Johnny Rico

A hilarious & horrifying look at the war on terror. I found this book in a Borders store in Vegas a couple years ago. I hated Vegas so much I needed to find a diversion. This book did the trick. BMtGGG is perhaps one of the most honest and funniest books about the US Military - and this particular war - that's yet been written. Rico admits up front that he's no hero. He is not. He is Everyman, trying to stay alive and also to beat the boredom of all those in-between times of the horror of show more war. The sin of Onan was never so funny as it is here. And there is plenty of "spilled seed" at these lonely Afghan outposts as soldiers dream of home and girls. I was reminded of similar stuff in Jarhead, Tony Swofford's memoir of the first Gulf War. I recognize that war is no laughing matter, but people are always funny, and the ludicrous FUBAR stuff perpetrated by the military as evidenced here is all too true to life. I know. I spent eight years in the army. Rico tells it the way it really is, and isn't afraid to poke fun at himself in the process. This is good stuff. show less

What I look for in a war book is honesty. Not fake hero crap or self-aggrandizement or even "history"--I'm looking for an understanding, as a civilian and a woman, of what the hell is going on out there. And this book delivers. It's by turns darkly funny and unrelentingly obscene--and full of the details and thoughts I'm looking for. Who the hell are these kids who are going to return to us twitching when the fireworks go off and wishing they could kill somebody? There is real humanity here, show more and a sense how absurd and insane war zones are. (Also, just how fucked up the Army is... no surprise there.) show less

I liked this book. It was raw, funny and realistic. Not every soldier is the best this or most decorated that. A lot of ordinary guys and gals go and do their time and serve their country. Maybe they don't get involved in anything heroic other than that they stepped up and said I'm willing to serve and I accept that I might die for my country. Being ordinary people like most of us, they hope they don't have to. Their stories are just as valid as anyone else's. Johnny Rico's is funnier than show more most though.

This book is not for the easily offended. Language and subject matter is sure to bother those with tender sensibilities. show less

Didn't at all like the style of writing or even the premise of the book, but it did cover a lot of the elements that complicate this issue.