Train to Fight, Fight to Win

Tom Kratman; Countdown: The Liberators (Baen Books; February 2011; ISBN 978-1-4391-3402-3; cover by Kurt Miller)

Tom Kratman is no stranger to this blog, I've mentioned him and his books (and even serialized a few chapters from his most recent, The Amazon Legion) here.

Countdown: The Liberators is different from most of his books (other than A State of Disobedience) as it is not "science fiction". Well, it might be science fiction in the sense that, say, Tom Clancy or Howard Coyle, is "science fiction", possibly, maybe, barely in the future. Call it a technothriller. Or maybe milporn.

The son of a chief in Africa is kidnapped and held so that one tribe gains power over another. A group of former (mostly forcibly retired) members of the U.S. military are approached and offered large sums of money in order to rescue the son. A organization is built, trained and causes much mayhem on the sea and land in the course of the rescue. Cue explosions and get ready for the next installment.

Well, I'm being slightly silly. Seeing that I kept restraining myself, knowing that the sequel was not ready, I did enjoy the read. Kratman improves with each book in terms of pacing, character and overall quality of writing. For milporn (is that even a term?), it is pretty good milporn. Kratman introduces several people that I'd like to read about again, including a South African couple and a Israeli tank commander. And we get to see some interesting weapons and vehicles (can this group make good out of a T55?).

As with A Desert Called Peace, Carnifax, The Lotus Eaters and The Amazon Legion, Kratman uses the book to drive home an important point about military life: train to fight, fight to win (actually, we used to say something different, but that would not be, ahem, politically correct). So, Countdown: The Liberators has certain similarities with, say A Desert Called Peace (building a military organization), but that is because nobody (but a few crazed readers, such as myself) would buy a non-fiction work on training. Hopefully, by osmosis, some of the "lessons learned" will sink into those who are in the field via a fun read.

Now for the next one (still forthcoming)! Link to electronic edition found here, also available as a mass market paperback via your usual suspects (might be shelved in "fiction" as well as the genre shelves).