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A Rifleman Went to War | 
| Author: H. W. Mcbride
Creator: Ltc Jeff Cooper
Publisher: Lancer Militaria
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $21.56
You Save: $8.39 (28%)
New (5) Used (2) from $21.56
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 61414
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 4
Pages: 398
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0935856013
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.41271
EAN: 9780935856019
ASIN: 0935856013
Publication Date: September 1, 1987
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
Excellent book for the soldier's craft: infantry March 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mr. McBride has written a book that nearly perfectly talks about what can be expected from a modern infantry man. He talks about sniping, putting in a properly sighted machine gun, raids, and patrols. Honestly, this book is so good that most Army ROTC and Marine Infantry instruction may want to have their future officers and NCO candidates read this book.
I will give you a story that really stuck me as being ahead of its time. Now, this book was written in the mid-1930s. However, Mr. McBride knows the problems of lugging ammunition. A soldier with .303 British (about equal to modern NATO 7.62 ammo) could only carry about 200 to 300 rounds. So, Mr. McBride thinks the armies should carry ammunition of about .27 caliber. That is almost exactly 6.8 mm. This is exactly the same solution the US Army discovered after 5 years in Iraq.
I liked this book. Mr. McBride thinks both the British and Canadian Armies did much better with their training time than the US military. Indeed, he thinks the US Army and military is overly tied up with paperwork. And that observation was made in 1918.
This is a five star book by a soldier who knows his field craft. Pay attention to his anti-sniper traps. They are still useful today. Also, the book is great for telling about how the Germans would leave abandoned grenades after an attack. Some were rigged to go off if picked up.
As written before, this book is five star. Mr. McBride writes a book about the birth of the modern infantry man. Indeed, their is little difference between a Tommy of WWI with a Lewis gun and a Grunt in Vietnam carrying an M-60 machinegun. In 50 years little had changed.
The modern professional soldier can learn a lot from this book. Some university military history departments may want this book for an individual study of a hard infantry man.
Mesmerizing November 17, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
A thoughroughly enjoyable, mesmerizing, collection of a soldier's WWI remembrances. Somehow manages to be more than the sum of its plainly told, shy, politically incorrect, wars is hell but you get used to it parts. It ends up assembling and describing bit by bit the remarkable character of the author.
Also notable to me for how it reaches across 70 years to contrast how we've changed as a people. For example, I don't think this book would be published as written today. The editor would have probably added more polish, removed some of the namecalling and stereotyping and would have thus diminished the book.
Best book on the subject September 26, 2006
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Having read a lot of WWI books and books on sniping this one takes the cake. It's written in the autobiographical tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and will impress the old and young alike with its vivid imagery and colorful prose. Great read.
 Straight talking February 27, 2006
4 out of 7 found this review helpful
As a rifle shooter with a historical interest i bought this book. If your looking for an overly dramatic or gruesome account of life in the first world war trenches dont by this book. From what i can tell it is a written collection of memories by the author. These memories are written in a matter of fact, straight talking way which does not hide the authors zealous approach to his task of being a soldier.
Although at times slightly rambling i found this an interesting read and at times amuzing. A good reference if you are interested in rifle shooting or battle history.
Excellent Book March 29, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
It might not be written in perfect English, and it's not always politically correct, but it's definitely always enjoyable.
You get the whole WWI experience from the author's point of view, including enough "war stories" to satisfy any reader.
McBride includes technical details, anecdotes, and just good old story telling, in this tale of a machine gunner / rifleman in the Great War.
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