I've read quite a few books on this topic, some more or less "me and joe went to war" and some with more depth to them. Some of the "me and joe" ones are better reading after one has gotten a better understanding of the larger picture. Rather than waste my time and effort doing an indepth review of each book, as I dig them out of the piles by my bed I'm going to give them a 1 to 5 Star rating with possibly a short bit of insight. The one outstanding fact in all these books is the nearly unbelievable bravery and devotion to each other of almost all of the men in action.

That said, I'll start with the last one I read:

1) The Outpost by Jake Tapper 2012 600+ pages
**** stars

A good read which handles the topic both on a personal and strategic level and, as almost all these books about Afghanistan do, show how George Bush completely fucked up our "war" and nation building in Afghanistan and how diverting troops and support to Iraq cost American lives there. My only real quibble is that when he goes into detail about someone's personal relationships, kids, etc. that is a give away that the guy gets smoked.

The story of a misguided rear echelon decision to plan a new outpost, starting in 2006, to be manned initially by the 10th Mt. Divi. A true fuck up from the word go, the planners protested mightily that the position was indefensible and would get Americans killed, but to no avail. The Outpost, later named Keating, was surrounded by high mountains, giving plunging fire into it by attackers. For various reasons, both political and military it did get many Americans and more ANA (Afghan Nat. Army) troops killed. Ending with the base being penetrated and nearly overrun with hand to hand combat. There were at least 3 Medals of Honor awarded due to actions on or near the Outpost. Surprisingly 2 are still alive.

quote:

Paul Monti (father of Jared Monti, awarded MOH posthumously), a public high school sciences teacher, was already incensed by what he saw as a near derelection of duty by President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who for some reason had focused all of their attention and the great majority of their available manpower in Iraq. In doing so, Paul Monti believed, they short changed his son and all the other troops who were fighting in the very country where those responsible for 9/11 had laid out their sinister plans. Why would Bush and Rumsfeld, Paul Monti wondered, send these kids into war without making sure they had enough support and supplies?

Sounds important and a good read. Thanks, Brian

2) Into the Fire by Dakota Meyers and Bing West 2012 200+ pages
***1/2 Stars

A pretty good read basically about a 4 man Marine team based at Outpost Monti (see review above, Outpost Monti, named for the posthumous MOH winner was another outpost near Outpost Keating.) They were ordered to go into a local hamlet, Ganjigal, with very poorly considered tactical considerations.

It is a biography of Dakota Meyers (recently married to Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol) who joined the Marines out of high school, became a sniper and was eventually a part of a 4 man team posted at Outpost Monti to "advise" the ANA and help with the COIN (counterinsurgency) ideas spread by Gen. Petraeus, among others. A "movement" which at it's best had some success but was doomed to failure by the politics of a long war. Another review will help illustrate this issue. Just for instance, under heavy fire, the teams in Ganjigal were denied artillery because the CO dithered about who was where, who was shooting, etc. That decision cost lives.

I feel certain that all the real writing of the book was done by Bing West.

Meyers, luckily for him, was replaced in the 4 man team at the last minute, in spite of serious protests by him and all the other team members. Orders were orders. They were ambushed and his efforts, against orders, to rescue his comrades and ANA members won him the MOH.

To his credit, in the last chapter, Meyers makes a detailed argument that a Army advisor, Capt William Swenson, who was also recommended for the MOH, had the rec signed off on, and then it just died in the paper mill, has never received any medal at all for this action, should be awarded his MOH, which was well deserved.

A few snippets:

quote:

The Afghans have a saying: You can rent an Afghan but you can never buy one. Meaning they are going to support who give them the most "rent" or money.

quote:

In early September (main battle of book was on Sept 8), a US patrol entered a hamlet near Ganjigal to test the reactions of the locals. They seemed friendly. When the patrol left only a few PKM machine gun rounds were fired at them. So the effort was deemed a success.

Army Lt. Fabayo, who planned the fateful mission, says....

quote:

"We're walking in?" Meyer asked. "We're not taking our gun trucks?"

"No. We're going in at dawn, " Fabayo said. "The noise of the trucks would alert them. I don't want to lose the element of surprise."

