Fives and Twenty-Fives

Fives and Twenty-Fives by Michael Pitre, 380 pages.

Lt Donovan is aware that the troops under his command know that he

is not the leader that Gunnery Sgt Stout was, that he’s not even the leader that Sgt Michelle Gomez is, but they don't necessarily blame him for all that happens. All of the characters seem willing to share the blame and to take the burden back home with them.  They’re not a group who are happy with the way things went on their tour of duty in Iraq. A Marine platoon tasked with road repair and route clearance, under Donovan they fill six hundred and forty-seven potholes. Each one, all six hundred and forty-seven have been re-seeded  with bombs or an improvised explosive devices by insurgents. Route clearance involved driving in a small armed convoy to the pothole site, finding and rendering harmless the bomb or bombs, and filling and repaving the pothole. All while avoiding hidden bombs, ambushes, secondary attacks and secondary explosives. 

Corporal Zahn, whom Donovan is meeting up with as the book opens, after their war is over, is still suffering from undiagnosed PTSD resulting from bomb blasts and related trauma. They’re both in New Orleans, Donovan in grad school, and Zahn visiting some of his friends from high school

Doc Pleasant,  Hospitalman Third Class Lester Pleasant is from a small town in Cajun country in Louisiana, and is nearby.

Dodge, or Kateb, the son of a Baathist, translator for the unit, trying to finish his graduate thesis on Huckleberry Finn

The book's title refers to the potential blast zones the Marines are reminded repeatedly to keep clear, five meters from the armored vehicle, twenty-five meters from their more lightly armored selves outside the vehicle.
Pitre's first book has interesting characters with compelling stories, and his writing is nuanced, tight, and respectful of the characters. It was a joy to read.

It's only because I recently read Phil Klay’s Redeployment that I’m not proclaiming this the best book I've read about the Iraq war. If you're going to read two books about the Iraqi war, this should be one of them. If you're only going to read one, go for this one if you prefer novels to short stories, or just go for Redeployment.

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