Monday, May 2, 2011

What an Eerie Feeling

When I have trouble going back to sleep in the night I do what I call "read myself to sleep." There's always a book by my bed and right now it's Craig Mullaney's The Unforgiving Minute subtitled A Soldier's Education. Written in the first person, the book follows Mullaney, a West Point graduate, Rhodes scholar, Airborne Ranger and U. S. Army Captain, to his service in Afghanistan after 9/11.

An often brutal but very interesting book, it's a subject I wouldn't generally read but I'm glad I did. It might be a book we should all read to learn some of what our soldiers go through to prepare for service. But this isn't a book review.

This morning about 5 a.m., once again I couldn't get back to sleep. I flipped my reading light on and picked up The Unforgiving Minute. Not really a book that should put me to sleep, I figured I'd give it a try.

The point I had reached in the book was pivotal in Mullaney's career. The infantry platoon he was leading in Afghanistan was caught in a firefight with al-Queda fighters, and for the first time one of his soldiers was killed.

The incident occurred at an area called Losano Ridge which is about 2,000 feet from the Pakistani border. At the time the soldiers determined that some of the incoming attack originated in Pakistan. It was estimated that more than sixty al-Queda and Taliban fighters were killed.

I managed to go back to sleep for a couple hours. When I got up this morning the national news was reporting that Osama bin-Laden had been killed in an area of Afghanistan on the Pakistani border.

What a strange coincidence.

4 comments:

Michele said...

That is strange. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night then read myself to sleep. I don't usually pick books like this. What I really need to do is have my husband record a couple of episodes of Antiques Roadshow, that always puts me to sleep. I'm not sure why because I love that show.

Pam said...

As you know, I saw the author of The Unforgiving Minute speak on Saturday at the Reading Across RI breakfast. I had to wonder what he was thinking when he heard the news this morning. Quite the coincidence. I can only imagine what the topic of his speech and the Q&A that followed would be if the breakfast was this upcoming weekend. Very eerie.

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I just got chills reading this.

Jeanie said...

Wow. That's kind of cool-creepy. I know what you mean about reading a book that's not quite your cup of tea but then you find it surprisingly compelling. A good sign!

 

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