GREEN ON BLUE by Elliot Ackerman

Elliot Ackerman's Green on Blue follows a young Afghan man who unwittingly joins a U.S.-funded militia to ensure his brother, injured in a bombing, gets proper medical care. At the Shkin firebase where he is stationed, Aziz meets other men fighting out of necessity and in the hope of seeking revenge for their dead or injured family members. As the months pass and Aziz becomes closer to the commander, he begins to realize the war — and his own quest for revenge — is more complicated than he once thought. While the writing style may not be everyone's cup of tea — a little choppy and lacking quotation marks, which can interrupt the flow of the prose — Green on Blue is ultimately an incredibly illuminating and thought-provoking read. Ackerman, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan himself, paints a vivid picture of a complex conflict that is unlikely to end so long as those in power can benefit from it. This was a heavy book, but one feels richer for having read it.