The End of Major Combat Operations

by Nick McDonell

Novelist and Time correspondent Nick McDonell brings this stunning account back from the latest iteration of the War in Iraq—an engrossing, ground-level report on the conflict still unfolding under its second commander-in-chief. Traveling to Baghdad and then to Mosul with the 1st Cavalry Division, McDonell offers an unforgettable look at the way things stand now—at the translators stranded in a country that doesn’t look kindly on their cooperation, at the infantrymen struggling to make something out of the soft counterinsurgency missions they call chai-ops , at the commanders inured to American journalists and Iraqi officials both—and what the so-called “end of major combat operations” means for where they’re going.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, War

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

Nick McDonell is the author of the novels Twelve, The Third Brother, and An Expensive Education, as well as a book of political theory, The Civilization of Perpetual Movement, and four works of reportage, The End Of Major Combat Operations, Green On Blue, The Widow's Network, and The Bodies In Person.

Reviews

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nick McDonell was not a name I recognized, and this dry-as-dust title hardly inspired dreams of an absorbing read. But from the first pages I recognized this as something unusual. Written with a novelist’s eye and flair, it is reportage on the lives of the (mostly) men, and women that served in Iraq at the end of U.S. operations there. It almost seemed like homage to those soldiers, the telling of their stories. Not all was good, but it felt true and real. There are no extra words. McDonell didn’t pad it with theory or background; he just tells it like it looked to him.

Leaving a theatre of war is hard. It tends to stay with one, stuck on one’s skin and in one’s mind. Soldiers that hated the place, and/or loved the camaraderie, who nevertheless find themselves curious now about how it looked at the time of the turnover, and what they were missing, will find remembrance here, and true things. They will laugh at those things that frustrated them, cringe at the things that reflect their baser moments, and be grateful that such a skilled writer took the time to tell their story with such sensitivity. And they may just do as I did—read everything McDonell has written to date to understand how he was able to write such simple-seeming sentences that carry so much clarity and meaning and weight. Kudos, McDonell.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novelist Nick McDonell is embedded in the 1st Cavalry Division for 2 weeks ostensibly on behalf of Time magazine to gather information on an article about the tensions between the Arabs and the Kurds and whether this would escalate into a civil war. The book is an account of his day to day time in Iraq during those 2 weeks.

McDonell sees how soldiers who have been trained to fight have to learn to become diplomatic policeman as they patrol the streets, direct traffic, search houses, and mediate disputes. It's an uneasy situation for the soldiers who mostly seem lost and bored.

The book shows how fragile the supposed democracy of Iraq is. Iraqi interpreters (or "terps" in military slang) are saving money to leave the country before the end of 2011 as that's the date set for US Military withdrawal. If they stay behind, they will likely be killed. When McDonell talks to soldiers in the Iraqi army, they say quite brazenly that as soon as the US leaves they will take off their uniforms and run away. There is a lot of talk about police chiefs supporting terrorists and taking bribes.

Even when the Americans are trying to do good they end up inadvertently causing trouble for the locals. On one occasion, soldiers are monitoring the distribution of rice sacks to the population. 2 masked men show up and begin shooting at the soldiers who shoot back. The masked men run off but 2 young boys who were playing by a nearby truck are shot dead in the crossfire. McDonell wonders if the soldiers had not been there if the boys would not be dead. McDonell organises a basketball game with a friend's cousin but has to reschedule due to meetings. The game never takes place and he receives an email saying the cousin was killed because he was playing basketball and seen to be promoting a Western pastime.

The overall impression of the book is faint as, personal tragedies aside, there isn't an overall message or vision that will come as a surprise to many. Iraq is a mess and the occupation is, and always has been, shaky. The American presence is the only reason any perceived progress is made and when the Americans leave, all that they've tried to set up, the infrastructure, the ideology, all the work gone into improving society, will probably come undone.

It's a well written book that holds your interest but there isn't anything groundbreaking imparted by the writer. But then he was only there for a fortnight. The book left me with a weariness I feel whenever I think about the Iraq war. It just seems so pointless. One of the soldiers, Specialist Patterson, a medic with the 1st Cavalry, sums it up succinctly: "They were fighting each other before we got here. They're gonna be fighting after we leave." Why are we still bothering this country?

[Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I just finished Guns of August right before this one, so McDonell didn't really stand a chance. It is clear that the author hadn't really processed his experience in Iraq before writing; the book reads like a series of blog entries and never really explores any of the issues that it raises. McDonell is either too inexperienced as a journalist or out of his element with this one to write a book that explores what the end of major combat operations actually means for American foreign policy. A couple of interesting scenes that demonstrate his ability as a writer more than helping the reader understand what the war in Iraq has actually become.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like his writing style, and probably would agree with many of his assessments of the war...but much of what he wrote came across as so clearly biased that it was hard to take it as seriously as I wanted to. The stories all pointed in the same direction, and lacked depth altogether. Little potshots at the competence of the administration or the intelligence of soldiers weren't helpful. Perhaps this is really just what he experienced in his two weeks in Iraq, but I doubt it - reality has more nuance and more depth, and no set of experiences over a two week period would so clearly reinforce one's personal view of a situation like these stories do.

[Jannette Tacka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nick's interactions with higher-ups, Army enlisted, interpreters "terps", and anyone he encountered while embedded for 2 weeks with the 1st Calvary Division during the War in Iraq. Nobody wins in war and this book shows you a slice of why that is. Disliked how he would explain an acronym but then slide right into a ten-dollar word. 🙄

[Rose Moore · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short book by Nich McDonell is a scattered collection of moments and stories from the "end" of the war in Iraq.

He bounces between some stories of his friends in the US to interviews with citizens and soldiers as well as more general descriptive passages of his time in Iraq. Interspersed with these are notes from the army guides and policies, observations, and some small background on the situation.

Each chapter is very short (a few pages at the longest, often only a few lines), but it works well to create the impression of a whirlwind trip and the various impressions that he got. The work is often very poignant, and emotionally charged, which is clearly the intention behind the writing.

If you are looking for something to give you an accurate background on the political situation or an overview of the situation on the ground at the time, it's not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a more human angle on how the war personally affected the people living it, this does very well.

[Ryan Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came as part of my subscription to McSweeney's. I kept the book in my car and read it whenever I found myself waiting somewhere. I think anybody who wants to know what it was/is like to serve in Iraq would enjoy this book. McDonnell's clear, easy-to-read style often made me feel as if I was right there beside him during his embed. There are some amazing stories in here, the kind of stuff you don't get from the nightly news.

My only problem with this book was that I got totally lost at times with all of the military acronyms. There was a chapter where he explained many of them, but I think an appendix defining all of this military alphabet soup would have been useful. Having said that, I still thought this was a great read.

Ryan

[Lee]

Fascinating essay on the state of Iraq as our presence there allegedly "winds down." My main critique is that McDonell doesn't sustain some important and hard inquiries about the "embedding" process, and deals with questions of sympathy, identification, and the journalistic desire for access in a somewhat glancing way, once in a footnote and toward the end where he imagines -- but doesn't explore at any length -- what it might feel like to have the United States occupied by a foreign power dedicated to "helping" us overcome our savage and violent ways. Still, worth reading.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

McDonell can write, but this book does not appear to be the medium for him. Every piece is episodic to the point where by the time I finished, I could not accurately describe what it was I read. The quick manner of the book drives a distance between the material and the reader. I'm not sure if I learned anything new by reading it. A rare miss for McSweeney's.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually quite a remarkable and well-written introspective into the current state of affairs with our "conflict" out there. McDonell seems to be a literary writer at heart, and has a keen eye for sensory details and the otherwise dismissible features of people that lend his work a more modern tone that is lacking in most military journalistic forays.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like "The Things They Carried" at a much faster pace, though McDonell's goal is bring himself closer to the war and O'Brien tried to put distance between him and it. Fragments of stories in the McSweeney's style, which I happen to really like.

[jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think, if anything else, what this book does best is simply observe and report. Rhetoric is absent from McDonell's narrative, and with good reason: he's allowing you to make your own decision. Here is what war looks like, he is saying. Should we still be there?

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intelligent Journalism

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have a basis of comparison for combat reporting, but this is damn good so far.

[Neal Retke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, Informal ( And infromational ) and kind of depressing as well.

[SA · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd, meandering kind of scan of Iraq as the active offensive front was winding down. Anecdotal, experiential. It has a kind of dazed quality about it.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry stuff. Brief dip into a tragic mess with few conclusions you haven’t already reached. I read the first half around Thanksgiving and the second half tonight.