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Afghan Post
Adrian Bonenberger graduated from Yale, but took a path less travelled, joining the military. After enduring infantry, airborne, and Ranger training and deploying twice to combat in Afghanistan, Bonenberger decided to catalogue his evolution as a human through war. Drawing on journal entries, letters, phone calls and emails, Bonenberger brings readers through his experience as they unfolded to him. Afghan Post, lauded by Anthony Swofford as “… a deeply felt and poetically resonant epistolary memoir,” unforgettably conveys the emotional reality of Bonenberger’s military experience through the cracked lens of his wartime correspondence.
- GenresBiography
340 pages, Paperback
First published January 7, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 12, 2021
There will be no more tank battles between equals. There will be no more dogfights between equals in the air. There will be no more naval engagements of the kind common in WW2. In short, there will never be another war like WW2. Nuclear weapons make any kind of opposing mass formations of either men or machines impossible because such formations would be instantly annihilated. This was previewed in the Cold War standoff between the huge Red Army and the "New Look" U.S. army of Ike backed by nuclear weapons. War never broke out because both sides knew it would be suicidal.
Nevertheless, the United States continues to operate the military organizationally as if another war like WW2 with neatly uniformed armies in well marked out areas of control won by maneuver ordered up through the command structure can be expected. Vietnam showed the impossible task of guerrilla warfare for a traditional army, regardless of our monopoly of modern weaponry. LBJ, quite rightly, had a constant worry that China would get involved. But the failure in Vietnam was not seen as questioning the idea of maintaining large armed forces for foreign intervention. What was taken as the lesson instead was that the draft had to go and with volunteers, interventions could proceed with gusto, coming to naught in Afghanistan where only after twenty years of enriching military contractors is the pointless effort being ended.
Historically warfare is all about organization, chain of command and areas of responsibility. Though it might seem strange to say, war was very well structured, goals were clear, land and sea could be taken and held. It was an elaboration of the childhood game of capture the flag. Yes, there was chaos in combat, but even so the soldier knew the enemy had undergone very similar training and could be expected to behave in certain ways, most important by surrendering after the capture of large forces.
That's over and with it the good probability that combat soldiers could return to society in good mental health.
This is the background of Afghan Post, the story of a technically advanced but anachronistic military going into combat on physical and cultural ground so alien it could be (as the author remarks) another planet.
Adrian Bonenberger uses the technique of personal correspondence to tell the story of his education in a rigid world as he climbs up the ladder of ranks and privileges apart from the larger society as he struggles to keep relationships going with girlfriends he can visit only rarely.
Do this quickly, do that without complaint and you advance. He conforms to the military plan of transforming a young man or woman searching for meaning and purpose in life into someone who finds it in a sheltered controlled way, becoming part of a tightly knit structure where rigorous training brings pride and eagerness to take on increasing responsibility. In just a few years, hardly more than the four required to get through high school, Bonenberger advances from bewildered newbie in officer candidate school to a company commander in charge of a post in Afghanistan with hundreds of people under him. Following procedure out comes the product.
Within the world of command and obey, team spirit is built. The military knows exactly what it is doing to psychologically mold the individual. Though I have not been in the military, I have seen it happen. The individual forced into close quarters with any given collection of strangers can be transformed with them into a tight group of "great guys" who bond no matter what their backgrounds because their situation is identical. The fighting unit is formed and the ego is satisfied with proudly worn badges and uniforms that show how far one has progressed in the system. Being a replaceable identical part in a machine is scarcely noticed beneath esprit de corps, by design.
But then comes engagement. Personalities clash, stupid things are done, chance rules, things done by the book don't work, command authority is limited in the face of orders from above or rules of engagement that do not bind the enemy. Translators can't translate local dialects so fake it. Cultural norms leave Americans bewildered, clueless and prone to bigotry toward the people they are supposedly supporting. And of course lots of pieces of hard metal go flying in every direction regardless of any soft flesh in the way.
Clean, clear organization meets reality and then comes the doubt as the real difference appears between American involvement in WW2 and everything since. Questions eat at the mind. Why are we here? What purpose are we serving? What is victory? Do Americans at home give a shit about us or our task? Whose idea was this anyway? The entire top down structure upon which one has risen suddenly wobbles.
