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"Boots on the Ground" is a riveting account of the war in Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division as it convoys north from Kuwait to Iraq's Tallil Air Base en route to night-and-day battles within the major city of Samawah and its nearby bridges across the Euphrates. Karl Zinsmeister, a frontline reporter who traveled with the 82nd, brilliantly conveys the careful planning and technical wizardry that goes into today's warfare, even local firefights, and he brings to life the constant air-ground interactions that are the great innovation of modern precision combat. What exactly does it feel like to travel with a spirited body of fighting men? To come under fire? To cope with the battlefield stresses of sleep deprivation, and field rations for weeks on end? Readers of this vivid day-to-day diary are left with not only a flashing sequence of strong mental images but also a notion of the sounds and smells, and physical sensations that make modern military action unforgettable.