Review
This must be one of the worst books written about the Falklands Campaign. It is fully of inconsistencies, inaccuracies and what can only be described as "American" phraseology. It seems as though the author used a N. American ghost write. British RM's do not call "food/scoff/scran" "chow". Stand to is at dawn, not "sun up". "Up a ways" does not appear in in a British soldier's conversation. British Servicemen attend "parade" in the morning, not "formation". There are so many more irritating examples which question the author's credibility. The author confuses formation titles; 42 was a Commando (i.e. a battalion-sized) unit, not a Company or Section. Mike Norman did not command 42. Even a young, inexperience Royal would know what a "Mechanised Brigade" is; he would not call it a "Merchandised Brigade"! The description of Goose Green in 1982 as a "town" is way off the mark. "Hamlet" might fit the settlement but it would not - by any stretch of the imagination - have fitted Boca House. There were no "roads" into/out of Goose Green; at best they were dirt tracks. The "field" where the Argies laid down their weapons, helmets etc was, in fact, an airfield and has always been referred to as such. Goose Green cannot be seen from where the Artillery gun line was. There are so many, innacuracies (fantasies/second-hand stories?) surrounding the author's whole Darwin/Goose Green account, that one might be forgive for asking if he has ever been there! This book casts neither the reputation of the Royal Marines nor the conduct of the Campaign in a favourable light. The author may well have been in NP8901 and 'J' Company but his story, cast almost in the vernacular of a Cowboy novel, does him no great credit.
toryah1988 has added Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix to their read list.
Monica has added The Da Vinci Code (Large Print) to their wish list.