Bonenberger is always comparing his own activity to that of previous generations...they had their righteous fight, now it is his turn. But they fought after an attack on the country, now it is all about wars of choice, pre-emptive actions and, in the case of Afghanistan, a full out war against people who had nothing to do with 9/11 while the homeland of the 9/11 perpetrators is a pampered pet of Uncle Sam. Where is reason in this? If reason cannot be found for risking one's life will not sanity soon to be lost as well?
When a country, or more accurately its leaders, gets drunk with power and aggressively builds empire, putting up the smoke screen of national defense and "support our troops" in lieu of having any attack that would demand sending soldiers to possible injury or death, the glory of war is stripped away. Replacing it is the pointless waste we've witnessed, repeatedly. The United States has blown the immense prestige it had in 1945 to become thought to be, as worldwide polls reveal, the greatest threat to peace in the world.
This book tells how this all comes down to the individual in a way far more powerful than a straight historical account. Bonenberger's honesty deserves to be widely read.
Nevertheless, the United States continues to operate the military organizationally as if another war like WW2 with neatly uniformed armies in well marked out areas of control won by maneuver ordered up through the command structure can be expected. Vietnam showed the impossible task of guerrilla warfare for a traditional army, regardless of our monopoly of modern weaponry. LBJ, quite rightly, had a constant worry that China would get involved. But the failure in Vietnam was not seen as questioning the idea of maintaining large armed forces for foreign intervention. What was taken as the lesson instead was that the draft had to go and with volunteers, interventions could proceed with gusto, coming to naught in Afghanistan where only after twenty years of enriching military contractors is the pointless effort being ended.
Historically warfare is all about organization, chain of command and areas of responsibility. Though it might seem strange to say, war was very well structured, goals were clear, land and sea could be taken and held. It was an elaboration of the childhood game of capture the flag. Yes, there was chaos in combat, but even so the soldier knew the enemy had undergone very similar training and could be expected to behave in certain ways, most important by surrendering after the capture of large forces.
That's over and with it the good probability that combat soldiers could return to society in good mental health.
This is the background of Afghan Post, the story of a technically advanced but anachronistic military going into combat on physical and cultural ground so alien it could be (as the author remarks) another planet.
Adrian Bonenberger uses the technique of personal correspondence to tell the story of his education in a rigid world as he climbs up the ladder of ranks and privileges apart from the larger society as he struggles to keep relationships going with girlfriends he can visit only rarely.
Do this quickly, do that without complaint and you advance. He conforms to the military plan of transforming a young man or woman searching for meaning and purpose in life into someone who finds it in a sheltered controlled way, becoming part of a tightly knit structure where rigorous training brings pride and eagerness to take on increasing responsibility. In just a few years, hardly more than the four required to get through high school, Bonenberger advances from bewildered newbie in officer candidate school to a company commander in charge of a post in Afghanistan with hundreds of people under him. Following procedure out comes the product.
Within the world of command and obey, team spirit is built. The military knows exactly what it is doing to psychologically mold the individual. Though I have not been in the military, I have seen it happen. The individual forced into close quarters with any given collection of strangers can be transformed with them into a tight group of "great guys" who bond no matter what their backgrounds because their situation is identical. The fighting unit is formed and the ego is satisfied with proudly worn badges and uniforms that show how far one has progressed in the system. Being a replaceable identical part in a machine is scarcely noticed beneath esprit de corps, by design.
But then comes engagement. Personalities clash, stupid things are done, chance rules, things done by the book don't work, command authority is limited in the face of orders from above or rules of engagement that do not bind the enemy. Translators can't translate local dialects so fake it. Cultural norms leave Americans bewildered, clueless and prone to bigotry toward the people they are supposedly supporting. And of course lots of pieces of hard metal go flying in every direction regardless of any soft flesh in the way.
Clean, clear organization meets reality and then comes the doubt as the real difference appears between American involvement in WW2 and everything since. Questions eat at the mind. Why are we here? What purpose are we serving? What is victory? Do Americans at home give a shit about us or our task? Whose idea was this anyway? The entire top down structure upon which one has risen suddenly wobbles.
