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Reading on the Front Lines

Mar- 1-2010 » Filed Under: 5/2 SBCT

When shooting stops, some soldiers read - The Associated Press

BADULA QULP, Afghanistan — When he was a child, and it was bedtime and lights out, Gene Hicks would hide under the blankets and read with a flashlight. Now he's Army 1st Sgt. Gene Hicks, fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and sometimes lies in his sleeping bag reading with a flashlight.

"I'm still doing the same thing," said Hicks, whose mind travels far from the war zone to a world inhabited by a monk, a duke, an assassin and the merchant princes of medieval Europe.

Hicks, 39, of Tacoma, Washington, is reading "The Anger of God" by Paul Doherty, a mystery novel set in London in 1379. His girlfriend in the U.S. wrote to Doherty to tell him Hicks was a fan. The author mailed a prayer card, autographed copies of four books, and a note — "Be safe."

Hicks is part of a force from the 5th Stryker Brigade that has pushed into Taliban land near the southern town of Marjah, where U.S. Marines are fighting. He retreats to Doherty's book when he can.


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