BlackFive

"Can you handle the truth?...The Blog of War (Simon & Schuster) is loaded with firsthand reports from the Internet diaries of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Grab it before the Pentagon orders it burned..." - Vanity Fair, September 2006

"...nonpartisan patriotism is the common thread tying together these reflections, love letters and stories of combat. They make for riveting reading."- Michael Hirsh, The Washington Post, September 3, 2006

"Exciting, entertaining...and insightful; this book breaks new ground and allows us to get a better understanding of what is happening and has happened in our current war...The book is destined to set a trend for other blogger books as this one certainly leads the way with an excellent telling of our experiences in this current war. This will be a hard act to follow for the others! The Military Writer’s Society of America (MWSA) gives this book its highest rating of FIVE STARS." - Bill McDonald, President, MWSA

It's been a year in the making.  And because of all of you readers and supporters, it's become a reality.  Finally!

The Blog of War is being stocked in stores (at Borders and Barnes & Noble) near you and available on Amazon right now.  It is the work of over 50 Americans who tell their stories about the experiences around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In it you will meet:

• The Warriors. Snipers, tankers, grunts. Readers who have never heard a shot fired in anger will come closer to knowing what it’s like to enter a known terrorist safe house or patrol the streets of Baghdad.
      
• The Leaders. Combat leadership can be the toughest and loneliest job in the world. “Seldom is the average American subjected to decisions of right and wrong where consequences result in death,” says one soldier.  Watch a Corporal become a diplomat, a lieutenant a mayor, and a sergeant first class fight the quietest firefight in history.
      
• The Healers. Doctors, nurses, medics and corpsmen, and chaplains.  You will meet the medics who staunch the blood and patch the wounds of their fellow soldiers working feverishly to keep their buddies alive, the chaplains who wage Spiritual Warfare, and the doctors and nurses fighting battles in the operating rooms.
      
• Heroes from the Homefront. Spouses, parents, and loved ones.  Having a family member in harm’s way is a very stressful and trying experience.  Read how spouses and parents survive, not only the separation, but of learning that a loved one has been wounded.
      
• The Fallen. Not everyone makes it back home: bloggers pay tribute to those who have fallen in defense of their country – spouses mourn their husbands, soldiers mourn not only their comrades but their Iraqi friends as well, and heartbreaking last letters home are shared.
      
• Homecoming. Soldiers share their poignant accounts of homecoming. Some soldiers have been injured and others have wounds that can’t be seen. Words can’t really describe what it is for them to come back in one piece and be reunited with their loved ones, but  The Blog of War conveys these emotionally charged moments as few books ever have.

• The Epilogue - We wrap up the experience by discovering where each person is today (some have left the service, four are back in Iraq, and others still are recovering from wounds).

And for those of you who've been around since 2003, you'll be pleased to find that there are some accounts in The Blog of War that you haven't read before as some of the bloggers (like RedTwoAlpha of This Is Your War) who've been shut down by the military have provided updates not yet published.   

Bloggers included in the book are after the Jump (and will have a separate blogroll here too).