McCoy’s Marines (Koopman)

This book, subtitled Darkside to Baghdad, purports to be the story of Lt Col Bryan McCoy, USMC, and his troops: 3rd Bn, 4th Marines. Unfortunately, most of the book is about the author. That’s all right; he paints an engaging portrait of life as an embedded journalist with a Marine unit. However, there’s not much insight into the ostensible focus of the book, LtCol McCoyas other books. Compared to other similar books, like Atkinson’s In the Company of Soldiers, Koopman’s book comes off much more like an extended series of newspaper columns. One highlight: the interspersed emails from readers of his column who mailed him to talk or ask about their friends and family members in 3/4. Overall, this wasn’t a bad read, but it is essentially little more than a memoir; it lacks the depth of characterization found in Atkinson’s book or in Wright’s Generation Kill, and it’s no replacement for The March Up as a chronicle of 3/4’s campaign.