"Contact Charlie" by Chris Wattie

[Dog Walker]

I was browsing the Chapters site and I found another new book about the Canadians in Afghanistan called “Contact Charlie: The Canadian Army, The Taliban and the Battle that Saved Afghanistan” by Chris Wattie.

Dose anyone know any other details about this one?

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Contact-Charlie-Canadian-Army-Taliban-Chris-Wattie/9781554700844-item.html?ref=Search+Books%3a+%2527afghanstan%2527

Edit: Sorry I missed Mark's earlier post below.

 

[Carbon-14]

Oddly, Chapters and Amazon both say it hasn't been released it but I received mine in the mail on Friday.  I'm only about a quarter of the way through but I'm enjoying it.  I'm glad it includes a few maps; definitely helps visualize the battles.

 

[Dog Walker]

Oddly, Chapters and Amazon both say it hasn't been released it but I received mine in the mail on Friday.  I'm only about a quarter of the way through but I'm enjoying it.  I'm glad it includes a few maps; definitely helps visualize the battles.

The information is wrong on the Chapters-indigo site. It says that it only available for pre-order (publication on October 10). However, I ordered it on the weekend and received it today.

 

[Garett]

Yeah, I picked it up yesterday at the Fredericton Chapters.

 

[primer]

I read the book 2 weeks ago. It was a great book i just could not put it down 

 

[klambie]

Five excerpts in the National Post this week:

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/index.html?subject=Chris+Wattie&type=Person

 

[Aerobicrunner]

http://www.themilitarymuseums.com/files/graphics/Contact%20Charlie%20ev%20OCT28.pdf

Please note that the author, Chris Wattie, will be introducing his book and signing copies at the Military Museums in Calgary on Tues, 28 Oct at 7:00 pm.  For more information and to RSVP send email to:  merrilee@themilitarymuseums.ca

 

[riggermade]

I was waiting for a review on this book, the author was on the morning news in Ottawa during the week

 

[Pieman]

Picked this book up the other day. Will be going through it soon. I was kind of shocked to flip through some of the pictures and see people I work with in the book.

Read through a couple different reviews, and generally they all say it is good. However, they also sighted some of the claims made by the author (such as how the battles saved Kandahar) were not realistic. Also, they sighted descriptions of the battles as being a bit theatrical. Seems they are saying it is overall a informative read, but a bit biased in its presentation.

http://communities.canada.com/ottawacitizen/blogs/defencewatch/archive/2008/11/18/book-review-contact-charlie-a-pretty-good-read.aspx

 

[Gunner98]

I borrowed this book from the local library last week. I enjoyed it and considered it well written in an interesting somewhat free-flowing story style (i.e., not alot of he said, according to XX.)  It discusses Spin Boldak in a fashion that explained a lot of things I did not glean from my time in the sandbox.

 

[James]

I was browsing online today, and I came across this book. It sounds pretty interesting. It's about the PPCLI's battle in the Panjaway region in 2006. I was wondering if anyone else has read it yet, and could maybe offer a brief review. It came out in late February, so it's pretty new. It's written by Chris Wattie. He was embedded with the troops at the time.

 

[MikeL]

It came out earliar than that, I picked it up in Oct 09. It's a good book, gives a good account of the different ops the 1PPCLI BG in TF 1-06 conducted.  Pick it up, you won't be dissapointed.

 

[James]

You're right. That's my bad. I was looking at the paperback edition. The hardcover did come out much earlier.

 

[cn]

I'm gonna go down to the library to check this one out tomorrow.. I have read a few others books about the Canadians and the war in Afghanistan, and I'd recommend these for anyone interested:

- Fifteen Days, by Christine Blatchford
- Outside the Wire: The War in Afghanistan in the Words of Its Participants, written submissions from soldiers' and civillians' experiences, edited by Kevin Patterson & Jane Warren
- Kandahar Tour, by Lee A. Windsor

Also, a very entertaining read about American Marines in the invasion of Iraq is by Evan Wright called "Generation Kill"; which was also made into a HBO miniseries (with the same name) which is also one of the best shows I've seen in recent memory.. I'd definitely recommend to check out both..

 

[KnightShift]

Contact Charlie is a great read.....another one not to miss is FOB Doc (I'm sure there's gotta be a thread or two about these around here somewhere - tried looking for one but for some reason the search function doesn't seem to jive with my work computer).  I've recently read both of these and could not put them down.

 

[James]

Thanks for the responses everyone. The book is on my buy list.

I actually have Fifteen Days, cn. I'll have a look at the other ones you suggested.

 

[cn]

Just finished Contact Charlie this morning, very good book and will be added to my reccommendation list..

Side note:  Fifteen Days, Outside the Wire and Contact Charlie all detail the Battle of Panjwai (the assult on the White School house especially) and it is good to see the different accounts of the same battle but all showing the courage and sacrafice of our soldiers there.. 

 

[Blecter]

I just picked up Contact Charlie a couple weeks ago, but haven't had the time to open it yet. Looking forward to reading it though, and I might pick up a few of the other mentioned books here.