Title: Duty, Honor, Money: Volume II Afghanistan
Author: J. F. Cronin
Publisher: Toplink Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 9781469780526
Pages: 234, Paperback
Genre: General Fiction
Reviewed by: Anita Lock
Pacific Book Review
Lieutenant Xavier H. Moran, better known as X, breaks protocol, risking his life to save his men left in a lurch during rotation in Afghanistan. Although he hails as a hero among those he rescued, the overarching captain is not pleased. Before X knows it, he is removed from combat and sent to Bagram, where he will follow “a normal schedule,” instead of the helter-skelter environ where he’d rather be with his men. Or so he thinks.Meeting with Colonel Fran Matthews, X learns that he is to command the Charlie Company, a Marine unit in the eastern outskirts of Paktiya Province which was set up “to provide security for reconstruction projects,” The problem is that casualties continue to increase. Because of X’s tenacious military history, Fran Matthews believes he’s the right person for the job.
The situation at Charlie Company is tenuous at best since the U.S., Pakistanis, Taliban, and other groups are making money at the expense of the Marines. Wanting to bolster his new unit, X, who does not “follow the book” when it comes to rules, crafts a plan that will hopefully give Charlie Company the advantage. It does, especially to the point of gaining control over the Taliban. But things go awry, and X’s life is on the line when the company is assigned a mission, one which involved American contractors and drug trafficking.
In this sequel to An Inconvenient War: Duty, Honor, Money: The Beginning, Cronin’s plot offers verisimilitude to the truth behind war. Of course, his focus is on the war in Afghanistan—a war which began shortly after the horrific events of 9/11 and is now earmarked to be the most protracted American war (sadly entering its seventeenth year as of October 7, 2017), surpassing America’s sixteen-plus-year-involvement in Vietnam.
Cronin presents X, a true-blue, practical Marine who sees beyond the military and geopolitical façades; the military-industrial complex President Dwight Eisenhower spoke of in his farewell speech from the White House. That said, X is unafraid to break with protocols when he witnesses injustice. Cronin’s lifelike setting is also replete with believable characters.
Duty, Honor, Money: Volume II Afghanistan is not a pleasant read and nor should it be. The glamorization of war and the military have gone on for way too long. The reality of war is nothing but ugly, add to that the greed of wealth from the geopolitical system. What Cronin offers readers is a glimpse of that ugliness, including how the military is taken advantage of for others’ monetary gain.
Scenes are tense alongside action-packed combat. While readers may formulate how it all ends for X and his platoon, there is always this element of hope truth and justice will prevail. Duty, Honor, Money: Volume II Afghanistan can efficiently function as a stand-alone. But to appreciate the fullness of the message that Cronin conveys, it is well worth starting with book one.
