have mixed feelings about the fact that I never deployed to a combat or war zone. Now that I’m long out, I’m grateful that I didn’t have to experience that and I get to live my cushy life with my family without the mental burdens of war. When I was still in, I was devastated that my friends were dying and I was just a state-side POG with no power and no control. The guilt was incredible, and led me to volunteer my name several times for deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, I feel no guilt because there was nothing I could do about it.

Anyone who is interested in the politics at the federal level involving our military (the budget our military gets, the missions it goes on, the efforts it supports) needs to read this book to have a better understanding of just what those numbers and column-inches in the local newspaper really mean. They’re people. They’re tiny individual missions that you never hear about. They’re wounds and deaths and hardships for our families worldwide.

I don’t know how accurate the book is; I didn’t deploy. I wouldn’t ask my friends who have been in Afghanistan or Iraq to read it for veracity. I can’t even imagine making the ones who have actually had to experience similar situations, as the troops in the Kamdesh area purportedly have, to relive the horror.

For the rest of you, however, check it out. My limited military experience lines up with most of what this reporter wrote – including inept command, stupid personality conflicts, crappy gear, and ridiculous orders that you absolutely cannot dispute or refute."

Having now finished the book, I can safely and whole-heartedly say that I still recommend it. At times, it seems to be repetitive and that Mr. Tapper could have edited much of it out. However, as a (grossly amateur in comparison to Mr. Tapper) reporter myself, I would gather that this is probably because the people who rotated through the area had repetitive experiences and thoughts. Mr. Tapper seems to base almost all of his narrative on the real interviews and primary and secondary documents that he reviewed in preparation for the book. Many times, instead of his own conclusions being written, he writes using the conclusions and thoughts of the people involved. This can lead to a repetitive nature, but is essential in capturing the truest flavor of what occurred to those soldiers who were there.

Mr. Tapper is a reporter and as such, the entire book is written in a somewhat formal journalistic style. This lends itself well to the subject, yet does not at any time hinder the development of an emotional connection with the situation and persons involved. There are many details that are sometimes hard to keep track of during the course of the book, and one criticism that I have is that I wish Mr. Tapper would have included a formal list of the individuals who died and on what date they died. There were times when I was trying to keep all the names straight that I wasn’t completely sure. It felt disrespectful to have read all these pages about these people and then not even be able to tell immediately if that person had just rotated out or had died in a previous battle. I wanted to remember all the names and it would have been easier with a list to reference. As a warning, the language of the book is not PG. Many military members curse and many people would curse when they are getting limbs blown off, jaws shattered, etc. If you can’t handle it, then I suggest that you may not be able to handle the gritty and despairing details of war. War is not pretty, people. It is not heroic. It is dirty, it is depressing, and it is heart-breaking.

If your experience is anything like mine, you won’t leave this book with a happy-go-lucky feeling. However, as residents of planet Earth our friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, and even random acquaintances or strangers we come across have all been touched by the effects of wars throughout the years. In my opinion, it is very important for people to understand the actual effects of war and this book describes the injuries – emotional and physical – that these troops underwent in a way that can be more easily processed. This is important as we continue to vote on governmental leaders who have the ability to send more people into combat situations. We should really understand what that cost is to others and to our society.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The Outpost free through the GoodReads First Reads program. I was not required to write a positive review and did not receive any other compensation. The opinions I have expressed are my own and no one else’s. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”