One Bullet Away Sparknotes

The Making of a Marine Corps Officer

One Bullet Away is a military memoir written by and about Nathaniel Fick’s terrifying journey through blood, sweat and tears in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before he joined the Marine Corps, he was at Dartmouth University doubting his life decisions. He didn’t understand how his friends were signing six-figure contracts, going off to more schooling, and doing more reading and studying instead of living. Knowing that more college didn’t appeal to him, he wanted to go on an adventure to prove himself and serve his country. There was no better place to do that than the Marine Corps as an infantry officer, so he signed up and was shipped to Quantico Virginia.
Climbing off a white school bus at a Marine Corps base

in Quantico, Fick starts his journey at Officer Candidate School (OCS).  Before he can be accepted into the military as an infantry officer, he must complete rigorous training at a variety of specialized schools. At OCS a civilian or enlisted personnel goes through training in order to be commissioned as an officer in a branch of the military, and in Fick’s case the Marine Corps. After ten weeks of physical training and lessons on military subjects, like leadership, Fick passes OCS and is sworn into the Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant, the lowest Marine Corps officer rank. Fick’s next step to becoming an infantry officer is completing The Basic School (TBS), where newly commissioned officers learn even more about what it means to be an officer, and where officers will select their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS). Fick selects his MOS as infantry officer, and over the course of TBS he will be tested by being put through intensive drills. One night during TBS, Fick showed bravery and potential after successfully defeating the enemy during a simulation, and was selected to move onto Infantry Officer Course (IOC) when he graduates. Fick graduates with no problems and moves to IOC, which is the last step to becoming an Infantry Officer. After twelve weeks of learning about patrolling, reconnaissance, weapons and tactics, and practicing combat with field training exercises, Fick was ready to graduate and join the Marines as an infantry officer. After he graduated, he drove across the country to San Diego, California where he would report to First Battalion, First Marines, Bravo Company and meet Captain Whitmer, the Commanding Officer for Bravo Company, and the platoon he would be commanding. Captain Whitmer would become a role model and friend to Fick as they travel together throughout his military career. Soon after arriving in San Diego, Fick is shipped overseas to the Pacific Ocean with his Battalion on the USS Dubuque, and for the next six months they will represent America’s force for half the globe.
While refueling south of Guadalcanal two weeks later, the miniature fleet gets a message that terrorists have flown planes into the World Trade Center.

Quickly after receiving the message, the fleet heads straight to the coast of Afghanistan to begin bombing missions. During his time in Afghanistan, Fick plays a role in two separate missions. First, he leads his platoon by air into enemy territory to defend an area while a cargo helicopter retrieves a crashed Black Hawk. Second, Fick spends scorching hot days and frigid nights defending an airfield and the surrounding area in Jacobabad for a course of around 3 months. On Christmas morning, Fick’s platoon packs up gear and heads back to the USS Dubuque to be shipped back home. While on the two week trip back home, Fick is approached by Eric Dill, The Marine First Recon Commander, and is asked to join the prestigious group. Recon is a highly trained, specialized small group of individuals ready to accomplish anything that is thrown at

