God Willing: My Wild Ride with the New Iraqi Army

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Overview

Ten U.S. Marines are assigned to live, train, and go into battle with more than five hundred raw and undisciplined Iraqi soldiers. A member of this Adviser Support Team, Capt. Eric Navarro, recounts their tour in vivid and brutally honest detail. Their deployment comes at a particularly important time in the war. The Battle of Fallujah is raging, and President Bush has proclaimed training the Iraqi forces is the key to winning the war. Once they stand up, we can stand down, or so the theory goes. Navarro’s team, ...
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God Willing: My Wild Ride with the New Iraqi Army

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More About This Book

Overview

Ten U.S. Marines are assigned to live, train, and go into battle with more than five hundred raw and undisciplined Iraqi soldiers. A member of this Adviser Support Team, Capt. Eric Navarro, recounts their tour in vivid and brutally honest detail. Their deployment comes at a particularly important time in the war. The Battle of Fallujah is raging, and President Bush has proclaimed training the Iraqi forces is the key to winning the war. Once they stand up, we can stand down, or so the theory goes. Navarro’s team, nicknamed The Drifters, faces countless roadblocks—no interpreters initially, limited supplies, little contact with other U.S. forces, and a vast cultural gulf with the Iraqis. One hackneyed and fatalistic Arabic phrase seems to sum up the mission, “Insha Allah,” which translates as “God willing” or “if God wills it.” Whether riding into downtown Fallujah in an unarmored Nissan pick-up truck, living in squalor in abandoned buildings, dodging trigger-happy troops, sharing FHM magazine with Iraqi soldiers to boost morale, or getting attacked by insurgent rockets less than an hour after arriving, life is never easy and more often surreal. The Drifters’ trials and tribulations help shed light on this most under-reported aspect of the war: What is wrong with the new Iraqi Army? The answer is not as pretty as the politicians would like.
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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
“This is a fast-paced, well written, highly readable and candid firsthand account of life with the new Iraqi Army. This book needs to be read widely, from the halls of Congress to the corner coffee shop.”

“In his book, God Willing, [Navarro] offers a raucous and lively tale as only can be told from the ground up.”

“Captain Eric Navarro vividly describes the challenges we face in Iraq as we nation-build a stable republic atop the wreckage of the Saddam Hussein era. During his tour, Captain Navarro and his Marines served at ground zero of this effort, living and working right alongside our allies while standing-up the New Iraqi Army. Navarro’s story is full of heart-stopping action, head-shaking mistakes and ultimately, words of warning over the future of our effort in the Middle East. This book is a must-read for every American.”

“Bravo to Navarro! A fast-paced, honest, insightful, and funny description of what it’s like to train an Iraqi battalion.”

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781597971690
  • Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
  • Publication date: 2/27/2008
  • Pages: 296
  • Product dimensions: 5.90 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 1.30 (d)

Meet the Author

Capt. Eric Navarro was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1975, and received a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts with a specialty in writing at The New School University. He was living in Manhattan during the events of September 11th and set out to join the Marines the next day. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Dorothy, and remains in the reserves. Following his most recent tour in Iraq, Navarro will attend the NYU Stern Business School.
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Table of Contents

Preface     vii
First Hour, First Contact, First Impressions     1
Iraqi Psychology 101     17
The Ninja Shitter     29
Interactions and Movements     41
Patrolling     59
Two Wahhabi     73
Forging Bonds     87
Plak-A-Bo, Chi, Tobacco, and Porn     99
The Main Effort     115
A Question of Leadership     133
Strategic Parents     141
New Mission: Habbaniyah     149
Unity of Command     165
The Staff and the Plan     177
The Habbaniyah Routine     189
Sarcasm, Shoot-outs, and a Wet Dream Riot     201
The Patrol Package     221
Operational Experience     237
The Results and the Outlook     249
Afterword: Home, with a Final Anecdote     259
Index     261
About the Author     271
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Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 16, 2008

    Outstanding Read!

    I just finished reading Capt. Navarro¿s novel about his first tour in Iraq. I couldn¿t put the book down. Eric¿s writing is clear, detailed and eloquent. The shame of it is that our military and political leaders never learned any lessons from my generations Iraq, ¿Vietnam¿ and our failures there. You can¿t grow a democracy and train a new army if the countries populace has no idea what freedom of choice is about. You need to read this book to have any understanding of what our soldiers are dealing with over there. We need more from Eric. We need our political leaders to listen to young people like Eric.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted May 8, 2013

    Eric Navarro brought back memories from Iraq battle to NY where

    Eric Navarro brought back memories from Iraq battle to NY where he started the fight. Amazing read! Great story!



    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.
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