Product Description

From the bestselling author of Patriot Games and Rainbow Six comes the fourth in an extraordinary series that looks deep into the art of war - and peace - through the eyes of one of America's outstanding commanders: the 'Warrior Diplomat' Marine General Tony Zinni.

'Military success, in and of itself, is never the complete answer. Success will have to be measured, not in military terms, but in political terms in what is left behind. That will be the mark of what we are - what we leave behind.' - General Tony Zinni, speech to the Middle East Institute, 10 October, 2002.

These words are more relevant today than ever, and there is no one more well placed to provide a critique of the American military than General Tony Zinni. Serving for nearly forty years, his credentials are impeccable, including leading troops in Vietnam, commanding operations in Somalia and directing strikes against Iraq and Al Qaeda as Commander in Chief of CENTCOM. As a peacemaker he conducted dangerous troubleshooting missions all over the world, serving as Secretary of State Colin Powell's special envoy to the Middle East before resigning over the 2003 Iraqi war and its probable aftermath. Battle Ready follows the fascinating evolution of the Marine Corps and General Zinni from the cauldron of Vietnam through to a post-9/11 military. This is an eye-opening book and a compelling account of both war and peace.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #550912 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 350 pages

About the Author

Tom Clancy is the author of thirteen novels, most recently The Teeth of the Tiger, and the Commanders series Into the Storm , Every Man a Tiger and Shadow Warriors. He lives in Maryland. General Tony Zinni (ret) continues to lead special missions to many nations including Turkey, Pakistan, Kenya, Russia, Yemen and the Philippinnes. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Tough critque from a Marine legend
Tom Clancy lives up to his reputation...he has chalked up another best seller. "Battle Ready," is a stirring narrative of Anthony Zinni's legendary 40-year Marine Corps career.

Clancy's eloquent certification of Major General Zinni's military credentials provides a formidable platform for a very tough critque of the intellecutual authors of the United States invasion of Iraq. Moreover, Clancy's well-known hawkish convictions adds volume to Zinni's powerful charge that the Bush administration failed the American people.

The former United States Central Command Commander in Chief points many fingers...and backs it up with solid facts. Zinni is a classic gentleman and officer and like many other Marines I know from Philadelphia...he tells it like it is. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

Old Fashion Biography Written With Clancy's help
This a bit of an odd book being part military biography, part recollections and part free streaming - the last chapter his reflection on where we are in the world. But that part is minor -and it is mainly a good old fashioned biography less a family/boyhood section. In general it is an interesting read - Clancy being such a good writer and Zinni with the interesting story. In any case Zinni provides many comments and recollections while Clancy seems to edit and write to fill in the gaps between Zinni's descriptions of his career and Clancy provides the context and overall perspectives. The book would have been a lot better with some photos and maps and some parts a bit shorter and some longer with more writing by Clancy. There is a reasonable index but no references or bibliography. For myself the Vietnam section is the most compelling read along with his time as a middle east peace envoy near the end of the book. His years in training etc. and different assignments 1975 to 1990 are a bit of a yawn, and some parts with no photos and dry discussions of his mid career make it a bit slow. The book is good but not great. Dear authors: add photos and maps in the next or paperback version!

The book opens with a brief introduction to Zinni as CINC commander for the first 22 pages and then drops back to the beginning of his career where we find him in Vietnam. The next 100 pages covers the young lieutenant Zinni. Quickly we find him directing artillery fire on his first assignment. In his second combat experience he travels (naively) by himself by common Vietnamese bus to the Mekong Delta - Rung Sat. The oppressive heat, rivers, canals, jungle and the lurking VC (fighters by night farmers by day) all remind me very much of the recent book that I read on John Kerry - "Tour of Duty" - do not laugh! There is more in common than one might expect in some of their Vietnam stories.

I make the comparison with Kerry because Kerry and his men I think were average soldiers that came to serve, put in their time, do their part, and they wanted to leave - alive. Here we see a different picture with Zinni. He is a professional soldier first and seems less concerned about his own safety and he wants to stay in Vietnam with his fellow marines. He is very aggressive trying to fight when sick and wounded. Both Kerry and Zinni try to avoid the killing of civilians and to protect their men. But in general his early assignment are more like a "baseball utility player" or junior executive learning the ropes of the "marines corporation". He is sent around Vietnam where he fights as a back up with different groups of Vietnamese and US marines - not tied to one group like Kerry was - and he always seems to be in very active areas where you do not have time for reflection - as did Kerry. But like Kerry, he sometimes appearing to operate on gut instinct and adrenaline. For Zinni it was a time of learning and fighting.

He fights in the delta in the narrow rivers and jungle and swamps, near where Kerry had his Swift boat, then on to the central region of Binh Dinh, fighting with the Vietnamese marines where booby traps were a daily threat. Some of those Vietnamese marines that survived post war imprisonment by the north came to the US later with their families. He is assigned to a region near Saigon. He fights until so sick and with a low body weight he is forced to take a medical leave returning to the US for two years. Regaining his strength he returns and is promoted to commanding officer, Company A, 1 st battalion, 5th marines. There he suffers serious wounds from AK-47 fire and is evacuated by helicopter from the Que Son mountains. For both Zinni and Kerry, I think the Vietnam experience formed their characters.

The book goes on to chronicle his post war experiences in Okinawa, his ship-to-shore marine training, promotions to major and colonel, war college, and then promotion to general in 1989. He was in Israel during the Gulf war as a liaison officer with the patriot missile brigade. He spent time in Europe, the Pacific, led the Somalia effort and was promoted to run CENCOM. He was a man of action, always was volunteering for active marine assignments and he found retirement difficult. He tried to be a special peace envoy to the Middle East but was thwarted by the Palestinian division and violence. All in all this is a good book although I found some of the middle sections between Vietnam and Somalia a bit slow, but otherwise it is an interesting book, but not a real barn burner. The Vietnam part of 100 pages out of the 440 total is the most compelling and perhaps the most revealing.