CHOP THAT SH*T UP!

In this memoir, a man recounts a wide-ranging career in the Army and the lessons he drew from his experiences.

Pinion hails from an impressive lineage of military service—his grandfather Frank Richards fought in World War II. Unsure what to do following high school, the author enlisted in the New Jersey National Guard, a momentous decision that sparked a 28-year career in the Army. He served in a variety of roles, from managing the hygiene of a platoon’s latrines to leading men into combat on foreign soil. The book’s title is drawn from an anecdote revolving around latrine duty—when the author encountered the “most giant shit in the history of soldier turds,” he was ordered by a superior officer to “CHOP THAT SHIT UP!” That experience, as unpleasant and grotesque as it was, offered a lesson to Pinion: “But in the end, a fantastic thing happened: I learned a huge lesson that day. One of the reasons I made it to command sergeant major in the United States Army was that I never let any obstacle stop me from completing the mission. I simply rolled up my sleeve and CHOPPED THAT SHIT UP!!” This establishes the memoir’s formula, conveyed in a series of anecdotes: A story, often genuinely funny or dramatic, is related, and the author infers a lesson from it. In other episodes, he discerns the importance of preparatory training, the need to question authority, and the significance of healthy, if heated, conflict. Of course, these are sensible and useful discoveries. But some lessons are so uncontroversial that they register as items of common sense of the kind readers can find in several self-help business books. Pinion’s tributes to his fellow soldiers, especially those who died valorously in combat, are heartbreakingly rendered, and he presents a stirring portrait of military honor. But while his writing is clear and companionable, the various lessons he presents are a bit uneven.

This moving account of an eventful, admirable military career delivers helpful but sometimes familiar lessons.