The War I Always Wanted

The War I Always Wanted (2007) is a nonfiction war memoir by Brandon Friedman. The story details Friedman's experiences in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq between 2001 and 2004, roughly tracing his metamorphosis from a young, eager cadet into a disillusioned-but-wiser adult and veteran. The book received favorable reviews upon publication and within three years had been named one of the best memoirs of the past decade by media outlets like the Military Times and Daily Kos.

Synopsis
Spanning the course of three years, Friedman tells his story through a combination of present action and flashbacks. In all, he covers events in Afghanistan (including his experience in Operation Anaconda in March 2002), the 2003 invasion of Iraq and his time in Baghdad, the beginning of the insurgency in northern Iraq during the latter half of 2003, and his re-adjustment upon returning home in 2004.

Critical reception
While Publishers Weekly gave The War I Always Wanted faint praise (calling the book "cynical but appealing"), subsequent reviewers were more effusive. Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General (Ret.) Wesley Clark called the book "compelling and moving," going on to say that "among the many excellent war memoirs by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Brandon's stands out as the best." Historian Steven Pressfield, author of the New York Times bestselling novel Gates of Fire, called Friedman's work "outstanding non-fiction" and described it as "ris[ing] at numerous points to the level of literature."

Newspapers and journals reacted in similar fashion. The Baltimore Sun proclaimed, "You'll want to read parts aloud," while the Mobile Press-Register described The War I Always Wanted as being "rendered with more literary flair and sophistication than even the accounts by bigwigs," calling it "an elegant meditation on his loss of innocence." In the military community, the Military Times described Friedman's memoir as "vivid, frank, precise and dramatic," while Military Review, the journal of the United States Army Combined Arms Center, concluded that The War I Always Wanted was "tragically compelling" and that "[Friedman's] work is fresh, angry, cynical, and riveting."

In January 2010, Military Times named The War I Always Wanted as one of the "best military books of the decade."