Bonenberger is always comparing his own activity to that of previous generations...they had their righteous fight, now it is his turn. But they fought after an attack on the country, now it is all about wars of choice, pre-emptive actions and, in the case of Afghanistan, a full out war against people who had nothing to do with 9/11 while the homeland of the 9/11 perpetrators is a pampered pet of Uncle Sam. Where is reason in this? If reason cannot be found for risking one's life will not sanity soon to be lost as well?
When a country, or more accurately its leaders, gets drunk with power and aggressively builds empire, putting up the smoke screen of national defense and "support our troops" in lieu of having any attack that would demand sending soldiers to possible injury or death, the glory of war is stripped away. Replacing it is the pointless waste we've witnessed, repeatedly. The United States has blown the immense prestige it had in 1945 to become thought to be, as worldwide polls reveal, the greatest threat to peace in the world.
This book tells how this all comes down to the individual in a way far more powerful than a straight historical account. Bonenberger's honesty deserves to be widely read.
March 24, 2014
Page Terror Review: pageterror.wordpress.com
Afghan Post is an epistolary memoir that is admirable in both intent and execution. I rarely read epistolary novels anymore, unless they were written in or before the nineteenth century, and to my knowledge they are not frequently produced. However, having recently completed two years worth of research on the development of war literature surrounding the Wars with Napoleonic and Revolutionary France, I was intrigued to see that a novel within my own lifetime had been written in that same tradition which sought to de-glorify war. Whether the author is aware of the giant footsteps he is walking in is neither here nor there because the ghosts of the past are so clearly present.
The tradition of war is part of the underlying foundation of global myth and culture. It is where boys become men and how we have come to regard war has changed drastically over the past couple of centuries. Adrian Bonenberger is acutely aware of the history of war within and associated with the United States and it is never far from the surface in his letters and journal entries.
Adrian begins with letters from his final year at Yale and ends after returning from his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2011. We follow him through his search for purpose in post-graduate life, his driving need to feel involved in the conversations and decisions being made after 9/11, the trials and tribulations of training, and his time overseas. In letters to family, friends, and journal entries, the reader watches Adrian struggle not only with the Taliban, but also the system into which he has become immersed, fighting for answers and the life that he has left behind.
The content is nothing less than fascinating; the internal and external battles of our author and primary character nothing less than real. The writing is at once educated and personal, showing an eloquent craftsmanship that tends to be abandoned in our everyday life. His grace falters infrequently and even when the topic is as gruesome and horrifying as men being killed in battle, the reader tends to not fully realize what is happening until lines later. There were several times when I had to skip back to read passages over and the effect is powerful, giving insight into the desensitization and psychological damage that such circumstances press onto the human mind.
What he chooses to address in letters to certain people and how he chooses to do so is also significant. The separation of the civilian world from the military sphere is a gulf that authors have been trying to bridge for centuries, such as Robert Key Porter, Anna Letitia Barbauld, and Jane Austen. However, in modern warfare it continues to exist and Adrian’s letters chronicle the strain that is placed on individuals like him, who sacrifice their lives to fight, while others continue at home. He compares his experience in the Middle East with those of WWII and Vietnam veterans, considering how the differing circumstances of each crafted both the men involved and their outcomes.
The fluidity of letters is notable. It is also a problem. Sometimes the letters move so well together that they tend to blend and the reader loses the significance of the individual text. In an epistolary each piece should be significant, leading towards the next stepping stone with the appropriate necessity. While this becomes stronger towards the center of the novel, the beginning reads slowly, almost at a snail-like pace that does not capture the reader’s attention. Several more cuts should have been made from the Japan section as well as some the training letters, which could have also been merged to improve pacing. We also tend to forget who he is writing to. The letters written to his parents are always unique, contrasting with his journal entries and letters to fellow officers. However, a lot of the letters written to friends tend to be indiscernible from one another, harming the rhythm and drive of the piece at certain junctures. It is essential that the reader is clear in our minds to give weight and further context to the moment and information. It may have been beneficial to have fewer people to whom he wrote letters to within the overall frame-work.
