One Loss Too Many; War Becomes Personal

By Blake Hurdis, Editor, A World Without Spin

Over the last couple days, I finally got around to reading Craig Mullaney's memoir entitled The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education. I had first met Captain Mullaney while both of us were in Afghanistan. I had shared the occasional email over the course of the deployment, and received a few requests for information from him. I remember his questions and inquiries to be some of the more difficult to answer. Unlike the typical probing of the "fog of war", Mullaney's questions were always pointed, inquisitive and demanding. His natural intelligence level was immediately apparent. When his book came out, with the primary focus being his experience in Afghanistan, I felt compelled to read it. At the same time, I realized immediately that it also represented a difficult time in the life of this young intelligence analyst, so I was understandably apprehensive.

Throughout my career as an Intelligence Analyst, I was one of the fortunate few that didn't find themselves constantly stuck in an air conditioned office, cutting and pasting information for a daily intelligence summary. When I arrived in Afghanistan, I was on