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With the 101st Airborne at war

A newly published history of the storied “Screaming Eagles” in Operation Iraqi Freedom is a rarity among books about the Iraq war.

Most Iraq books are either histories penned by officers or journalists, or deeply personal stories recounted by enlisted troops. But “Along the Tigris: The 101st Airborne Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom” is a richly detailed combat history by an Army sergeant who served as a military journalist for the division. Included in this hefty volume are nearly 80 pages of color photos.

Sgt. Thomas L. Day recounts the division’s first 13 months in the war zone, from February 2003 to March 2004. Employing a framework of reportorial realism, Day takes us from the training grounds of Fort Campbell, Ky., through the toughest battles for Baghdad and Nineveh. Along the way, he details how troops rebuilt schools and health clinics, re-established local infrastructures, and created trust with local residents.

The “Screaming Eagles” saw combat in cities such as Najaf, Karbala, Hillah and Baghdad, but their war did not end after the defeat of Saddam Hussein. Insurgent skirmishes continued as the 101st Airborne assisted in reconstructing a disoriented society in northern Iraq, particularly Mosul.

Day offers a unique portrait of men before, during and after combat, from the private with less than a year in the Army to a general — then-Maj. Gen. David H. Petraeus — with three decades of service. “My book,” Day writes in his preface, “is about the 20,000 soldiers who served with the 101st Airborne Division during the course of Operation Iraqi Freedom and it’s about the 61 who did not make it home. ... The purpose of ‘Along the Tigris’ is to provide both an historical documentation of the division’s deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as a narrative of the personal stories behind the headlines.”

Along the Tigris: The 101st Airborne Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom. By Thomas L. Day. Schiffer Military History. 320 pages. $59.95.

Don DeNevi is a freelance writer in California.