The title of this book, along with the nearly obligator Don McCullin cover shot, may lead you to believe that this is a conventional war story, the autobiography of a man who had already written a well received novel about Vietnam.
But that is not this case. While there are sections of the book that focus on events and conflict in the jungles of South East Asia the main focus of this book is the mind of the soldier - or as the authors says "the warrior".
In simple terms this is a book about how the author felt about the experience of war, how his training had prepared him for this emotional conflict (or more often how his training did not prepare him for it) and a plan to better prepare the coming generations of warriors for war. This is not done with the idea that these new soldiers will be better "killing machines" - but that they will be better able to cope with the moral and emotional conflicts that war brings. While this may make them more effective on the battle fields, the authors' key objective is to make sure that former soldiers can better cope with the aftermath of conflict.
His central message revolves around the need to train soldiers (and their leaders) to understand both the morality and the darkness of their tasks. His argument is that you can't fully understand one if you do not acknowledge the other. Killing violates some many social norms that being able to do it (and do it repeatedly) is bound to cause conflicts in the healthy mind. His contention seems to be that warriors need to be able to access, but control, the darker, shadow parts of their personalities. If they understand the morality of their task control is possible. Shadow without morality leads to atrocity. Morality without shadow may not arm the warrior with the ability to defend what they see to be just.
This is an immensely ambitious book - setting out as it does to redefine the way we train soldiers (and raise children) so that they become more aware of the forces that are inside them and better able to cope with the consequences of their actions.
Is the book likely to achieve its aims? - Probably not.
Is this book a well intentioned, but occasionally naive feeling, effort to protect young people in the future? - Certainly.
Does this book have something valuable to say about the effect of war and its consequences? - Absolutely.
Would I recommend that you read this book? - Without question.