This is not your stereotypical war paperback where the good guys win and the bad guys are vanquished. Adrian did not write an action filled fiction that would excite the masses and he did not intend to. Instead, this memoir will allow you to glimpse inside the martial experience of today, into the intelligent mind of an individual who cares about his men, his country, and having a voice in the shaping of the future.
pageterror.wordpress.com
Afghan Post is an epistolary memoir that is admirable in both intent and execution. I rarely read epistolary novels anymore, unless they were written in or before the nineteenth century, and to my knowledge they are not frequently produced. However, having recently completed two years worth of research on the development of war literature surrounding the Wars with Napoleonic and Revolutionary France, I was intrigued to see that a novel within my own lifetime had been written in that same tradition which sought to de-glorify war. Whether the author is aware of the giant footsteps he is walking in is neither here nor there because the ghosts of the past are so clearly present.
The tradition of war is part of the underlying foundation of global myth and culture. It is where boys become men and how we have come to regard war has changed drastically over the past couple of centuries. Adrian Bonenberger is acutely aware of the history of war within and associated with the United States and it is never far from the surface in his letters and journal entries.
Adrian begins with letters from his final year at Yale and ends after returning from his second deployment to Afghanistan in 2011. We follow him through his search for purpose in post-graduate life, his driving need to feel involved in the conversations and decisions being made after 9/11, the trials and tribulations of training, and his time overseas. In letters to family, friends, and journal entries, the reader watches Adrian struggle not only with the Taliban, but also the system into which he has become immersed, fighting for answers and the life that he has left behind.
The content is nothing less than fascinating; the internal and external battles of our author and primary character nothing less than real. The writing is at once educated and personal, showing an eloquent craftsmanship that tends to be abandoned in our everyday life. His grace falters infrequently and even when the topic is as gruesome and horrifying as men being killed in battle, the reader tends to not fully realize what is happening until lines later. There were several times when I had to skip back to read passages over and the effect is powerful, giving insight into the desensitization and psychological damage that such circumstances press onto the human mind.
What he chooses to address in letters to certain people and how he chooses to do so is also significant. The separation of the civilian world from the military sphere is a gulf that authors have been trying to bridge for centuries, such as Robert Key Porter, Anna Letitia Barbauld, and Jane Austen. However, in modern warfare it continues to exist and Adrian’s letters chronicle the strain that is placed on individuals like him, who sacrifice their lives to fight, while others continue at home. He compares his experience in the Middle East with those of WWII and Vietnam veterans, considering how the differing circumstances of each crafted both the men involved and their outcomes.
The fluidity of letters is notable. It is also a problem. Sometimes the letters move so well together that they tend to blend and the reader loses the significance of the individual text. In an epistolary each piece should be significant, leading towards the next stepping stone with the appropriate necessity. While this becomes stronger towards the center of the novel, the beginning reads slowly, almost at a snail-like pace that does not capture the reader’s attention. Several more cuts should have been made from the Japan section as well as some the training letters, which could have also been merged to improve pacing. We also tend to forget who he is writing to. The letters written to his parents are always unique, contrasting with his journal entries and letters to fellow officers. However, a lot of the letters written to friends tend to be indiscernible from one another, harming the rhythm and drive of the piece at certain junctures. It is essential that the reader is clear in our minds to give weight and further context to the moment and information. It may have been beneficial to have fewer people to whom he wrote letters to within the overall frame-work.
This is not your stereotypical war paperback where the good guys win and the bad guys are vanquished. Adrian did not write an action filled fiction that would excite the masses and he did not intend to. Instead, this memoir will allow you to glimpse inside the martial experience of today, into the intelligent mind of an individual who cares about his men, his country, and having a voice in the shaping of the future.
pageterror.wordpress.com
March 9, 2014
Bonenberger's riveting memoir of his experiences before and during his two deployments to Afghanistan kept me up at night on numerous occasions--I just couldn't put it down. Adrian's intelligent and thoughtful analysis of the history behind the war in Afghanistan as well as his desire to see the conflict conducted in an honorable fashion make an engrossing backdrop for what is essentially a bold and poignant analysis of his motivations, passions, fear and courage.
I don't know if others will agree, but I couldn't help feeling that Bonenberger's desire to enter the armed forces was driven by a sense of noblesse oblige. He is clearly intelligent, well-educated and privileged--perhaps he is one of the few remaining examples of that honorable trait.
