Product Description

/ Key title Our foremost military historian offers us a compelling and at times terrifying account of what it means to be a contemporary soldier, written in the words of the men and women of his regiment who are currently completing a dangerous and bloody six-month tour of duty. / DUSTY WARRIORS is a distinctive and intimate account of what it means to be a soldier in the modern day, told in the voices of the soldiers themselves. / A unique portrait of a regiment at war - every member of the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment (The Tigers), from the commanding officer to most junior private, has contributed a written account. / Richard Holmes is our foremost military historian. TOMMY has sold almost 70,000 copies to date, and REDCOAT close to 120,000. / Vividly illustrated with digital photos taken by the soldiers themselves. / Guaranteed review coverage and author events.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24560 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 316 pages

Sunday Times
'A vivid snapshot of military life... simultaneously romantic and
hard-headed, is clear on every page.'

The Daily Mail
'vivid, gripping...highly emotional reading...Dusty Warriors is essential reading. Richard Holmes is a first-rate writer.'

Sunday Times
'...provides a compelling and fast-moving narrative of the courage, restraint and fortitude shown by British soldiers in impossible circumstances...'

Customer Reviews

Can't see the desert for the sand at times
Richard Holmes hits the nail on the head in his preface when he discusses the challenge in striking the right balance between journalism and history. I think he failed in that respect, erring too far and too often into sensationalist copy, but the book as a whole isn't a failure. It's very readable and exciting and succeeds in introducing the reader to a fighting battle group. Holmes keeps to his tried-and-tested formula of including generous quotes from many individuals so the account isn't too skewed to any one soldier's experiences.

In this way this book will differ from the many memoirs currently flooding the market. Also, this is one respect in which it feels more like a history book than a piece of journalism. However, I've awarded Dusty Warriors a paltry three stars because at times it is just so hard going. You really need to concentrate to read a book like this. There are so many names, unit numbers, dates, code numbers, map references, etc. Overall I am glad I read it, not least to complete my Holmes collection! He is a fine historian and I suppose he just HAD to write about contemporary conflicts sooner or later.

Enthralling book from soldiers' first hand accounts
As both an eminent historian and the Colonel of PWRR, Richard Holmes had unique access to the first hand accounts of the soldiers across the battalion featured in this story and the skills to turn them into a readable and insightful study of the modern British Army at war. This account of an Iraq deployment during 2004, as the rise of tension and specifically the activities of the mahdi army turned what should have been a transition to peace into the fiercest British Army conflict since Korea, is a very honest and at times raw description of operational life - told by the soldiers themselves. Despite the modern media perception of the army flipping between the extremes of down to earth heroes or out of control louts, the soldiers come across as ordinary people finding extraordinary qualities within themselves when faced with extreme situations. The complexity of a soldier's job under fire, the high levels of expertise and professionalism and the absolute commitment to look after each other are the most profound themes within the book - but lightened throughout by a strong sense of humour in adversity. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to know what it means when our society takes the decision to send troops to fight in what Holmes calls today's post-modern conflicts, where high intensity war fighting takes place among the civilian population.

Cap Badge at its best
Richard Holmes was the Colonel of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, a new regiment assembled out of the historical regiments of South East England. This book is his account (via the personal accounts of the men and women of 1PWRR) of their tour in Iraq. The book starts out with a handy dandy summary of what an Army battalion is like, how it functions, and of the Ministry of Defence reorganisations that produced some of its present manifestations. The book covers everyone in the unit from admin clerk to Warrior driver and its grist is accounts of the "contacts" in which various factions ambush the Army going about its daily business. One of these contacts gave rise to the award of a VC, a good indication of the intensity of combat.

Readers should be warned that this book is written in the grand tradition of the British Army in which the writer's regiment is the finest regiment ever, all its men are brave, nobody argues, and no-one casts blame except at the benighted Rear Echelon and the horrid RAF. This style can be very difficult to relate to for those of us who work in close proximity to retards, narcissists, incompetents and the greedy. Surely, we wonder, things cannot really be this merry in the Army? I am sure that there is a degree of "Spectacles, Rose-Tinted, Readers of Memoirs, for the use of" but the essence of a combat unit is strong bonding since a combat unit intends to sail in harm's way. It is hardly surprising that pride in corps and regard for colleagues leaches into the very paper of this book.

It is also not surprising that the book benefits from the sardonic humour of the Army. Amongst the mud and the blood and the beer are some very funny moments.