Entertainment, Books - Marine Corps Times

‘Blog of War’ offers war-zone insights

Following the rise in popularity of blogs as a means of finding boots-on-the-ground perspective on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army cracked down on these online diaries, requiring that troops register their blogs with their commanders.

In “The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,” blogger Matthew Currier Burden compiles 50 of what he considers to be the best military blog entries posted prior to the Army’s 2005 order.

A former Army major and author of the blog Black Five, Burden takes us into the hearts and minds of those who have experienced the danger and cruelty of combat.

The dispatches shine in reportorial rawness and insight. Voices of fighting service members are captured as they train, sweat, adapt, improvise, kill, fail, succeed, accomplish the mission, take care of each other and return home, only to return to the fight.

Burden, a prior enlisted soldier, served with infantry, cavalry, Special Forces and intelligence units. He writes, “Throughout the past few years, I’ve had the immense privilege of knowing many of the military men and women fighting the war on terror. ... I’ve learned what really happened during combat in Fallujah and Sadr City, been reconnected with friends fighting the war, and mourned a few who gave their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“For everyone on both sides of the computer screen, the milblogs have put lives that are on the line online. By giving the ephemeral Internet bits and bytes a permanent place to live between my covers, I hope to pay lasting tribute to those … who know what it’s like to be in the war zones.”

“The Blog of War” is no mere collection of battle snippets. The vivid sketches are important contributions to our understanding of the complex issues in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Blog of War. By Matthew Currier Burden. Simon & Schuster. 304 pages. $15.

Don DeNevi is a freelance writer in California.