Element of surprise, my ass. (Dakota Meyers thinking) I didn't know how 90 noisy Askars (ANA) arriving after a day of cell phone chatter (by the insurgents), could have an "element of surprise" walking into a mountain village.

They walked, there was no element of surprise, instead there was a well planned and heavily manned ambush, and men died, including all of Meyer's Marine team whom he and his driver made heroic efforts to reach and rescue.

3) House to House, an epic memoir of war by Staff Sargent David Bellavia with John R. Bruning 2007 300+ pages
***** Stars

Even tho this is a "me and Joe" book, it is a extremely realistic story of men at war. Primarily the story of the house to house fighting and dying in the attack on Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004 by 3rd platoon, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Divi of the US Army, lead by SSG. Bellavia. There's not much overall information, rather it is the story of men living and dying up close and personal.

It is downright dirty and gritty, tells it like it was, ending with the most graphic one on one, hand to hand combat description I've ever read and probably ever will.

quote:

I am a Christian, but my time in Iraq has convinced me that God doesn't want to hear from me anymore. I've done things that even He can never forgive. I've done them consciously: I've made decisions I must live with for years to come. I am not a victim. In each instance, I heard my conscience call for restraint, I told it to shut the fuck up and let me handle my business.

All the sins I've committed, I've done them with one objective: to keep my men alive. Those kids in my squad, those kids of mine, they are everything.

I'm half way through Outpost. It is excellent, but quite upsetting at times. I am learming a lot about the history and politics of the Afghans war as well.

Some trivia: It's in the same country where Alexander the Great was, Where Kiplings story of The Man Who Would be King was and where the story in Kiplings poem The Ballad of East and West was.

It's a good book. Brian

4)The Only Thing Worth Dying For by Eric Blehm 2010 350+ pages
***1/2 Stars

A pretty good read about one of the first Special Forces A Teams, consisting of 11 men, inserted into Afghanistan after 9-11, primarily to escort Hamid Karzai into the country and keep him alive. Most of the book is about these 3 weeks in November 2001.

I developed a much more sympathetic view of Karzai after reading this book.

The ending was terrible, when for various reasons, the team was wiped out by a guided 500 pound bomb called in on their position by mistake by an American controller, who, if it wasn't for Army officers attempting to grab some glory for the surrender of Kandahar (arranged by Karzai and the SF teams) would not have been in charge of the air support.

More interesting, with men dying, calling for an emergency medevac, Marine Gen Mattis refused to allow Marine copters to go to their aid, even tho they were much closer (40 min flying time)than any other help. I found Mattis' actions to be inexcusable.

After Mattis refusing direct entreaties from Two Spec. Forces officers and kicking them out of his office, they had to look elsewhere.

In fact, they found 2 Air Force choppers about 3 hours away at a base in Pakistan. One had flown in the night before and pilot was asleep. Flying in daylight over enemy controlled terrain with choppers was considered to be a suicide mission. Without hesitation, to save fellow Americans, these guys responded immediately, suited up and flew the medevac (which BTW they thought was going to be into a hot landing zone, it wasn't)rescue without any real flight plans or normal briefing, most of the time flying flat out 25 feet above the ground to avoid giving the enemy time to fire. It is an example of American heroism at its best. Well worth reading for the ending. While they didn't get any major medals for their heroism that day, the men who were there, alive, wounded, dead, or dying know what the Air Force helicopters. their pilots, and their crew did for them.

quote:

By streamlining every aspect of the planning, a cobbled-together rescue mission composed of 24 men--2 pilots, 2 co-pilots, 4 flt. engineers, 4 aerial gunners, 6 PJs, 3 combat controllers, a Spec Ops physician, one Spec Ops pilot/physician, and one spook---was ready for takeoff 30 minutes after the medevac request was received.

Knife 03 and 04 were on the way.

5) Level Zero Heroes by Michael Golembesky and John R. Bruning 2014 just under 300 pages
*** Stars

The story of a platoon of Marine Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanaistan from late 2009 to mid-2010. The author, Golembesky, was the JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller)(read munitions and bombs) controller for Dagger 22, the Marine Spec Ops group.

Pretty much a "me and joe" story, not bad, but I didn't think it was as good as some other reviewers did.
More of the same about stupid rules of engagement costing lives.

quote:

The old man (Afghani) amplified.

"When Americans are around, I am not Taliban. But when they are not here, I am Taliban."

"Kudos for the honesty, rare in these parts." (thinks Golembesky)

I think Rob realized in that moment that the old man's statement encapsulated the entire situation in Afghanistan. The people cared nothing of politics or nationhood. In this harsh unforgiving place, survival was the only thing that mattered. Ideals and duty to something other than self, family, and livestock were useless luxuries. Loyalty got you killed around here. So the old man went with the flow and got by, just like the rest of the people in the valley.

6) Fearless by Eric Blehm 2012 250 pages
*1/2 stars

What amounts to a long religious tract biography, which might be of more interest to serious Christians, about an amazing individual, Adam Brown, a Devgru Seal who was killed in Afghanistan. Still an amazing story of a man who overcame drug addiction, a severed hand, loss of vision in one eye (he subsequently graduated from the Naval Sniper program) to become a Super SEAL.

Really very little action but some serious insights into the absolutely amazing Adam Brown, who overcame his crack cocaine addiction to become a top SEAL. Not to mention SEAL strutures. For instance, I thought all SEALs were SEALS, true, but not really, there are super SEALS, which are in the top 1% of SEALS, which go thru an additional 7 months of Green Team training to become a member of DEVGRU (United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), or DEVGRU) which is often referred to as SEAL Team SIX, after their existence was exposed by Obama with the killing of Bin Ladin.

7)Joker One by Donovan Campbell 2009 300 pages
*** Stars

A somewhat better than the average "me and joe" story of a Marine platoon (Joker One) and it's leader Lt. Donovan Campbell, honor grad Princeton, Harvard Bus. School, and first in his class at Marine Basic Officer's Training School who patrolled and fought in Ramadi, Iraq, from March to Sept, 2004. Introspective with detailed insight into his men, good and bad.

8) Shooter by Gunnery Sargent Jack Coughlin, USMC, and Capt. Casey Kuhlman, USMCR, and Donald A. Davis 2005 300 pages
***1/2 Stars

A good read by and about G. Sgt. Coughlin, a Marine Sniper, with over 60 confirmed kills working his skills up to and including the invasion of Iraq. I actually read this book twice, once some years ago as I was interested in the sniping aspects, and then again, more recently, as I had gained a larger view of the overall battle, both political and military.

quote:

People often ask why I didn't try out for the prestigious Marine Corps Shooting Team, but the question comes from someone who does not understand that there is a world of difference between competition shooters and snipers. Pure shooting is only part of what a sniper does, for we also master the arts of sneaking into an area, hiding, deception, and hunting. We are entirely different societies, although the Marine competition shooters are awesome to watch.

......Paper targets don't shoot back, so it's really kind of boring.

Thanks, very informative.

Outpost is so realistic that half way through chapter 5, I got hit with an RPG.

Even tho it is about an earlier war, Vietnam, I think it is appropriate to include it here.

9)Legend by Eric Blehm 2015 just under 300 pages
**** Stars

To me, probably the best of the 3 Blehm books reviewed by me.

It is the biography of a native Texan Hispanic (Tejano), a Green Beret, Roy Benavides, and his absolutely incredible bravery on 2 May, 1968 in helping with the rescue of the remaining live members of a Special Forces A Team which was in Cambodia, before the US was supposed to be in Cambodia. An action for which he was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor by President Regan. Although greviously wounded, (they were zipping him into a body bag, when he spit on one of the men to let them know he was alive), he survived and went on to serve honorably for many more years in the Army as a Green Beret.

Nearly as remarkable are the relatively unsung heroes of the VN war, the helicopter pilots that again and again, flew on extremely dangerous of insertion, extraction, or medevacs. They are also the heroes of this book. It might be a more difficult book to write but I have read none about these guys, who flew the "slicks".

