Marathon War

Leadership in Combat in Afghanistan

By: Jeffrey Schloesser

Narrated by: L.J. Ganser

From Major General Jeffrey Schloesser - former commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Regional Command-East - comes a revealing memoir of leadership in the chaos and fog of the Afghanistan War.

Join Major General Schloesser in the daily grind of warfare fought in the most forbidding of terrain, with sometimes uncertain or untested allies, Afghan corruption and Pakistani bet hedging, and the mounting casualties of war that erode and bring into question Schloesser’s most profoundly held convictions and beliefs. Among several battles, Schloesser takes listeners deep into the Battle of Wanat, where nine US soldiers were killed in a fierce, up-close fight to prevent a new operating base from being overrun. This encounter required Schloesser to make tactical decisions that had dramatic strategic impact and led him to doubts: Can this war even be won? If so, what will it take?

This book is a rare insight and reflection into the thoughts of critical national decision-makers including President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, then Senator Barack Obama, and numerous foreign leaders including Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Key military leaders - including then Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, then Central Command Commanding General David Petraeus, then Lieutenant General and future Chairman Martin Dempsey, and International Security Force Commander General David McKiernan - all play roles in the book, among many others, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley and Army Chief of Staff General James McConville. Analyzing their leadership in the chaos of war Schloesser ultimately concludes that successful leadership in combat is best based on competence, courage, and character.

©2021 Jeffrey Schloesser (P)2021 Recorded Books

A personal account of leading in Afghanistan

This is a personal view of an army general in charge of tens of thousands of troops in Afghanistan. Schloesser gives frank assessments of good and bad leadership decisions and character by all involved. Written while the war was still underway, he diagnoses the problems with America's Marathon War in Afghanistan. The narrator was fine but not always correct in his pronunciation.

Not a compelling story.

This book feels like you are reading journal entries constructed into chapters with no cohesive story that teaches you anything or gives any insight on the war in Afghanistan. I listened as long as possible but felt like it kept going no where. After I got halfway through I stopped listening. If you want to read this book to learn more about the war in Afghanistan, I would suggest finding a different book.