Thursday, February 27, 2014

Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War by Robert Gates


I only occasionally call books great and this one is great.

Sure it drags occasionally...but only because the author is meticulous.  Gates was Secretary of Defense during both Presidents Bush (the second) and Obama.  Former CIA director and with quite an impressive resume of service overall, he left his job heading a university to come back and deal with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other matters.

And he confronted politics.  Which often didn't put the soldier or even our country first.

This book is carefully written.  Yes, Gates does express his frustrations with those around him when he served.  But how refreshing to hear the truth about what really goes on in government for a change.

I ended up very much liking the man and the book.  Excellent read.

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