Product Description

From the Introduction:
“Look around,” the drill sergeant said. “In a few years, or even a few months, several of you will be dead. Some of you will be severely wounded or so badly mutilated that your own mother can’t stand the sight of you. And for the real unlucky ones, you will come home so emotionally disfigured that you wish you had died over there.”
It was Week 7 of Basic Training . . . 18 years old and I was preparing myself to die.

They say the Army makes a man out of you—but for 18-year-old SPC Michael Anthony, that fabled rite of passage proved a very dark journey. After soliciting his parents’ approval to enlist at only 17, Anthony began his journey with an unshakeable faith in the military born of his family’s long tradition of service. But when thrust into a medical unit of misfits as lost as he was, SPC Anthony not only witnessed the unspeakable horror of war—but the undeniable misconduct of the military—firsthand. Everything he ever believed in dissolved, forcing Anthony to rethink his loyalties, and ultimately risk his career—and his freedom—to challenge the military he had so firmly believed in.

This searing memoir chronicles the iconic experiences that changed one young soldier forever. A seasoned veteran before the age of twenty-one, he faced the truth about the war—and himself—in this shocking and unprecedented eyewitness account.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79085 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781440501838
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. When SPC Anthony joined the Army at 18, he went in with high hopes and sterling ideals; coming from a family with a proud military background, Anthony expected to meet mentors, heroes and lifelong friends while earning money for college and becoming a man. What he discovered was a disenchanting web of mundane corruption and self-serving lies. Unlike accounts exposing the military's most shameful iniquities, Anthony's memoir focuses on an endless parade of petty offenses-the cowardice, drug addiction, thievery, adultery and rampant hypocrisy-he found while working in a base hospital. Relentlessly honest and reflective, Anthony's record communicates perfectly the stranglehold of sadness, fear and disappointment that came with his lost innocence; just as worse is his eventual acceptance of the pointless, dysfunctional bureaucracy maintaining the status quo. Avoiding the intensity of the battlefield and the OR itself, Anthony's frustrations resonate with the feelings of any young man learning about the nature of authority and his helplessness before it. Readers curious about the human side of the ongoing Iraqi conflict will be struck by Anthony's strong voice, direct storytelling and stark honesty.

Review
"A raw, honest narrative by a young soldier thrust into an atmosphere that demanded care for the wounded, yet seemingly deprived of leaders who understood their role was to help, and not to be self-absorbed." -- Bing West, Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; Author of The Village and No True Glory

"I was moved by Michael's very personal account of life in Iraq and the wisdom he gained in that crucible--including not to salute if I ever find myself in a war zone." -- Susan N. Herman, President, American Civil Liberties Union; Centennial Professor of Law

"Michael Anthony introduces us to an alien world that is unimaginable unless experienced--or witnessed--through the author's eyes and pain, and youthful, matter-of-fact wisdom. It is hard to read about the unexpected casualties of war, but Michael takes us on an unforgettable personal journey as filled with humor as it is with horror." -- Philip G. Zimbardo, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

"Michael Anthony's memoir is not about the politics of Iraq. Instead it takes up deep inside the war, inside and outside the operation room, the barracks, the talk of the soldiers, the feeling of the situation...unique and powerful." --HOWARD ZINN, Author of A People's History of the United States

"Riddled with very dark humor, Mass Casualties is M*A*S*H absent the lightheartedness. For those who love war stories, this should be mandatory reading." --Gary Hart, United States Senator

Much will be written about the Iraq War in years to come, but it's difficult to envision any of it ever topping Michael Anthony's Mass Casualties. The book is subtitled A Young Medic's True Story of Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq, but even that does little justice to Anthony's raw, unfiltered look at the heartache and misery he found himself surrounded by. Anthony's one-year tour was spent alternately dodging mortar fire and spending long, sleep-deprived hours in operating rooms where medical teams struggled frantically to stitch similarly young lives back together. All the staples of war from classics like The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien or A Rumor of War by Phillip Caputo are here, from the disillusionment to the mind-numbing detachment to the utterly pointless political infighting. The difference is those books were at least mostly fiction, while Anthony's real-life tale is presented in riveting diary form. Slight, short and to the point, Mass Casualties is destined to become a classic of its kind. Anthony's prose is draped in caution, a warning sign flashed before the eyes of the jingoistic sensibilities of those who strut their patriotism before a curtain of deferments. -- AuthorMagazine.org, October 2009

About the Author
Michael Anthony seemed destined to serve from the day he was born. The youngest of seven children, Michael has four brothers and two sisters, all of whom joined the military (except for one sister). His father and two grandfathers were also in the military. After graduating from high school, he went to basic training, then to job training, to become an operating room medic. One year later, he returned home and enrolled in college to begin his first semester. Almost immediately upon finishing his first semester, he was shipped off to Wisconsin to train for four months before he would leave and spend his next year in Iraq. Since returning home, Mr. Anthony is working toward a bachelor’s degree in creative writing.

Customer Reviews

Iraq War Memoir
After two deployments in Iraq, my son refuses to discuss the war,or his experience. I am grateful for this candid story, which helps me fill in the gaps between what is reported, and what I imagine. It takes courage to tell this story.

war and its consequences
It's fitting i'm writing this review on the 8th anniversary of 911 because that event is the pretext to this book, and so many other stories about this war that will never be told.

The book is a non partisan view of the war from a medics vantage point. It does not take sides as to if it was right or wrong to go to war, it just tells the honest story of a young solider who was thrust into the conflict and how he deals with the stresses of war. Also, it goes into great detail the motions and prepartions to be sent off to Iraq, some of the most humorous points in book are found here. Reading the book you get a real sense of what it would be like being sent to war and dealing with its inevitable consistant outcome, death and its effects.

There are emotional highs and then lows encapsulated in this book. I think anybody reading this memior will really appreciate what a solider goes thru whether they agree with the war or not. I couln't help but keep reading, the stories were interesting and some i counldn't believe actually occurred.

The most touching and my favorite moment, is when he told his parents he was called to go. The narative captured the raw emotion of that moment and what must have been going thru a parents mind seeing their youngest child sent away, possibly to his death.

The book explains you never really get used to war or prepare for it, you just evolve. You deal with the cards you are dealt and just try to cope. Now I know why the issues the returning veterans have when returning to, so called, real life.

I would recommend this book to anyone you wants an honest depictition of the Iraq war and its consequences.

Eye opener, a superb read
I am drawn to a soldier's memoirs not only because I'm a warrior at heart, but it tells the experience and emotions during their tours overseas, educating one in a lifestyle very different from the one that too many people take for granted. Specialist Michael Anthony's book lacks no sharing of that experience and those emotions. Whether it was connecting with his thoughts and humor throughout, or relating to his very-much-human sentiment, I just could not put this book down and actually read it all the way through. I was pulled in and wanted to know what happened next. It really is a phenomenal read.