The Operators

Reporter Michael Hastings wrote the Rolling Stone article that led to the resignation of Gen. Stan McChrystal as commander of the American forces in Afghanistan … before the magazine containing the article even hit the newstands.

The Rolling Stone piece revealed a command staff that held the civilian leadership in open contempt. But possibly more damaging to McChrystal, it reported a rank and file of young soldiers nearly mutinous, perilously caught in nebulous rules of engagement that made it impossible to determine friend from foe and how to respond to either.

In “The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan,” Hastings writes a more detailed account of the access he was given to McChrystal and staff for the Rolling Stone story.

He writes he often felt several discussions would be off the record but McChrystal and crew never made the off-the-record call. They were open, brash, arrogant in their attitudes and the things they said in front of Hastings, all apparently on the record. 

If they thought Hastings would cull some of the more candid statements and antics, they were brutally mistaken. Hastings notes he often felt compelled to give them a break in the writing because he liked them and enjoyed the front-row access they provided.

Hastings’ thoughts on journalism, and specifically being an embedded war correspondent, are as fascinating as his insights into McChrystal and the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

Netflix released a movie based on the book last year. “War Machine” features Brad Pitt playing a fictionalized general that is McChrystal in almost everything but name.

The movie is darkly humorous until it delves into the lives of the soldiers who question the Pitt character. “The Operators” has moments of humor but it is not the dark comedy of the movie. It is more of a tragedy, all the more so given Hastings’ fate.

He survived being a war correspondent to die in a 2013 car crash.