FIVES AND TWENTY FIVES is a look into the lives of soldiers
during and after combat. This is the story of a group of
Marines in the First Marine Expeditionary Force. FIVES AND
TWENTY FIVES tells the story of their lives in combat in
Iraq and after as they try to return to lives back home out
of the military. FIVES AND TWENTY FIVES is the name of the
movements the soldiers take and the security they pull
while conducting actions in Iraq. They must always check
their FIVES AND TWENTY FIVES when getting out of the
vehicles when they make a stop it is what helps keep them
alive.
This is a mesmerizing look into the lives of our Marines
and how the aftermath of combat does not end when you get
home. Michael Pitre, the author is a Marine now living in
the civilian world and has entered the literary world in a
big way reaching into a topic that he is well versed in. As
you read you can feel that he knows the suffering these
people are going through because he has seen it firsthand
and/or experienced it himself. It started out a little
slow for me but I am so glad I stuck with it. The story is
gripping and at times I thought I might cry, but as a
former Army Soldier I can't do that.
I thoroughly
enjoyed this important look into the lives of these Marines
and I hope it helps people to understand that war does not
end just because you put the uniform up. Being in the
military can have lifelong positive effects and it can also
have life impacting negative one. We must remember the
soldiers at home but still fighting and this gripping story
will help you to understand that. FIVES AND TWENTYFIVES by
Michael Pitre is a must read for everyone.
It’s the rule—always watch your fives and twenty-fives. When
a convoy halts to investigate a possible roadside bomb, stay
in the vehicle and scan five meters in every direction. A
bomb inside five meters cuts through the armor, killing
everyone in the truck. Once clear, get out and sweep
twenty-five meters. A bomb inside twenty-five meters kills
the dismounted scouts investigating the road ahead.
Fives and twenty-fives mark the measure of a marine’s life
in the road repair platoon. Dispatched to fill potholes on
the highways of Iraq, the platoon works to assure safe
passage for citizens and military personnel. Their mission
lacks the glory of the infantry, but in a war where every
pothole contains a hidden bomb, road repair brings its own
danger.
Lieutenant Donavan leads the platoon, painfully aware of his
shortcomings and isolated by his rank. Doc Pleasant, the
medic, joined for opportunity, but finds his pride undone as
he watches friends die. And there’s Kateb, known to the
Americans as Dodge, an Iraqi interpreter whose love of
American culture—from hip-hop to the dog-eared copy of Huck
Finn he carries—is matched only by his disdain for what
Americans are doing to his country.
Returning home, they exchange one set of decisions and
repercussions for another, struggling to find a place in a
world that no longer knows them. A debut both transcendent
and rooted in the flesh, Fives and Twenty-Fives is a deeply
necessary novel.
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