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They Are Soldiers [Hardcover]

Harold Coyle


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Book Description

Aug 1 2004 Coyle, Harold
They are your neighbor and the person who delivers your mail. They teach your children and build your homes. Every day you see them but do not notice them, that is not until they are needed. Only when disasters strike, whether it be natural or man made do they become something quite different, something more than a fellow citizen. Throughout our nation’s history they have been called many things; the militia, the home guard, the National Guard. But regardless of their title they have always been unique, something more than ordinary people. Their willingness to be both a good citizen in peace and a warrior when called upon make them soldiers.

The nature of the mission, to man a security zone that separates the nation of Israel from the newly created Palestinian state present him and the Guardsmen of Company A with a unique set of problems few are able to predict. Together the professional officer and the citizen soldiers he leads must find a way to navigate their way toward an uncertain future in a troubled land.

Part of that future involves dealing with those who are determined to use the arrival of the Americans to further their own political and personal goals. One of these men is Hammed Kamel, a microbiologist who seizes upon the introduction of American forces in a place some still call the Holy Lands as an opportunity to strike a telling blow against the two nations who have oppressed his people, the Palestinians for decades. Together with a crops of like minded men, Kamel sets in motion a train of events that places the citizen soldiers of Bedlow, Virginia and their community on the other side of the world in jeopardy.

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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books (Aug 1 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 076530547X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765305473
  • Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 3.3 cm
  • Shipping Weight: 612 g
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,314,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Coyle (More Than Courage) chills with a sometimes clumsily written but disturbingly plausible story about a Virginia National Guard unit facing the threat of biological weapons in a security zone between Israelis and a new Palestinian state. Coyle narrates from numerous perspectives, including that of Guard members—postmen, volunteer firefighters—from tiny Bedlow, Va., and the military officers commanding their unit. In the Middle East, Coyle also enters the minds of Syed Amama, a young Palestinian suicide bomber who miraculously survived a successful mission, and Hammed Kamel, a microbiologist determined to rid the new state of its American and Israeli scourge. Chapters about the American deployment are heartfelt but boilerplate, as husbands leave pregnant wives and Coyle describes in excessive detail the heroic patriotism of the military men and the complexities of the U.S. military situation. But a series of taut chapters in which the Americans come face to face with another suicide bomber raises the tension and the stakes, and the stirring climax describes a dangerous raid on Kamel's weapons lab after Amama manages to infect some of the guardsmen with a deadly biological agent. The revolving-character door may leave readers dizzy by the time they reach the climax, but for those who don't mind a heavy hand and a bit of excess patriotism, this is a solid read.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Harold Coyle is the best natural storyteller I know."
--Tom Clancy

"Harold Coyle is a superbly talented storyteller . . . the Tom Clancy of ground warfare."
--W.E.B. Griffin

Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
For the Israeli soldiers belonging to Isaac Mofaz's squad, the drudgery and monotonous repetition that manning a checkpoint entailed often proved to be nothing short of maddening. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com: 2.6 out of 5 stars  17 reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars National Guard at War Sep 4 2004
By Larry Melton - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This book told a story about a seldom-covered part of our military. It is written from the perspective of an active duty Captain (son of the ubiquitous Scott Dixon) who is assigned to a Virginia National Guard unit in order to quickly bring it up to speed in order to fulfill a mission in the Middle East that apparently only a Guard unit could handle. It gives a godd insight into a side of our military that is seldom written about as a novel, rather than a "history". Having served in both the Regular Army and the Guard, I was impressed with the more personal face this novel put on an entire unit- a subculture, as it were, in our military.

Having said that, I was not impressed with the plot; I cannot believe a semi-raw unit of any kind would be sent into a political powderkeg like duty in Israel involving confrontation with the local Arab terrorist infrastructure. Biological warfare, especially a strain of Ebola? Please- Clancy handled that plot awhile back...
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars A book to tide you over till a good one comes along. Jan 23 2005
By Jon - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
This book is a disappointment. Hastily written and poorly edited, it should never have reached publication in its present form. The story never becomes sufficiently believable for the reader to immerse himself in it. Whenever there might be a chance of this happening some horribly tangled sentence or ludicrous malapropism pops up. It is as if the text has been carelessly dictated, transcribed by a person unfamiliar with the words and never proofread. For instance, "eek out a living" "screw the pouch" and "gapping mauls" (instead of gaping maws) should certainly have been caught before publication.

The book is largely an account of the difficulties of an poorly prepared reserve unit being called for active duty in the Middle East. While a worthy subject, I think most Harold Coyle readers are looking for more action. The small portion of the plot that could be described as an action story is unbelievable to the point of silliness.
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing Coyle Dec 10 2004
By lrrosen - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been a keen and admiring reader of HC for several years.His ability to create powerful military tales is outstanding.

'They are Soldiers'is a real disappointment. HC's understanding of the complex dynamics of the Mid East is surprisingly poor and he creates comic book characters (a senior Mossad agent who uses phrases like "he won't be playing the violin again" after interrogating a palestinian suspected of biochem warfare - come on Harold, do your research; Shin Bet do the interrogations and Israel has returned so many palestinian prisoners each year without any suggestion of torture since 1985. And a Hamas/PLA biochem warfare lab under a Crusader castle in Israel? Get real!

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