All Routes Are Amber: A soldier’s Experience in the Iraq War
By First Sergeant (Retried) Martin F. Swirko United States Army
Many of you who visit my website here already know that I have published a book recently. The book itself went live in November of 2025. But for those of you who do not know it, I have authored a book by the same name as this website. The books title is:
All Routes Are Amber: A Soldiers Experience in the Iraq War
The back book cover describes the book as follows;
It was 2005 when Martin Swirko, a Master Sergeant serving in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, volunteered for active duty to serve as an embedded advisor with an Iraqi battalion. Motivated with a burning desire to discover whether or not the US Army doctrine he had been instilling in soldiers throughout his career had any relevance once they arrived on the modern battlefield, Swirko left his wife and family, civilian life, and civilian career behind, and transitioned from Ft. Carson to Kuwait to Iraq and finally into combat.
In a vivid retelling of his military experiences, Swirko begins by describing his first days in the US Army Reserves in the eighties, followed by the tedious and often arduous process as he was mobilized and fed into the regular army for his assignment. As he moved through time to eventually describe his time in Iraq, he provides a candid glimpse into his leadership challenges and the unique cultural challenges he and his team faced while operating and living among his Iraqi battalion and the local population.
Since the book has been published and available, it has received some good reviews. Below are a few excerpts from those reviews:
….There is a sense of apprehension in recollections of hearing distant firefights, and Swirko’s admissions that he faced physical limitations because of his age are humanizing. The struggles he faced after returning home are also covered with humility-Clarion Foreword Reviews
….For someone like me who never served, I think what makes All Routes Are Amber a compelling read is the way Marty describes the realities of deployment: the camaraderie, the fear of what lies ahead day to day, and the weight of decisions made under pressure, experiences, though not in the context of combat, that are universal-Amazon Review by Thomas Hall Author of Hidden, Spectrums and several other novels.
…The author writes with such honesty and passion, not only about himself and his experiences, but also about the realities of war so many of his fellow soldiers faced during the Iraq War. The book proves to be very insightful, not only granting readers a chance to see the psychological impact the war had on soldiers personally from a soldiers perspective by exploring everything from trauma to the guilt of serving in a different capacity back home, while others go back to the front lines, and so much more. The level of detail and precision the author provides for the specifics of these events allows the reader to feel transported, fully in each memory and moment in history, and to gain the clarity of mind needed to appreciate the hardships and struggles these soldiers faced daily…Rich with detail and exploring the human condition through the eyes of war, Martin F. Swirko delivers a profound nonfiction read that will resonate both with soldiers and non-military readers alike-The Pacific Book Review
There is more to this review and the Pacific Book Review also designated this book as a Pacific Book Review Notable Book
…Swirko’s sensitivity during this time is impressive…An education awaited the author. He remarks about dealing with people with whom he was obliged to work, while feeling that he “could not quite trust them. Commenting on the Muslims that he knew, the author observes that a certain fatalism strongly influenced the people’s actions…The text is clear and Swirko defines his work and the intellectual, emotional, and physical efforts in ways that respect the reader’s intelligence and the ambiguities of multiple situations. The book will enlighten any reader who wants to learn about the climate in which soldiers worked during that time, thanks to its clarity and attention to detail that civilians can’t experience-The US Review of Books
The above reviews are available on line, in their entirety if anyone wished to see them. If any of you haven’t read or picked up the book, and since these reviews are mostly favorable, if anyone had an interest the book is available on line both in print and digital format at the following sites:
Iuniverse Publishing
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
And many other on-line retail outlets. Thank you for taking the time to check in with me!-Marty S.
All Routes Are Amber 