MACHETE SQUAD (EB)
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Brent Dulak doesn't want to go to Afghanistan. Haunted by the memories of his two tours in Iraq and burnt out on soldiering, he wants nothing more than to engage in self-destructive behavior. He's a U.S. Army medic who was recently promoted to sergeant, in charge of a team of soldiers whose job it will be to patch up the wounded at a remote outpost as the Americans prepare to turn Kandahar Province over to the Afghan forces. That won't be easy: Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban. It's filled with motivated insurgents, question-able local allies, and countless ways to die. Brutally honest and darkly funny, Machete Squad is the story of a soldier trying to keep people alive as America's longest war rages all around him. He must look out for the welfare of his men and their patients even as he doubts his own abilities-and at times his sanity.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This raw chronicle follows Sergeant Brent Dulak, an Army medic dispatched to Afghanistan and stationed at a remote desert outpost. "This place eats people," he's warned by a first sergeant, and soon he's swallowed up by the harsh routine. There are no heroic battles here, just long periods of boredom, horrifying bursts of violence, and a slow, grinding accumulation of mangled bodies. Most of the people Dulak patches up are locals caught in the crossfire, as the American soldiers are forced to compete with the Taliban for the hearts and minds of civilians who don't trust either side. Artist Berg visualizes Dulak's tour with simple, cartoony figures penciled in against sketchy backgrounds. The art is unpolished, but the characters have a satisfying, loose expressiveness. The arc is largely plotless, simply following Dulak on missions and observing day-to-day life. But the mundane details of surviving on the front are keenly observed: "Skype with family. Work out. Kill time on the Xbox. Tie off amputations." Again and again, the story knowingly undermines what would be tense, dramatic scenes in a Hollywood movie by dragging them down to unglamorous reality. Though rough around the edges, this episodic tale of military life has a gritty honesty, like a guy at a dive bar with a story to get off his chest.
