ARRSE - What it is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes

This is a seriously impressive book. It attempts to be two things: firstly, as the author, Karl Marlantes, says, it is ‘a psychological and spiritual combat prophylactic’ (a phrase which definitely caught my attention!) to prepare individuals in the military for the emotional consequences of war; and, secondly, a highly cathartic work, describing the author’s PTSD and his attempts to overcome it.

The book is written thematically, covering areas such as Guilt and Loyalty, the latter making the very strong point that loyalty goes down the chain of command as well as up it. Marlantes examines each theme in great depth, using his own, sometimes frightening, experiences as vignettes. For those of who you have read his autobiographical novel, Matterhorn, many of the vignettes are very recognisable and all of them have impact and graphically emphasize the points he is trying to make. They also demonstrate why suffers still from PTSD, although much improved, and the impact it has had on his marriages and his family.

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He admits freely that many of the actions that he conducted in Vietnam, such as killing enemy soldiers in close assaults, placing other Marines at risk to achieve success, using napalm as an FAC to save fellow Marines and the like, he would do again. That said, he is aware of the effect that they had on him and thus his response to them would be different and he would attempt to deal with his mental and emotional responses differently. Additionally, he offers processes that other soldiers who must do the same actions can use to try and prevent the onset of PTSD – the prophylactic effect he wishes to achieve.

Some of his recommendations for preventing PTSD, both pre- and post-deployment, are eminently achievable and realistic and some of these the military already do. Others, I believe, are not overly applicable – perhaps due to the fact that the British military psyche differs from that of the US, our operational tours are significantly shorter and resources are finite. Marlantes, although a strong Anglophile (he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford), is a highly-decorated US Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, and thus his thought processes are attuned more to the American military than the British. Don’t get me wrong, he talks a lot of sense but I believe that his use of religion and philosophy (he is a Philosophy graduate) to provide solutions to various sociological ills is a step too far. It is fascinating but its relevance waned for me

I, as mrs utg reminds me regularly, am a very lucky man. Of late, I have been sent a succession of good books and this one is no exception. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in the morale and mental preparation of soldiers and their subsequent, post-op, thought processes: in short, the chain of command, TRiM-trained personnel, unit padres, medical staff and anyone with an interest in how to prepare themselves for deploying.

I give 4.5 Mr Mushroomheads – the book loses 0.5 for what I perceive as the unnecessary use of religion and philosophy. That said, it is a fascinating and, at times, heart-rending description of an individual’s PTSD and his attempts to deal with it.

untallguy