Ghosts of Baghdad

Marine Corps Gunships on the Opening Days of the Iraq War

By: USMC (Ret.) Colonel Eric Ferris Buer

Narrated by: Kent Lutt

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Experience the sights, smells, and sounds of the Cobra, hanging on tight as you’re hurled into the chaos of night combat operations. Step through an otherwise closed door and explore the emotions, physical danger, and successes that would shape a generation of aviators.

Author Eric Buer lived to fly the Cobra, delivering incredible firepower and devastating America’s enemies in the aircraft that would become both his home and office. Wherever Marines fought and their commanders needed support, he and his fellow Cobra aircrew were there.

In Ghosts of Baghdad, you can be there too. Feel these pilots’ frustrations, experience their exhaustion, and lament alongside them in the face of tragedy. Ultimately, you will come to understand how a sense of duty, service, and shared sacrifice develops into an unbreakable trust and bond.

Strap in—this true story will take you inside the Cobra for a heart-pounding, fist-pumping, adrenaline-rush-filled thrill ride!

©2023 Eric Buer (P)2023 Eric Buer

Wow

What a listen! From the opening moment I was sucked into the tension Col Buer experienced. Great read!

Cobras in Iraq

Excellent story telling coupled with a personal first hand approach make this a must for anyone interested in the Marines’ success in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Highly recommend for everyone from military historians to casual readers.

Good story, a little long. Narrator irritating.

While I enjoyed the story, I was surprised at its length-it does seem like it could’ve been condensed somewhat. The narrator was irritating IMHO. The almost breathless, raspy tone, what seemed to me to be almost over acting (reminded me of William Shatner on Star Trek, sounding overly dramatic)…the drawn out, whispered “click….click” with drawn out pause when someone zippered the mic (two quick clicks- not the drawn out version of this narrator), and the mispronounced city names, terms, jargon and such. It just seems that if you’re going to narrate a book like this, maybe do your homework. I’ll avoid this guy in the future.

Like you’re right there with him!

Exciting, fast paced. Like you got to hop in his cobra and ride along for combat ops!

Interesting but too long and too poetic

Book has it's moments, but I feel that it could have been compressed into 5-6 hours of action packed listening, instead of 12 hours. I always listen audio books while driving to work, and I rarely have problems with concentrating on what's being read. However narrator has a kind of husky voice that seamed that he was whispering even when talking out loud. Due to that, I had a lot of difficult to concentrate. This was exacerbated in sections when factual events (sorties) were broken down by authors internal dialogue which is written in very poetic form. Abridged format would probably be good idea.

Amazing!!

I usually only listen to audiobooks on the drive to and from work. This is the first that I immediately transitioned to wearing my headphones when my transit ended to continue the story! Felt like I was a Cobra pilot flying the missions, sharing the hardships, making the decisions, and trying to keep the ghosts voice out of my head. Writing and narration… flawless!

Firsthand knowledge of the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Eric Buer vividly describes the military invasion of Iraq and all the details that went into its planning and implementation. As a civilian, I did not appreciate the amount of work the members of our Armes Services went through ahead of the war. Although it ended up being a protracted and controversial operation, no one can doubt the sacrifices of so many members of our military.