Beyond Duty: Life on the Frontline in Iraq - Softcover

Meehan, Shannon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745635865 ISBN 13: 9780745635866

Publisher: Polity, 2011

Synopsis

Under the blazing Iraqi sun in the summer of 2007, Shannon Meehan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, ordered a strike that would take the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was protecting his men. He thought that he would only kill the enemy, but in the ruins of the strike, he discovers his mistake and uncovers a tragedy.

For most of his deployment in Iraq, Lt. Meehan felt that he had been made for a life in the military. A tank commander, he worked in the violent Diyala Province, successfully fighting the insurgency by various Sunni and Shia factions. He was celebrated by his senior officers and decorated with medals. But when the U.S. surge to retake Iraq in 2006 and 2007 finally pushed into Baqubah, a town virtually entirely controlled by al Qaida, Meehan would make the decision that would change his life.

This is the true story of one soldier's attempt to reconcile what he has done with what he felt he had to do. Stark and devastating, it recounts first-hand the reality of a new type of warfare that remains largely unspoken and forgotten on the frontlines of Iraq.

About this title

Product Description:

Beyond Duty Under the blazing Iraqi sun in the summer of 2007, Shannon Meehan, a lieutenant in the U.S. Army, ordered a strike that would take the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians. He thought he was doing the right thing. He thought he was protecting his men.

Review:

Beyond Duty is a powerful and heartbreaking account of Lieutenant Shannon Meehan's tour of duty in Iraq, and of his decision in 2007 to call in a missile strike that claimed the lives of innocent civilians.  Remorse, shame, self-doubt, depression -- these were among the war's emotional aftershocks for Lieutenant Meehan.  This honest and painfully intense narrative is a reminder of the terrible costs of warfare, not just as measured by blood or treasure, but also in terms of damage to the human psyche.  I will return to this book often.
Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried and winner of the National Book Award.

This memoir is a descent into war's difficult terrain, a landscape which continues on within the veteran as he or she returns home. Meehan's voice reminds us that the bleeding continues on after the guns have gone silent, even if we don't realize it.
Brian Turner, award-winning author of Here, Bullet, and veteran of the Iraq War 

Meehan explores the complicated anxieties of battle and command with precision and intelligence.  He treats colossally horrific situations with admirable emotional restraint, and his strong, taut narrative has a visceral impact.  This is a book that ranks among the very best writing that is being done today about events on the frontline in Iraq.
James Hutchisson, The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina

For better or for worse, this memoir documents what the war in Iraq has been: young soldiers doing their heartbreaking best to do the right thing amid confusion, chaos and collateral damage.
Mary Russell, award-winning author of Thread of Grace and The Sparrow

An articulate and devastating memoir
Military Writers Society of America

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0745635865
• ISBN 13: 9780745635866
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280