I picked up this book for $1.00 at Dollar Tree. It was worth forty times that. It was extraordinary. I had a terrible time putting it down. Terrific blend of mystery, investigation, spy and war story. Shades of Heart of Darkness.
The Valley was a long ribbon of ever narrowing gorge leading to the Pakistan border. The furthest outpost from the FOB Omaha was known as Vega and was manned by a platoon under almost constant fire. It was supplied weekly and Lt. Black, relegated to administrative desk duties for some as yet unspecified violation of Army tradition or protocol, has been randomly assigned to investigate a case of a warning shot that had killed a farmer's goat. Black is universally despised by the rest of the troops. His commander, Lt. Colonel Gayley wasn't a bad commander, as things went. He was classic army and Black's description is priceless:
True, the beating bureaucratic heart of the Army had a slobbering crush on officers like Gayley. Somewhere in a lab at West Point his instructors had mixed him in a bowl. whipping into him the precise proportions of accountability. flawless attention to detail. chipper optimism, and bold cooperativeness. folding in a hardy tolerance for paperwork and a relentless professional ambition, with a dash of tanned physical perfection for flavor. They had tried and failed many times before, but when they poured Gayley into the mold and pulled him from the oven, they saw what they'd made and cried, 'That's it!' its' then hugged one another and drank reasonable amounts of sparkling cider to celebrate.
He was a little of everything and a little of nothing. He yelled at the right people, didn't yell at the wrong people, didn't fail in his duties, didn't cause surprises or embarrassments. He was just so.
When Black arrives at Vega, he's met with hostility. The soldiers know Black doesn't have a clue what they go through almost on a daily basis. He thinks the 5-16 is bullshit. They know it's bullshit Just the day before his arrival, a new soldier had lagged just a few feet behind his squad on patrol in the fog and disappeared, to reappear the next day, ball-less, intestines hanging out, tied to a tree in front of the outpost, and alive. But he didn't cry out because he knew anyone who came to help would be shot by snipers in the hills overlooking their post. And they know the villagers they are there to help participate and help the Taliban. Shades of Vietnam. It's all so fucked up.
But.... so they all think.
Note: The attack on COP Vega bears a striking resemblance to a real event, the attack on COP Keating in 2009. Renehan has referred to it as well as Jake Tapper's book about COP Keating. or Red Platoon by a Medal of Honor winner who was there. For a summary of that battle see https://mohmuseum.org/copkeating/. Who builds a base at the bottom of a valley surrounded by mountains?
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