Craig Olson

So This is War: a 3rd U.s. Cavalry Intelligence Officer's Memoirs of the Triumphs, Sorrows, Laughter, and Tears During a Year in Iraq Craig Olson

He always wondered what war would be like. "So This is War": a collage of emotions and events featuring the triumphs, defeats, hardships, humor, discomforts, and boredom of war as the author's Cavalry Squadron journeys around Iraq in an attempt to fight an invisible enemy, find a peace, and build a country. Combat has eluded the author since his initial enlistment in the Army during the Cold War in 1985. After leaving the service and living a cushy life as a finance executive in Arizona, Captain Olson returned to active duty following the attack on America on 9/11 and soon found himself fighting in Iraq with the storied 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Follow the adventures and thoughts of this Intelligence Officer as he endures a year of the triumphs, defeats, hardships, humor, discomforts, and boredom of war while his Cavalry Squadron moves through Kuwait to the Triangle of Death south of Baghdad and on to Northwest Iraq to tame the volatile city of Tal Afar and secure the vast and porous Syrian border from invading Jihadists. As Captain Olson soon learns, his visions of a glamorous, dangerous, and exhilarating war are quickly crushed as the officers and soldiers in the unit do their best to find and fight an invisible enemy, rebuild a once-great Iraqi Army, and attempt to gain the trust and cooperation of the Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish populace who are largely against the U. S. occupation. He always wondered what war would be like. So This is War. (208 pages)