EOD Book Review: Eight Lives Down

The heritage of American EOD forces comes from the UK. Draper Kauffman was a Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Technician before returning to the U.S. to stand up the first mine and bomb disposal school here. From that point until 9/11 the Brits encountered more IEDs than American forces, especially during "the troubles" in Ireland. Their units are structured differently from those in the U.S. and their EOD Techs are called Ammunition Technical Officers or "ATOs."

Eight Lives Down by Major Chris Hunter, is one ATO's account of his tour of duty in Basra as part of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. I highly recommend it for someone who is interested in the life of an ATO and the counter-IED effort in Iraq. See my detailed review on amazon.com at: Eight Lives Down.