Just got done reading Black Hawk Down

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Just got done reading Black Hawk Down

Posted: 12/7/2001 1:11:59 AM EDT

I put the book down about 10 minutes ago and all I could come up with is…WOW (with tears in my eyes)

Okay, just thought I would share this with everyone. I can’t believe I have waited so long to read this book…what am I stupid (don’t answer that one)

If you have not read this book…..DO IT NOW!

medcop

[USA]

Posted: 12/7/2001 1:23:37 AM EDT

[#1]

I'm glad you finally got around to it. Soon you'll be able to see the movie.

I enjoyed the online development of the book at the Philadelphia Enquirer website and later the book. The website was really great. Anybody know if there is a CD-ROM version?

Posted: 12/7/2001 1:41:36 AM EDT

[#2]

I wanted to read it before the movie..I have been putting it off and thought...I had better get busy or the movie will be out soon and I won't be able to "nit pick" at the movie vs. the book.

medcop

Posted: 12/7/2001 7:09:34 AM EDT

[#3]

Ordered the book from Amazon.com on Monday after reading the abbreviated version online.

Posted: 12/7/2001 7:32:36 AM EDT

[#4]

I would think the book is out on CDROM , i belong to audible.com and they had it for download.
-rogerb

Posted: 12/7/2001 8:05:11 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
If you have not read this book…..DO IT NOW!

View Quote

The book was excellent! However for those who haven't read it yet, I say wait another 3 weeks, see the movie, then read the book. Otherwise like so many book/movie combinations in the past, the movie probably won't measure up to the book.

Another great book is [i]Ghost Soldiers[/i].

Posted: 12/7/2001 11:03:07 AM EDT

[#6]

Check out the website, they have summaries of what happens in each of the chapters, plus they have extra stuff that were not in the book,
graphics & interviews etc [url]http://www.philly.com/packages/somalia/nov17/default17.asp[/url]

Posted: 12/7/2001 11:17:12 AM EDT

[#7]

How about a poll: What was your favorite part of the book? Mine would have to be where the medic had to run back and forth across the road the get the IV bags. I stained the pages with sweat. Why is it, anyway, that books are usually better than the movies?

Posted: 12/7/2001 11:52:18 AM EDT

[#8]

I'm 2/3 rd's through the book!

Wow!

I don't think they'll be able to tell this story in film, unless the entire film is more intense than the most intense portions of Private Ryan and/or Aliens.

An amazing book that I'm ashamed to have waited so long to read.

Books vs. movies? Only one movie ever came close to the book to me....Stand By Me.

Cheers

Posted: 12/7/2001 12:03:19 PM EDT

[#9]

Hmmm... I've got BHD sitting on my coffee table at home. I've been consumed reading an investment strategy book, maybe I should put that down for a while and read black hawk down before the movie comes out?

Posted: 12/7/2001 12:07:01 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
How about a poll: What was your favorite part of the book? Mine would have to be where the medic had to run back and forth across the road the get the IV bags. I stained the pages with sweat. Why is it, anyway, that books are usually better than the movies?

View Quote

My favorite part was the Delta guy who used an M-14 to the derision of the Rangers (M-14 was big and heavy compared to their M4's) But they realized the M-14 was better when the SHTF because of the sheer stopping power of the .308, and the .223's inability to fragment when shot out of an M4.

Also liked the reports of the Rangers having to dump entire magazines into Somalian women and old men in order to drop them. The SS109 round through the M4 was like stabbing the scrawny Somalis with an icepick.

Posted: 12/7/2001 12:10:17 PM EDT

[#11]

It made me so angry, and still does just to think about what I read. I will never understand why a nation such as ours failed its men in Vietnam and anywhere else that they put them in harms way. If Somalia is any example of the leadership responsible for our men, then God help the soldiers in Afghanistan.

Posted: 12/7/2001 12:13:38 PM EDT

[#12]

Angry? I wonder if the movie will show the Italian soldiers radioing and signaling the warlords when we would set out on patrol. That made me incredibly angry.

Posted: 12/7/2001 12:29:49 PM EDT

[#13]

That is one of my favorite books of all time. I too was pretty choked up after reading it.

Tyler

Posted: 12/7/2001 12:35:03 PM EDT

[#14]

Book hit me pretty hard when I read it last winter. I was with 2/75 Rangers at Ft. Lewis and am furious about the politics behind that whole operation that got some of my brothers from 3rd batt. killed. I tried to imagine the insanity of being ordered to run back and forth between the same ambushes, not having extra ammo or night vision (which is completely unheard of, you ALWAYS carried that stuff), and being told to remove your ballastic plates in your body armor.
If you look at the thousands of Somalias killed vs 18 of our guys, it says a lot for US training and sheer firepower. But if you look at the politics, you only see a disgrace and a tragic, and preventable, chain of events.

Posted: 12/7/2001 1:00:23 PM EDT

[#15]

When you read the authors personal thoughts at the end, his true liberal side comes out. He becomes a Clinton spinmeister.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Just got done reading Black Hawk Down

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