Ranger: A Soldier's Life

American Warrior Series

By: Ralph Puckett USA - Ret., D.K.R. Crosswell

Narrated by: Neil Reeves

On November 25, 1950, during one of the toughest battles of the Korean War, the US Eighth Army Ranger Company seized and held the strategically important Hill 205 overlooking the Chongchon River. Separated by more than a mile from the nearest friendly unit, 51 soldiers fought several hundred Chinese attackers. Their commander, Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, was wounded three times before he was evacuated. For his actions, he received the country's second-highest award for courage on the battlefield - the Distinguished Service Cross - and resumed active duty later that year as a living legend.

In this inspiring autobiography, Colonel Ralph Puckett recounts his extraordinary experiences on and off the battlefield. After he returned from Korea, Puckett joined the newly established US Army Ranger Department, serving as an instructor and tactical officer, and commanding companies at Fort Benning and in the Ranger Mountain Camp in north Georgia. He went on to lead companies in Vietnam, train cadets at West Point, and organize the Escuela de Lancero leadership course in Colombia. Puckett's story is critical for soldiers, leaders, military historians, and others interested in the impact of conflict on individual soldiers as well as the military as a whole.

©2017 The University Press of Kentucky (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Good Ranger, poor narration

The story was phenomenal, however the narration was dry.
Just a guy reading word for word, no influx in his voice or attempted animation of the story.

Horrendous narration of an "Okay" memoir.

Not a bad memoir for anyone interested in the formation of the modern Ranger Regiment and the experiences of one of their principal leaders. However, I found it to have some serious flaws. I'll get to the point... this book really needed a better editor/advisor. Lt. Col. Puckett's writing leaves much to be desired. This is not a dig at the man, just stating my observation. So much of this book should have been edited and streamlined. On a side note (I started with audio and moved to print), the narration of the audiobook is simply terrible. That said, this is not factored into my overall assessment of the book, I'm still rating this a "2-star" or "Okay" read.

Waste of Time

I don't know how this book made the CSA reading list. It's written at a very elementary level which didn't stimulate me intellectually. He writes as if his audience are only Soldiers. If you're not prior Army, it may be hard to follow this book from his extensive use of Army acronyms and Army jargon that would be unfamiliar to others. He also writes stating just facts. He doesn't know how to weave a story using adjectives and smilies so his storytelling ability is very rigid and dry. The actual book is essentially a diary of his life so I didn't gain any tactical or strategic military insight from reading it which was the intent for getting this audio book. Though he is an inspirational Soldier and leader, writing and storytelling are not his strengths. Finally, the narrator speaks too slowly and over-accentuates all the military acronyms so it makes it hard to relax and enjoy his narration.