Review: Overall a good read and good fictional military history....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 4, 2013
As histories of military engagements go, Mogadishu Diaries 1992-1993: Bloodlines was more personal than most. Thompkins establishes Thompson's character for us at the beginning with a slightly too heroic brush. As the narrative goes on, he becomes more real but in the way of the cousin's boyfriend who tries to impress you with everyone he's "told off" and gotten the better of despite that not being how life works. Thompson addresses issues with a modern, liberal, brush that may not have been so accepted in 1992 in the Marine Corp...notably gays in the military and his gay superior officer being accorded every advance Thompson made in the Marine Corp.That said, Mogadishu Diaries 1992-1993: Bloodlines is an interesting tale that educates the reader in the working of the military during foreign operations and at home. In one scene, the toilet was an open plan outhouse with three seats so that a sign had to be flipped to "female" when a woman went in to do her business. In a second scene, a surly teenager demands that the officers salute her car because it has a blue sticker. In a third scene, a woman is awarded privacy for sexual encounters (known as a "sex-chit) assumed to be with her husband twice a week. Thompson soon discovers that the woman and her husband have been separated for a long time but doesn't give the woman away. Each scene is a look into military life away.Thompkins uses everyday speak in his writing. "Anyways" is frequently used, along with other not quite right phrasings. The vernacular sets a certain comfortable tone with the reader and doesn't distract from the story.The danger in the storyline is palpable and real. Gang rapists, raiders and terrorists are helped by a populace monitored by military and deprived of their means of defense. Thompkins highlights the danger of bringing American values where we sit safe in our homes to the very violent streets of a foreign country. Often Thompson and his friends skirt the rules and always the readers can see it as a necessity.