Just as an example, after several effort to contact one of the pilots involved in the May 2 opertion, one of the pilots replied with a letter quoted below, written sometime in Sept, 1968:

quote:

Dear Sir: (to Benavides)

I know that you are disappointed (because of a delay in the reply) in me but hope you understand. After your second letter, I left to fly a mission at the Cambodian border. We had 2 ships go down and lost the entire crew of one. Bill Fernan, who was flying with Larry Mckibben when he was killed was the ship that didn't come back. We did recover one crew. I left Bear Cat 10 July and have only been here once since. I went on R & R to Hawaii on 13 August. While I was there, we had 2 pilots killed and a crew chief. My roommate was killed June 24. We lost 6 pilots that day. It has really been bad. I am the only one left from the platoon that Larry knew. Hope you understand my situation and forgive me for not answering promptly. We are having a lot of action here. Seems like they are everywhere.

Take care, Wiggie

quote:

Close to 300 Special Forces Green Berets assigned to he MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group)(of which Sgt Benavides was a member) were killed in action. Over 50 more remain missing in action---their last known whereabouts being either Laos, Cambodia, or North Vietnam.

I don't remember where I read this, but the Afghans have a saying, which is why our efforts, as currently practiced and with our current political goals, in that and similar countries are doomed.

quote:

The Americans have the watches, but we (the resistance of Afghanistan) have the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Brian Canada:
Outpost is so realistic that half way through chapter 5, I got hit with an RPG.

LOL. One thing I was struck by in reading almost all of these books was how relatively ineffective the RPGs were in battle. They obviously killed and wounded troops, but not as many as I'd have thought for the numbers fired. I am not sure if this is simply a product of the weapon design itself or of the Afghans and Iraqis use of it. Many of the Afghans, for example, simply spray and pray with AKs, so perhaps they also don't aim very well with the RPG.

10)American Spartan by Ann Scott Tyson 2014 about 350 pages
*****Stars

This is an excellent read which will give the reader more insight into the politics and US military actions due to politics and results on the ground and the Pashtun (main resistance tribe in Afghanistan), their tribal structure, and Pushtanwali (their core belief structure) than all the others above combined. The only real problem with the book is that it is written by the war correspondent/later wife of the main character, Special Forces Major Jim Grant, so it is hard to think that it is as objective as it should be. That said, a very fine read about a man of nearly indomitable spirit who appears to have been by far the best at the counterinsurgency US mission of organizing the Pashtuns in his AO into helping the US mission. He eventually was relieved of duty, possibly because he "went native" and possibly because of professional conflicts/jealousy, probably some combination of the two. Highly recommended.

Very informative thread Gato.

I have been reading

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_of_a_King

It's nearing 175 years old but explains a lot of Afghanistan today.

Also if one has Netflix - def worth watching

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...View_by_Rory_Stewart


Mike

To date, startng with Alexander the Great, no invader has successfully occupied Afghanistan. The British were thoroughly defeated when they had by far the best army in the world. Now, the Russians and then, us, the USA.

The Pashtun traditional tribal area (Pashtunistan) was divided between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the 1800s and finally in 1947. It is still an issue with the Pashtuns.

Abdul Wali Khan, a Pashtun politician in Pakistan in the 1970s said, "I have been a Pakastani for 30 years, a Muslim for 1400 years, and a Pashtun for 5000 years."

I'll try to read the above book, but right now I'm concentrating on our involvement which has been a generally poor effort and will end in defeat, if by defeat, one means leaving Afghanistan much as we found it with only our and their dead and wounded to maintain the record or our time there. George Bush was right when he declared the US should not engage in nation building. Too bad he forgot that in Iraq and Afghanistan.

11)One Million Steps by Bing West 2014 about 225 pages ***** Stars

A very fine writing job by Mr. West which does a very good job of explaining (exposing) the overall strategic concerns and the day to day living and dying of the Marines in one Marine platoon at an intense daily war/fight for survival in Sangin, Afghanistan in late 2010 to mid 2011. A fine writing effort about a losing strategy that fairly well covers the subject in a relatively short book.

There are so many relevant quotes and the book is relatively short, so I invite the reader to pick his own. However....

quote:

"No one above battalion came up with anything new for us," Garcia said. "We didn't receive advice on tactics. It was killing every day. No Afghan informant helped us. Intelligence didn't drive ops; ops drove ops."

12)The Red Circle by Brandon Webb 2012 about 375 pages
***** Stars

An autobiography of Navy Seal Brandon Webb. A fine read, mostly for it's insight into Seals, their initial training and the continuous schools, plus Webb became a Sniper while in the Seals.