Most of us have a certain picture in our mind of what war is like, though few of us have ever experienced it, except through movies, TV and books.
Even in popular culture, it takes a skilled storyteller to describe what combat is really like. A new book, Camera Boy, by local writer Fred Minnick, takes the reader on a harrowing, realistic ride into his year as a soldier in the Iraq war in 2004.
Minnick was in the 139th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment in Iraq. His team's job was to chronicle the conditions, in a positive way, for the folks back home. His memoir, however, isn't about spinning a positive message about the war effort. It's about what life was like in the trenches.
Minnick and his fellow officers didn't spend their time in Iraq couped up in an office, though he describes the team's office in an Iraqi palace as quite luxurious. But he wanted to spend his time on missions, in places where bullets were flying and bombs were exploding.
The book's most interesting sections describe going on missions packing an M-16 and a camera, alongside soldiers risking their lives in the war-torn streets of Mosul. There are car bombs Minnick is sent to photograph, and death is ever-present.
Minnick's tale is full of both humor and sadness. There's the boys' club in what he calls NCO Alley, between the trailers where the soldiers lived. And there's heartbreak when a good-natured interpreter is killed by insurgents intent on killing those who help the American forces.
Minnick, who lives in Louisville and is now a freelance writer, mainly on food and dining topics, reveals plenty of what goes on inside the minds of soldiers. From vivid descriptions of mortar attacks to the difficult adjustment when soldiers come home, Minnick holds nothing back in describing the thoughts going through his head.
The paperback includes several of Minnick's photos from the Iraq War.
"Camera Boy" is published by Hellgate Press.
Fred has two book signings scheduled in town. The first is Nov. 5 at Carmichael's on Frankfort Ave., at 7. The other is Nov. 11 at the Barnes & Noble in the Summit, also at 7.
Most of us have a certain picture in our mind of what war is like, though few of us have ever experienced it, except through movies, TV and books. 
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Rick Redding