The son emulates the father. Like his dad, Bing West, who served as an advisor to the South Vietnamese and wrote a primer about his experience so too has Owen West performed and contributed the same in Iraq. About the only thing that could be improved on this book is taking part of the subtitle, "Battle for the Soul of Iraq" and making it the primary title. This book truly was and is about the fight for the soul of Iraq. It is unlike other books about OIF in that we get to meet lots of Iraqis and know them like we do the Americans-there might even be more pictures of Iraqi soldiers than Americans. It's hard to figure out at times who is teaching whom in this book. Not only is there the clash of cultures of Arabs and Muslims but the clash between regular army and national guard and army reservists and Marines as well as officer and enlisted. Just an amazing disparity in the application of tactics, techniques, and procedures from one group of soldiers to the other. As the rotating Americans come in for their year or six months the same Iraqis who will fight for years ad infinitum view them with caution. What's more amazing about this book is that West has written more about the Army reservists who proceeded him and set the stages for success with the Iraqi battalion. Two thirds of the book is pre-West's involvement. It's an insightful book but there's no checklist or roadmap to success. Lots of poignant stories that will make your heart ache and others that will enrage you, especially the bureaucratic turf battles and mistrust of bleeding Iraqi soldiers. I mean, do we want to win this war? West's predecessor, Troster, embraced austerity and focused on getting the Iraqis to patrol the city continuously. As a DEA agent in his real life he knew what worked and what didn't. He immediately knew once he got to Iraq that most of the "training" he received about being an advisor was irrelevant and that his mission wasn't to sit on the FOB but to lead and be present with the Iraqis. Troster's relief saw it just the opposite and this was the policy or strategy being preached by the Army general officers. Concurrent with the relief of the advisors the parent or big USA military units also switched. We go from a Pennsylvania National Guard unit to a Marine infantry battalion. Troster would have been in synch with the Marines and his relief would have been in synch with the National Guard but their timing was reversed. West ended up taking over the team when Troster's relief didn't embrace the Marine view of the mission. Just an amazing book that reads like a journalist wrote it and not some egomaniacal account of personal prowess. It took over four years for him to write it. Thorough and engrossing it should be required reading for all military officers who are ordered to advisor duty.