The latest in war memoirs

LOVE MY RIFLE MORE THAN YOU Kayla Williams with Michael E. Staub Zonked-out punk rocker becomes levelheaded Army recruit, despite ineffective superiors and sexist soldiers (of both genders).

Telling War Story One of her unit’s few Arabic-speaking soldiers, she assists in a degrading ”interrogation” of an Iraqi prisoner.

Pop-Culture Morale Boosters The Violent Femmes, Fugazi

Mission Accomplished? A sobering look at the military’s screwy sexual politics as well as an empathetic tale of blood, sweat, and the occasional well-earned tears.

THE LAST TRUE STORY I’LL EVER TELL John Crawford A married National Guardsman aims to survive his unexpected tour in Baghdad without getting blown up?or flirting too much with the ladies.

Telling War Story After a raid yields bags of money, he’s forced to turn in his cash-keeping squad leader.

Pop-Culture Morale Boosters Phil Collins, The Boondock Saints

Mission Accomplished? Honest to a fault, Crawford wants to be seen as a no-BS truth teller. But he comes off as a bigmouthed brute (and a sloppily hokey writer).

MY WAR Colby Buzzell An Army enlistee posts his increasingly disillusioned wartime rants on a blog without getting busted by the brass.

Telling War Story Trying to pass his admittance exam, Buzzell fakes his way through a drug test — with the help of his recruiter.

Pop-Culture Morale Boosters Dead Kennedys, Apocalypse Now

Mission Accomplished? uzzell provides a bratty, funny, often surreal ”What the @!%# am I doing here?” account of military life, from his horndog fellow soldiers to Iraqi interpreters running scams on the side.

ONE BULLET AWAY Nathaniel Fick A Dartmouth grad endures rugged Marine training, then makes volatile tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Telling War Story A tense ambush turns the sky into a mess of hurled grenades and tracers, injuring two of Fick’s men.

Pop-Culture Morale Boosters Metallica, Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose

Mission Accomplished? Fick’s descriptions of his time in the camp and the desert are full of detail?so much so that several skirmishes and maneuvers begin to blur together.