them.
Accepting Eric’s offer, Fick is sent back to Quantico for Recon training. During recon training, Fick was trained in stealth, how to jump out of planes and he attended the Navy’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape School (SERE). After successfully completing training and becoming a Recon Marine, he was sent back to First Battalion, Bravo Company to meet his new recon platoon and Captain Whitmer. When he arrived, he was surprised to see that Whitmer had been promoted, and was now Major Whitmer. When Fick was done catching up with Major Whitmer, he went to go visit his platoon. He was first introduced to his second in command, Gunnery Sergeant Wynn, who had served in as a sniper in Mogadishu and El Salvador. Since they both had fought in war before, they would make great partners. Wynn then introduced him to the rest of the platoon. The platoon was made up of twenty-three Marines divided into four teams, three teams of six and one five man headquarters team. The first team leader was Sergeant Colbert, the second team leader was Sergeant Patrick, the third team leader was Sergeant Lovell and Fick would stay with the headquarters team. Together, with Fick as their leader, the teams would work to survive and accomplish missions in combat, and to help them, the platoon was given five Humvees. For the next three months, the platoon modified the Humvees, practiced tactics and maneuvers, spent time at the firing range, grew closer as a team and waited for someone to make the call of war.  
When Congress had finally voted for war against Iraq, Fick’s team was ready and prepared to deploy within a week's notice. A month later they were ordered to move out, and were immediately shipped to Kuwait. The battalion’s mission was to travel north up Highway 7 from the Kuwait border to push the Iraqi military into Baghdad. Other Regiments would surround  Baghdad, giving Iraq no choice but surrender. On the six-hundred kilometer trip, they would clear cities and farm land of hostiles and provide supplies and humanitarian aid to those in poverty. The Battalion would cautiously travel in a single file line, constantly switching positions and watching every angle. The first city that the battalion approached was Nasiriyah, and Fick was positioned in the back of the line. Ahead, he heard machine guns rattle and mortar rounds thump, but by the time he had entered the city all had stopped. Destroyed vehicles and dead bodies littered the streets, both Iraqi and American. With time, Fick learns that every town they travel through ends like this, except their not in the back of the convoy every time. One time he leads his platoon through in the middle of the column and gets caught in a firefight and luckily survives. He also experienced some traumatic, emotional moments during his time in Iraq. One time his platoon was ordered to assault an airfield, and during the process he injured a civilian. He requested emergency first aid and was denied it, so he was forced to watch as a little girl bleed out and die. Another time, he was in a firefight and he watched one of his team leaders, Sergeant Patrick, get shot. Thankfully, Patrick was strong and powered through the pain, and when they got to safety he was shipped back to a hospital. After being on the road a couple months, the Marines had arrived south of Baghdad, and were ready to continue the already started assault. They quickly took the city and started operations to restore peace. During this time, Fick traveled from place to place giving humanitarian aid to those in need and providing defense for civilians against confused, active Iraqi military. A couple of weeks later, Fick and his platoon were ordered back to Kuwait to be shipped home.
When he got home, he felt strange and was treated differently by family and friends.

He saw things that most people wouldn't see or comprehend, and things that would keep him up at night. For his service and bravery in Iraq, he was promoted to the rank of a Captain. After being a platoon commander in Afghanistan and Iraq, he was ready to retire from the military and start his life at home. Everytime Fick looks back on his experiences, he sees that he brought all of his men home safely, gave everything he had for them, and together they all passed the test of combat. He isn’t regretful, scared or upset for what he did and saw, instead he is a proud United States Marine that served his country

well.
The theme of One Bullet Away is that war is cruel. One reason why Fick wrote his memoir was to show what life was like during wartime in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one thing he often showed was the cruelty of war. For example, when Fick’s platoon accidentally shot that little girl and couldn’t get emergency care to her. He was forced to watch as she died in her parent’s arms. Also, the time where one of his team leaders, Sergeant Patrick, got shot and Fick watched as he continued to fight. Afterwards, he safely taken to a hospital, but Fick lost a good friend and teammate that day during a firefight. Along with those two people, Fick saw a large amount of dead Marines, enemies, and civilians. To go along with the emotions of death and hardship, living conditions were very poor. During most nights he got no sleep, and during the day ate very poor meals. He never actually had shelter or a permanent home, instead he moved from place to place and slept in a hole with nights being very cold. He had to spend his time there being always on alert. During his time living and fighting in Iraq he had learned many things and one thing he definitely passed on to his readers was that war is cruel.
    I extremely enjoyed reading One Bullet Away and Fick’s writing style always kept me entertained. He uses a combination of setting a vivid image and fast paced action to create an intense, memorable memoir.  For me, this wasn’t a challenging read because Fick uses fairly simple language and I understood a lot of the military slang, which he uses a lot of. One bad thing about this book is that you might find yourself lost if you know nothing about the military. Another thing that could be considered bad is the profanity level. If you really are not a fan of profanity then I would not recommend you read this book because United States Marines can say bad things when combat gets intense. Other than that, if you understand the military and enjoy a good read, then I would highly recommend this book to you.
Traveling through an array of emotion and terrifying adventure in combat through Fick’s perspective, One Bullet Away is truly an outstanding book that I would consider a personal favorite. Watching Fick start out at training and evolve into a wise, experienced officer and seeing him experience teamwork and dedication is truly eye-opening. He is always remembered and seen through my eyes as a proud United States Marine that served his country with pride.