While I don't agree with all of the conclusions, I deeply respect his search for the truth and the desire to make a difference in what clearly is an un-winnable war. Thank you for sharing this remarkable memoir Adrian.
I don't know if others will agree, but I couldn't help feeling that Bonenberger's desire to enter the armed forces was driven by a sense of noblesse oblige. He is clearly intelligent, well-educated and privileged--perhaps he is one of the few remaining examples of that honorable trait.
While I don't agree with all of the conclusions, I deeply respect his search for the truth and the desire to make a difference in what clearly is an un-winnable war. Thank you for sharing this remarkable memoir Adrian.
January 22, 2016
Distilling e-mails, journal entries, and letters he wrote home into new content, former U.S. Army Infantry officer Adrian Bonenberger has crafted a memoir of his journey from unfocused East Coast adolescent, to American warrior in the Middle East, to veteran returning home. The 414-page book is presented as a series of letters—the technical term is an "epistolary"—through which Bonenberger addresses with family and friends his evolving experiences and opinions about military service.
The result should be required reading for any future U.S. Army leader—junior officers and senior enlisted soldiers—as well as Army family members. In addition to illuminating the challenges of maintaining long-distance relationships, Bonenberger's meandering map of Army life illustrates the vagaries of military training, careers, and missions.
As such, it deserves a place alongside other titles often recommended to junior leaders, such as James R. McDonough's Vietnam-era combat memoir, "Platoon Leader." (Coincidentally, McDonough and Bonenberger each served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. This is also the unit whose Afghan experiences were partially documented in 2010's "Restrepo.")
After graduating prep school in 1996, Bonenberger attended Yale University as an English major. He graduated college in 2002, then spent a short stint as an instructor of conversational English in Japan. He joined the U.S. Army in late 2004, and gained his commission through Officer Candidate School (O.C.S.). After branching Infantry, he graduated in succession the Army's Basic Airborne Course, the grueling 61-day Ranger school, and the 5-week Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders Course (R.S.L.C.).
In 2007 and 2008, Bonenberger deployed to Eastern Afghanistan's Paktika Province with 1st Battalion, 503rd Inf. Reg., 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. He was a platoon leader and a company executive officer. In 2010 and 2011, he deployed to Northern Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. There, he was a company executive officer and later, a company commander. (Readers of the Red Bull Rising blog may remember that 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division deployed to Eastern Afghanistan in 2010-2011—the times in-country overlap slightly.)
The letter-writing leitmotif is useful to non-military readers, in that the form requires Bonenberger to tailor both his language and his logic to specific audiences, one at a time. In a letter to a girlfriend or Army buddy, for example, he opens up emotionally. With his grandfather, he begins to compare military experiences. To his parents, he presents an indefatigable optimism.
Helpfully, throughout his prose, Bonenberger also air-drops thoughtful moments of plainspoken paragraphs. He consistently avoids sounding preachy or one-sided. [...]
[For the full review, visit: http://www.redbullrising.com/2014/02/...]
The result should be required reading for any future U.S. Army leader—junior officers and senior enlisted soldiers—as well as Army family members. In addition to illuminating the challenges of maintaining long-distance relationships, Bonenberger's meandering map of Army life illustrates the vagaries of military training, careers, and missions.
As such, it deserves a place alongside other titles often recommended to junior leaders, such as James R. McDonough's Vietnam-era combat memoir, "Platoon Leader." (Coincidentally, McDonough and Bonenberger each served in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. This is also the unit whose Afghan experiences were partially documented in 2010's "Restrepo.")
After graduating prep school in 1996, Bonenberger attended Yale University as an English major. He graduated college in 2002, then spent a short stint as an instructor of conversational English in Japan. He joined the U.S. Army in late 2004, and gained his commission through Officer Candidate School (O.C.S.). After branching Infantry, he graduated in succession the Army's Basic Airborne Course, the grueling 61-day Ranger school, and the 5-week Reconnaissance and Surveillance Leaders Course (R.S.L.C.).
