Book and Movie Review: Charlie Wilson’s War

I met Charlie Wilson a couple of times when I was an engineer in the munitions business, so Charlie Wilson’s War had a special attraction for me when it was first published.  Charlie Wilson was a US Congressman from Texas, and to say he was larger than life would be a huge understatement.  Tall, good-looking, a booming voice, a warm personality, and his trademark navy blue suits, white shirts, and suspenders made Mr. Wilson both awe-inspiring and approachable.  Larger than life, as I’ve already said.  Charlie Wilson was someone who was instantly likeable. I’ve never met anyone like him.

We made ammunition, mines, and cluster bombs in those days, and in the 1980s our business was (if you’ll pardon the pun) booming.  My specialties were cluster bombs and mines; we had a sister division that designed and manufactured 30mm A-10 and 25mm Bushmaster ammo.   Congressman Wilson’s interest in us was in the ammo side of the business, and as a relatively high-rolling young dude I was able to attend the meetings when he was in town.  Charlie’s efforts were focused on arming the Afghan rebels trying to kick the Russians out of Afghanistan and back to the Motherland, and what they desparately needed was something that could knock down the Hind helicopter.  That’s where we came in.  The Hind was an armored helicopter (a flying tank, essentially), and we made 30mm ammo that could knock out Soviet tanks (which it did in droves during Operation Desert Storm, our war that would follow a decade later).

President Reagan didn’t want to give the Afghan rebels the shoulder-fired anti-aircraft Stinger missile, as he was concerned about those weapons falling into the wrong hands.  But he was okay with providing purpose-built, shoulder-fired weapons that would use A-10 ammo.   Now, I know what you are probably thinking:  The A-10 30mm round has more muzzle energy than a World War II 75mm Howitzer round, and there’s no way anyone could fire one of those from the shoulder.

Well, hold that thought.  The 30mm anti-Hind rifle was shoulder fired, but not in the sense we would ordinarily think of a shoulder-fired weapon.  The deal was you backed up to a rock or a tree, put the butt of the rifle against it, and then sort of got underneath it.  Like I said above, that’s where we came in.  We provided the ammo.

Ultimately, the program outlined above was cancelled and President Reagan okayed selling Stingers to the Afghan rebels.  Before the Russian chopper pilots could learn (but instantly and intrinsically came to understand) the words to Patsy Cline’s hit tune,  Stingers were doing what they were designed to do.  The Stingers were astonishingly effective, and within a few days of their arrival, the Soviets realized they were in Deep Geshitski (as they say back in Mother Russia).  It wasn’t too long before they rolled back across the bridge to the Soviet Union.  Come to think of it, not too long after that the entire Evil Empire collapsed.  Charlie Wilson was one of the guys who made it happen.

I don’t mind telling you that I was in awe of Charlie Wilson, and when the book (Charlie Wilson’s War) came out, I bought and read it immediately.  Then it was made into a movie with the same name (Charlie Wilson’s War), and we similarly saw it immediately.  Tom Hanks (one of the all time greats, in my opinion) was good in the lead role, but as Lloyd Benson might say, he was no Charlie Wilson.  Mr. Wilson could have played himself.  He had the right kind of personality and magnetism for it.

The good news is that Charlie Wilson’s War is still in print (it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read), and the even better news is that if you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, Charlie Wilson’s War is running on that platform right now.  Trust me on this:  It’s one you want to see.

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