American Spartan
AMERICAN SPARTAN: THE PROMISE, THE MISSION, AND THE BETRAYAL OF SPECIAL FORCESMAJOR JIM GANT
By Ann Scott Tyson
William Morrow, $27.99, 384 pages
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Across the country, in the Konar region of eastern Afghanistan, Army Special ForcesMaj. Jim Gant was making similarly grim calculations and coming to much the same conclusion: Time was short, and by his estimate, drastic measures were needed. How he tackled the problem is the subject of Ann Scott Tyson’s gripping book, “American Spartan.” Miss Tyson is an accomplished war correspondent; she is also now Jim Gant’s wife. Miss Tyson eventually came to Maj. Gant’s Konar headquarters and became his partner in his effort to pacify Konar. In the process, Miss Tyson unapologetically lost her journalistic objectivity; however, it gives her the material for a gripping and highly readable book.
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Since Iraq, Maj. Gant had been drinking heavily. Although he never drank in front of the Afghans, the consumption of alcohol is a blatant violation of General Order No. 1 for military personnel in Afghanistan. He and Miss Tyson had become lovers; she joined him in Konar, and they shared his quarters. This is another serious violation of General Order No. 1.
The American military in Afghanistan and Iraq doesn’t allow booze, sex or dogs. Neither do the Taliban or al Qaeda. I’ve often wondered what they are fighting about.
However, the hubris that comes with flaunting orders and getting away with it, combined with the isolation from higher headquarters, led to other irregularities. Maj. Gant was headed for a train wreck. It came in the form of a newly joined lieutenant who was offended by Maj. Gant’s freewheeling style, which violated all of the rules he had learned at West Point.
As one officer would later put it, Maj. Gant had “gone Kurtz,” in reference to the rogue colonel in “Apocalypse Now.” The lieutenant’s complaint led to investigation that ended Maj. Gant’s career and cost him his coveted Special Forces tab.
“American Spartan” is not meant to be a balanced account, but it is a brutally honest one. Maj. Gant became a deeply flawed human being. I agree with Miss Tyson that Maj. Gant is a superb American warrior; but in the end, he became a poor soldier. Afghanistan has plenty of warriors. All Afghan males think of themselves as such.
Without discipline, a military unit is just another militia, and Afghanistan has too many militias already.