In 2007 and 2008, Bonenberger deployed to Eastern Afghanistan's Paktika Province with 1st Battalion, 503rd Inf. Reg., 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. He was a platoon leader and a company executive officer. In 2010 and 2011, he deployed to Northern Afghanistan with 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. There, he was a company executive officer and later, a company commander. (Readers of the Red Bull Rising blog may remember that 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division deployed to Eastern Afghanistan in 2010-2011—the times in-country overlap slightly.)
The letter-writing leitmotif is useful to non-military readers, in that the form requires Bonenberger to tailor both his language and his logic to specific audiences, one at a time. In a letter to a girlfriend or Army buddy, for example, he opens up emotionally. With his grandfather, he begins to compare military experiences. To his parents, he presents an indefatigable optimism.
Helpfully, throughout his prose, Bonenberger also air-drops thoughtful moments of plainspoken paragraphs. He consistently avoids sounding preachy or one-sided. [...]
[For the full review, visit: http://www.redbullrising.com/2014/02/...]
Want to read
April 20, 2021Matt Taibbi has a good interview with the author, upon Biden's announcement that the U.S. is leaving Afghanistan:
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/an-afgh...
Read
October 31, 2017With AFGHAN POST, Adrian Bonenberger delivers one of the most erudite and far-reaching soldier-memoirs I have read. This book is about much more than toughing it out as a grunt in the airborne infantry. It is also the story of a sensitive, intelligent young man as he comes to terms with conflict, privilege, duty, and ultimately, himself.
November 23, 2017
This is my first “epistolary” and I realize now that I have been missing an entire genre of writing that is very powerful. It is a fascinating layout that provides an opening into the mind of the writer as you read letters and journal entries that document visceral emotions, documented over a period of time.
In “Afghan Post,” Adrian Bonenberger bares his deepest insecurities and ambitions as a young college graduate who wants to live a life of meaning. Trying to find companionship and purpose, he watches as some friends grow in their civilian lives and others enter military service.
Fearing that history might pass him by and judge him a coward for failing to heed the call of military service when his country was at war, he signed up to fight. Over the course of the book you witness the dichotomy of what “service” means in a modern all-volunteer army. Adrian nevertheless throws himself towards the most demanding challenges the army offers and deploys twice, serving honorably and with distinction.
For combat veterans, this will be a difficult, but healing read, as you replay back your own memories alongside Adrian’s letters and revisit emotions that have been neatly tucked away.
This is an honest, truthful read for anyone interested in our modern wars. Another reviewer was apt in calling this a “must-read” for young Lieutenants as they begin their careers.
In “Afghan Post,” Adrian Bonenberger bares his deepest insecurities and ambitions as a young college graduate who wants to live a life of meaning. Trying to find companionship and purpose, he watches as some friends grow in their civilian lives and others enter military service.
Fearing that history might pass him by and judge him a coward for failing to heed the call of military service when his country was at war, he signed up to fight. Over the course of the book you witness the dichotomy of what “service” means in a modern all-volunteer army. Adrian nevertheless throws himself towards the most demanding challenges the army offers and deploys twice, serving honorably and with distinction.
For combat veterans, this will be a difficult, but healing read, as you replay back your own memories alongside Adrian’s letters and revisit emotions that have been neatly tucked away.
This is an honest, truthful read for anyone interested in our modern wars. Another reviewer was apt in calling this a “must-read” for young Lieutenants as they begin their careers.
January 13, 2023
Afghan Post charts the course of the author’s course through his time in the US Army and the post-9/11 wars. Adrian’s letters to his family and friends chart the trajectory of joining, training, deploying, fighting -- culminating in disenchantment.
It’s a sobering picture of youthful enthusiasm dented by war. I appreciated that we get to see ego and wisdom, successes and failure and an often-raw vulnerability. In a world of carefully-cultivated personas, we get the good, bad and ugly here and I found myself admiring that. Unpolished, honest writing.
Three and a fraction stars, rounded up to four. Partial star deducted for excessive references to Yale. (A total of 31, according to Kindle's search function.)
