Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950

So just like that, I’ve had to start writing up my pearls of wisdom on a separate word doc since I’ve lost 2 relatively long postings trying to just type them up in the system. Now that is annoying.

Anyway, I love to read. I prefer non-fiction, (although I do have a Harry Potter soft spot), and more specifically, military history. I am fascinated by the military. I even tried to join the National Guard a few years ago, but was medically DQ’d for a couple really stupid things that would not have affected my ability to kill terrorists, but it all worked out in the end. (I don’t think I’d have my 2 beautiful daughters if I had joined). I say all that to talk about the book I just finished reading. It’s called Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950. It tells the incredible story of the Marines and Army soldiers who found themselves severely outnumbered by Communist Chinese in a mountain range in late November, early December of 1950. They fought in temps that were routinely below 0, and lost about as many fighting men to frostbite as they did to the enemy. A couple things I found interesting:

The Marines thought the Army was completely incompetent, and if the book is accurate, they were. In full disclosure, the book was written by a fellow Marine, but if even half of the examples of ineptitude are true, the Army men in that campaign weren’t worthy to bring the Marines water (of course, it would have frozen by the time it got to them anyway).
Marines rule. They are the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen. I’m so proud that they are on our side, and it drives me nuts when they don’t get the support from home that they deserve. I count it an absolute privilege to know some Marines and call them my friends.
I don’t know a whole lot about the Korean Conflict. I didn’t even know we were directly fighting the Chinese like that. I need to find some additional good books about this war. I also need to talk to my Grandfather about it. He was a captain over there. I need to do this ASAP.

Although the book was tough to follow logistically at times, I thought it was great and really gave a sense of being there in those terrible conditions. It also showed how often a man will rise above their circumstances to fight to the end for his brother next to him. I highly recommend reading it with a map of the area by your side.