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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 956.7044342092
EAN num: 9780811701648
ISBN number: 0811701646
Label: Stackpole Books
Manufacturer: Stackpole Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: May 10, 2006
Publishing house: Stackpole Books
Sale Popularity Level: 312474
Studio: Stackpole Books
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Product Description:
A sometimes harrowing, often humorous, and occasionally tragic look at the Marine Corps from the inside out in its struggle with the insurgency in Iraq. Drawing from personal experience in the confusing, deadly conflict currently being fought in the streets and back alleys of Iraqi towns and villages, Danelo focuses on the young Marine leaders--corporals and sergeants--whose job it is to take even younger Marines into battle, close with and destroy an elusive enemy, and bring their boys back home again. Sadly, there are losses, but true to the Marine Corps spirit, they soldier on, earning their blood stripes the only way they know how--the hard way.
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Rated by buyers 
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For an idea of "the action" in Iraq this is a worthy book. Paul Rieckhoff's "Chasing Ghosts" sharply detailed the disastrous post-invasion planning and Colby Buzzell's "My War: Killing Time in Iraq" chronicled mundane Army life punctuated by some moments of terror. But David Danelo's "Blood Stripes" gets into the side of the war that most Americans are nearly oblivious to: the nasty and brutal war fought in Iraq's streets by young soldiers and Marines (in this book, exclusively Marines).
Inside are the stories of the enlisted noncommissioned officers who lead the squads and platoons day in and day out in Iraq. These are the stories of IED attacks on patrols, running gun battles with shadowy "Muj" and "Hajjis" in the streets, up close and personal recollections of killing the enemy and the loss of battle buddies. The young NCOs interviewed within--sergeants and corporals, the guys who make things happen--are not just driving convoys or sitting in guard towers, these are the men who engaged in the grinding fighting that gets little or very sterile media coverage back home.
The author's writing is a bit too simple at times. The pop-culture prism of looking at the Marines as inheritors of the Spartan legacy can sometimes read like a recruiting pamphlet. But the stories within are well-told, and scenes like the one of the dreaded visit by Marine officials to the parents' home are poignantly captured. Some of the young men in the pictures did not come home, and they were all their mothers' sons. "Blood Stripes" captures a war fought by enlisted warriors who traditionally don't get much of the spotlight, even though these Marines live right where the axe meets the grindstone.
Rated by buyers 
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To my knowledge there has never been a military officer that chronicled or even considered writing this kind of enlisted men's narrative of war. I consider it the best recall of war ever written. Every American should read it. It tells better than any audio-visual could convey what it is like to fight in Iraq.
Rated by buyers -
Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq by David Danelo is a straight punch to the gut of the American people who pay lip service on supporting our troops without ever knowing what that means. Blood Stripes is an on the ground, in the dust and heat and thick of battle account of what it means to be a United States Marine in Iraq.
Danelo does a wonderful job of telling the stories of the Marines he served with. In my opinion, Blood Stripes is a masterful job of relating what its like to be shot at and how Marines are taught to overcome obstacles that often keep other units from meeting their mission. Mission is everything.
Well done and a must read for those who want to be informed.
Semper Fi
Rated by buyers -
BLOOD STRIPES, as you learn in the book, are the blue stripes that an NCO in the Marine Corps is permitted to wear on the outside of their blue pants. You also learn how they came about - and I'm not going to give it away. What I will say is that this book teaches you things about the Marine Corps and the men who are the backbone of the Corps - the Grunts - that you could only learn by going through boot camp. You feel like you are living the war with them and you come to care deeply for and about them. These are REAL People, with all their bravado, fears, warts and deep humanity. You come to understand the "brotherhood" of the Corps. Most of all you understand the disconnect between those who politically support or oppose wars and those who fight them.
The best book I have read in a long, long time. Buy it - READ it!
Bobby Michaels
Rated by buyers -
the best book on the realities of marines fighting in Iraq. A gripping account of NCO'S living and managing a war in a hostile environment
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