June 8, 2021
As a former treaty negotiator, newspaper reporter and House committee staffer, I’ve long been a passionate reader of foreign policy-related material. I thought I’d read most of the well-written books on the U.S. wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan until I came across a reference to Afghan Post as one of the best about our war in Afghanistan. I was captivated. It took me just two days to read.The book is worth high praise for its emotional power, revealing look at Bonenberger's personal evolution while in the U.S. Army and exposure to the absurdity of war. It must be discouraging for him now to see the predictions that the Afghan government will collapse and the Taliban will resume control when foreign troops leave.
April 12, 2014
I received this book free through Goodreads First Reads. Many thanks - please send more!
Adrian Bonenberger had originally wanted to apply to West Point but was dissuaded from doing so. After graduating from Yale in 2002 with a BA in English, he taught for a time in Japan and returned to the US with a plan to attend law school. But November of 2004 found him in an army recruiting office discussing Officer Candidate School.
Family and friends were shocked, and maybe this book is Bonenberger's attempt to explain why he chose to enlist.
If you're looking for another riveting war memoir with guns blazing you won't find it here. This book takes the "epistolary" form, composed of letters to friends and family, girlfriends and other soldiers, and some entries from Bonenberger's journal.
The correspondence shows a young man moving from publicly protesting against the Bush administration's preparations for war against Iraq to a desire for "just and responsible participation" and, after the revelations of conditions at Abu Ghraib, "the idea of being a moral leader, putting the brakes on atrocities or the willingness to commit atrocities."
From "miserable and soul-sucking" basic training at Fort Benning, through OCS ("so much worse than Basic") and two tours of Afghanistan, the reader is privy to what Bonenberger chose to share with his confidants. Some of this is somewhat cringe-inducing - I was reminded of George Washington's admonition to "look not nigh when another is writing a letter."
But all in all, an interesting and worthwhile read. I thank Adrian Bonenberger for his service.
Adrian Bonenberger had originally wanted to apply to West Point but was dissuaded from doing so. After graduating from Yale in 2002 with a BA in English, he taught for a time in Japan and returned to the US with a plan to attend law school. But November of 2004 found him in an army recruiting office discussing Officer Candidate School.
Family and friends were shocked, and maybe this book is Bonenberger's attempt to explain why he chose to enlist.
If you're looking for another riveting war memoir with guns blazing you won't find it here. This book takes the "epistolary" form, composed of letters to friends and family, girlfriends and other soldiers, and some entries from Bonenberger's journal.
The correspondence shows a young man moving from publicly protesting against the Bush administration's preparations for war against Iraq to a desire for "just and responsible participation" and, after the revelations of conditions at Abu Ghraib, "the idea of being a moral leader, putting the brakes on atrocities or the willingness to commit atrocities."
From "miserable and soul-sucking" basic training at Fort Benning, through OCS ("so much worse than Basic") and two tours of Afghanistan, the reader is privy to what Bonenberger chose to share with his confidants. Some of this is somewhat cringe-inducing - I was reminded of George Washington's admonition to "look not nigh when another is writing a letter."
But all in all, an interesting and worthwhile read. I thank Adrian Bonenberger for his service.
February 24, 2015
This book felt like a missed opportunity to me. The author clearly has some things to say about the war in Afghanistan, why we went there, the proper way to stage a counter-insurgency, and the general effects of life in the military. But he gets derailed by a couple of things. First, the format of letters and journal entries did not work for me. I found it jarring, disconnected, and not authentic. If he’d simply written a memoir or a long essay I think it would have worked better. Second, he often comes off like a jerk. Maybe this is part of the process of working through PTSD, but his look as it comes to how he interacts with women and his insistence on referring to himself as an intellectual is not good. Sure you went to Yale. So what? Don’t tell me about how smart you are; just write well and let the reader decide.
You do come away from reading Afghan Post with a sense of what a tragedy the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were. Many people died and many more came back broken while the folks at home went about their lives without giving it much of a thought.
You do come away from reading Afghan Post with a sense of what a tragedy the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were. Many people died and many more came back broken while the folks at home went about their lives without giving it much of a thought.
September 27, 2021
Bonenberger's account of getting to know himself, his countrymen, and his world is thought-provoking and full of emotional power. The epistolary form allows the reader deep inside the mind of a young man challenged by war, separation, and crushing responsibility.
October 31, 2016
Beautiful
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews