Scoundrels in Iraq

An Engineer's Adventures

War doesn't end when you come home. It just changes the rules – finding what you can't live without. This in not a hero's victory lap. This is a confession.

Written by a Soldier who was there at the beginning and the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, this dark, intimate war novel strips away the gallantry and exposes the ordinary Soldiers that history forgets – female leaders, the mechanics, military police, and the scoundrels who carried fear of going home changed or hurt, and isolation within an Army.

Between deployments, Kenny trained others to go downrange. He wrote down his adventures that demanded to be told. What emerged isn't polished propaganda or cinematic violence, but goofy, reckless, raw, and sometimes criminal.

Back in the States, strangers thanked Kenny for his service. What if they knew what he'd done?

This story explores desire under pressure, moral collapse, forbidden choices, and the quiet seduction of chaos. It asks uncomfortable questions: Why can coming home be harder than the fight? What is the limit of emotional endurance? Was the gamble worth it, in lives and treasure?

Part war documentary, part psychological thriller, and part dark memoir, this is a story about guilt, survival, and the kind of men – and women – who don't make the recruiting posters. The kind who can steal an elephant from the circus and get away with it.

He will show you where ISIS came from. Where the bodies are buried. Who really won the war.

©2019 Kenny Dupar (P)2021 Kenny Dupar

Captivating Storytelling!

I’ve read the book and listened to the audio; I can’t wait for Scoundrels in Iraq to be a movie or TV series!

As a Navy veteran, I was drawn to the story of the everyday soldier doing the average jobs that kept things going, just like I did…I loved hearing the stories of how Kenny and his crew turned miserable circumstances into not just survivable moments, but crazy fun events like boxing matches. One moment I’m laughing and wondering how this guy could have been in charge with all of his crazy antics and misfortunes when he first arrived in Iraq; the next moment the tears are pouring as Kenny tells of injured soldiers and the heartache of missing home.

Kenny’s performance is equal to that of Orson Welles. It feels just like we are sitting down together having a beer and swapping stories….with sound effects!

The book puts you right there

Scoundrels in Iraq was a great audiobook! On a personal level, I served two tours in Iraq and it seemed as though every minute of the book made me say, “I’ve been there!” or “I’ve witnessed a similar situation”. I especially liked the fact that the book was narrated by the author instead of just a random narrator because it made the book feel like I was sitting down and swapping war stories with someone who knows what the hell he’s talking about. The book went through the full spectrum of making me laugh out loud to making think “that was some messed up s***, which was exactly how my experience in combat was.

All in all, anyone who served will get a kick out of this book. Anyone who hasn’t will get a realistic picture of what it was like over there.

A war story from a supporting point of view.

Most war stories are told be the soldiers who fight them, or their leaders. This one is done by an engineering officer. The author is also the reader, and he does a good job of both.