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BOOK REVIEW GRIM HARVEST Review by Herbert Schlossberg WAY OF THE REAPER: MY GREATEST UNTOLD MISSIONS AND THE ART OF BEING A SNIPER. NICHOLAS IRVING, with GARY BROZEK, St, Martin’s Pres, 2016, 304 pages. n the surface Nicholas there is no way of knowing how Irving’s Way of the Reaper widespread these feelings are in Oseems to be a typical shoot- airborne units, this reviewer has ‘em-up memoir designed for men known hundreds of paratroopers, vicariously seeking adventure. But but has no recollections of ever by the end of the book, Irving has hearing one of them express sim- turned reflective. To his evident ilar fears. And yet Irving drops surprise, experience on the bat- his macho tough talk and tells the tlefield finally sinks into his con- world of his weakness. The reader sciousness, enabling him to break can only admire the honesty of his through the studied callousness of self-revelation. the combat soldier and to turn him- self into a case study on the role of Toward the end of his tour of duty battle in causing moral injury. in Afghanistan, Irving and his pla- toon embarked on a typical night An African-American soldier, mission during which he killed Irving (called “Irv” by his com- several Taliban fighters. With a macho attitudes typical of elite rades) served his platoon in the quick snap shot, he wounded one th combat soldiers. He writes of his 75 Ranger Regiment in various man who suddenly sprung up again “excitement of taking out a few capacities, with the occupational unexpectedly and seemed, simply, more guys that night,” or in other specialty of sniper. So successful to sit there lost in thought after the words, killing them. It would be was he in the course of killing 7.62mm bullet struck him in the unrealistic to expect a young infan- 33 armed militants that he gladly leg. Irving recollects: claimed the title of “reaper.” Much tryman to reflect much on the ethics of this is told in greater detail in his of sniping or even to know that similarly titled previous memoir, “sharpshooters” as far back as the He was an older guy, The Reaper. American Civil War were actually judging by the folds and held in abhorrence even by their wrinkles around his eyes. Irving practiced his specialty as own comrades in adjacent infantry I swear he was looking a direct action sniper in support units. Irving does know that there at me and thinking, “So, of Ranger night missions, typi- were critics of the ethics of sniping, okay, are you going to cally tasked with the capture of and he emphatically, glibly, rejects shoot me or what?”… I’d high-value individuals. He also those sentiments. Indeed, while done all that training… assisted interdiction missions that the sentiments he attributes to the and without warning or targeted weapons caches or illic- critics are superficial, so too are his regret, something passed it drug ventures used to support own responses to them. Both are through me that had nev- Taliban operations. Irving usually likely to be dismissed out of hand er before factored into my provided surveillance for his team by any reader with a modicum of life as a sniper or soldier. using elevated terrain or rooftops, interest in the moral dilemmas that I had this creeping belief seeking out threats up to about 300 both sides ought to be considering. that this was a variation meters away. His ambition was to on suicide by cop. All improve his skills so that he might Yet, there is another side to this along this guy had been qualify for further training toward hard young man who volunteered hoping that we’d end his the long-range version of the sniper for, and succeeded in qualifying life. He’d given us every profession. for, the hard duty of special oper- opportunity, had wanted ations missions. For instance, he to make it difficult for us For most of his time in Afghanistan, acknowledges his fear of heights so that we wouldn’t feel Irving did not depart from the and hatred of parachuting. While so bad. 74 Early in the book Irving tells us that I pushed out of my mind know something more about of the sniper’s motto, undoubt- until after I’d decided to leave spiritual injuries in war. Irving’s edly intended to help avoid such the Army and begun finding dependence on alcohol was fol- thoughts as he was now hav- comfort and courage in the lowed by a suicide attempt, each ing at this moment in the end bottom of too many bottles of being means borne of his at- of his combat career. “When I booze: Was I a good man or a tempt to answer that question first heard the words ‘Without bad man?” about his own moral character. warning; without remorse,’ I Like too many of our combat didn’t realize that remorse could Such existentially desperate veterans, Irv was never wound- ambush me without warning.” questions have been addressed ed in the conventional sense, The crisis of conscience that in the pages of Providence but he became a living example now overtook him was appar- before, including in essays in the library of moral injury. ently the cause of his leaving by the managing editor Marc the Army at the end of his en- LiVecche and contributing edi- Herbert Schlossberg is a re- listment rather than following tor Chaplain Timothy Mallard, tired historian. He is a former through on his earlier intention US Army. These are good plac- infantryman in the 82nd Airborne to reenlist. “I had one question es to start for those wanting to Division, United States Army. BOOK REVIEW REVISING OR APPLYING THE JUST WAR TRADITION? Review by J. Daryl Charles JUST WAR RECONSIDERED: STRATEGY, ETHICS AND THEORY. JAMES M. DUBIK, University Press of Kentucky, 2016, 225 pages. urely it was not a coinci- emotional but straightforward. dence that my exposure “Listen,” he told them, “this Sto James M. Dubik’s Just really hurts. But let me tell you War Reconsidered coincided what would make these [loss- with my reading of a memoir by es of life] hurt even more: if one of now retired Lt. General it is all in vain.”1 Dubik, who Dubik’s esteemed U.S. Army at the time was serving as the colleagues. As Dubik informs commanding general of the the reader, General Stanley Multi-National Security and McChrystal, who commanded Transition Command in Iraq, as special operations forces in Iraq well as a special advisor to sev- and later in Afghanistan, took eral commanding generals,2 has the responsibilities for that com- this to say: “What McChrystal’s mand with utmost seriousness. comments reveal…is that how During the dark period of the these lives are used does mat- Iraq conflict in the mid-2000s, ter.”3 How those lives are used, McChrystal agonized over the how their commanders use Amidst the stress of months- loss of life—to both Coalition them, really matters. This re- forces and Iraqi civilians who long, close-quarter combat, sponsibility, Dubik concludes, were being murdered and muti- McChrystal called together his derives from the fact that “sol- lated by al-Qaeda and insurgent leaders, many of whom he had diers, at least American soldiers, forces. known for years. His plea was remain citizens and that the 75.

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