House To House pages 1-20

David Bellavia, a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army, begins this book by giving the reader extremely vivid images of the conditions that soldiers in Iraq had to endure on a daily basis. He tells about the unbearable heat, the unimaginable exhaustion, and the floods of local bacteria that they are exposed to. Not to mention that they are shot at by Iraqi extremists regularly. He goes on to talk about how their job is nothing like a regular U.S. citizen's job and that they hate almost every minute that they are out there in the desert. But, they also love what they do because it brings "nobility and purpose in our lives," and because every day is a test for them. In the words of Bellavia, "If we measure up to the worst days, such as this one, it proves we stand a breed apart from all other men." Later on, Bellavia's flashback tells a story that took place a few days before the start of the book in which he was forced to choose between taking the life of a teenage boy aiming an AK-47 in his direction, or risk losing his own. In the same chapter, Bellavia tells about an enemy engagement in which his platoon had become divided and cut off from each other resulting in his friend, and fellow staff sergeant, being shot three times before the end of the battle.

At this point in the book, I could not put it down. Before even starting my blog, I had read the entire thing straight through. David Bellavia and John R. Bruning wrote this book in such a way that every word and sentence creates an image in your mind. The images aren't usually very pleasant either, but they are definitely capturing. I would not recommend this book to anyone faint of heart or easily disgusted. House To House shows you what war is really like down to the last vivid detail of real situations and scenarios that real soldiers go through. I have really enjoyed this book and that's saying a lot coming from someone who is not a book reader.