A Soldier’s Duty (Ricks)

Thomas Ricks wrote one of my favorite-ever books, an account of Marine Corps recruit training titled Making the Corps. When I learned that he’d written a novel, A Soldier’s Duty, I was excited to read it; now that I’ve read it, I think my excitement was mostly justified. Ricks’ book delves into a knotty question, shining a sly, knowing light on the modern military as he does so.
The two primary characters are both Army majors, Buddy Lewis and Cindy Sherman. Each is an aide to a four-star Army general, but the two generals (Shillingsworth, somewhat of a plodder and the Army Chief of Staff, and Ames, a conniving, charismatic, and amoral rival) have very, very different views on the necessity of following the orders of their political leadership. After a debacle in which US troops needlessly die on a pointless mission, the stage is set for the central plot to unfold. Ames directs the actions of a shadowy group known as the Sons of Liberty; their actions skate right along the border between free speech (protected) and violating military orders (illegal)… until they cross that line.
The key to this book for me was that Ames’ portrayal was semi-sympathetic. He doesn’t want to be the President, but he feels an obligation to ensure that the political leadership is not wasting the lives of US troops. I find this attitude to be exactly what one would expect in a senior military leader, but it is unfortunately absent in some notable cases (where is William Westmoreland when you need him? Oh, that’s right; he’s in Hell.) On the other hand, military officers take an oath to uphold the Constitution, and that’s the pivotal question here: do members of the military lose their right to political dissent? What separates legal dissent from illegal failure to obey orders, and what obligation do military members have to follow orders that are not clearly illegal but nonetheless immoral? It’s a thought-provoking question; it doesn’t have an easy answer, and Ricks doesn’t pretend so. There are certainly signs of this being a freshman novel, but they’re relatively minor. Recommended.