Taliban Safari

One Day in the Surkhagan Valley

De: Paul Darling

Narrado por: Shawn Compton

In crisp prose and sharp detail, Darling offers a moment-by-moment account of a one-day mission to track down and kill Taliban insurgents in the Zabul Province of southeastern Afghanistan. A rare day-in-the-life narrative that captures the mundane realities of deployment - the waiting, the heat, the heavy gear, the 0345 wake-up - along with the high-octane experience of crossing foreign terrain where every turn, every decision might have life or death consequences. The living accommodations, reporting up the chain of command, the bureaucracy, and the almost insurmountable challenges of functioning effectively in two cultures - all become intimately real in Darling's telling as he balances the imperatives of his mission and the skills of his men against the ever-multiplying unknowns, the unpredictable and dangerous Afghan "allies", and the elusive enemy: the unseen IED and the possibility of fatal miscalculation.

In the midst of the soldier's everyday drama of never quite knowing what comes next, Darling's moments of humor and reflection put the chaos and uncertainties of combat into a larger perspective. The story is about one man and the ethical choices and compromises he has to make as a leader - a man who has promises to keep: to family; to country; to his soldiers, both Afghan and American; and, ultimately, to himself.

©2019 the University Press of Kansas (P)2019 Tantor

Darling does a great job

I’d read this book 87 times. Paul does a marvelous job with this book! Great read, and done in a way even folks who’ve never served know what he’s talking about.

Paul writes one hell of a novel.

This book is a hell of a piece. Paul provided a lot of details, and takes the time to clarify all of them. This is truly a first hand account from the writers eyes and it's not sensored at all.

With all the military books out there it's wonderful to see one where the writer recognised his own faults and worries. It's also nice to find a military book where at the end of the day the mission was successful. Truly rare in this genre of first hand accounts.

I'll recommend this book to anyone who wants an understanding of what a day in war is actually like, as opposed to things on their televisions.

Congrats Paul! You've made your country, friends, and most importantly your family proud.