A Soldier's Duty: A Novel Paperback - 2002

Memorial Bridge
Before dawn, Friday, July 8

The U.S. military is headquartered in Washington, but it is not of Washington. Its heart lies a thousand miles away, or more-in the Army, at Fort Leavenworth; in the Air Force, along a dozen different runways in the South and Southwest; in the Navy, in Norfolk, San Diego and Pearl Harbor. For most in Washington, Congress is the engine that drives daily life. When Congress is in session, there is an extra energy in Washington's downtown. When Congress is "in," people work later hours, and spouses are often missing at dinner parties. But even so, the pace is generally the pace of Congress-rising late and not engaging the world until about ten in the morning. The military sticks by its own timetable in Washington, one that pre-dates democracy. It is a schedule set on thousands of battlefields, where the most dangerous time of day is just before sunrise, when it is light enough to attack but still dark enough to conceal many movements. Even in Washington, the military rises in the darkness most of the year and is at work by dawn. The effect of this is that the military has the city largely to itself at that time of day.

“Skillfully plotted . . . tautly written . . . will stimulate thought as well as get the adrenaline flowing.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Thomas E. Ricks knows what happens at the Pentagon perhaps sometimes better than those who work there. . . . A Soldier’s Duty . . . thrill[s] and entertain[s] while giving readers a fascinating glimpse inside a culture shrouded in secrecy.”—Chicago Tribune

“Tremendously literate and full of searing observations about life in uniform today. Best of all, it offers a great story.” —National Review

“A powerful, prophetic page-turner. A huge tell-it-like-it-is thriller of a novel that captures the U.S. military’s pain and frustration in the twenty-first century. Epic storytelling that’s as exciting as it is suspenseful.” —Colonel David H. Hackworth (U.S. Army, ret.), author of About Face

“Tom Ricks has done a masterly job with his first novel. His knowledge of the military, vast experience and association with military organizations, and keen insights into the military culture clearly come out in this superb book.” —General Anthony Zinni (U.S. Marine Corps, ret.), former commander, U.S. Central Command

“Timely and extremely relevant . . . A Soldier’s Duty offers a fictional glimpse into what a politicized officer corps might look like, and what factions and crises it could create. It is a warning we should reflect on.”
—Marine Corps Gazette

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post Pentagon correspondent Thomas E. Ricks lectures widely to the military and is a member of Harvard University's Senior Advisory Council on the Project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations. He is the author of the bestselling book Making the Corps. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife and children.