Victory Point

Operations Red Wings and Whalers - the Marine Corps' Battle for Freedom in Afghanistan

By: Ed Darack

Narrated by: John Pruden

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

In late June, 2005, media sources recounted the tragic story of 19 US special-operations personnel who died at the hands of insurgent/terrorist leader Ahmad Shah - and the lone survivor of Shah's ambush - deep in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan. The harrowing events of Operation Red Wings marked an important - yet widely misreported - chapter in the Global War on Terror, the full details of which the public burned to learn. 

Victory Point reveals the complete, as-yet untold story of Operation Red Wings (often misreferenced as "Operation Redwing") and the follow-on mission, Operation Whalers. Together, these two US Marine Corps operations (that in the case of Red Wings utilized Navy SEALs for its opening phase) unfurl not as a mission gone terribly wrong, but of a complex and difficult campaign that ultimately saw the demise of Ahmad Shah and his small army of barbarous fighters.  

Due to the valor, courage, and commitment of the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment in the summer of 2005, Afghanistan was able to hold free elections that fall. Here is the inspiring true account of heroism, duty, and brotherhood between Marines fighting the War on Terror.

©2009 Ed Darack (P)2018 Tantor

A must read!!

A hard hitting, well researched and historically accurate account on The Marine Corps participation in Operation Red Wings and Whalers in Afghanistan during June of 2005. This book is an excellent resource to military officers,students of military history and enthusiasts.

Marines carrying on the tradition.

As I listen to other books on Afghanistan I see how the succeses of missions are paid for at a high from previous missions. Camp Blessing is one of those examples.

Well done, it is a great story

Marines get it done, I am extremely grateful for these Marines,. I recommend this audible recording to anyone.

Glory hounding at its finest

While this book represented my Battalions struggle in Eastern Afghanistan, it was overly dramatized and poorly written. I respect the effort, but it just isn’t it.

The majority of the Battalions” Glory Hounds “ came forward, looking for notoriety and it is overly apparent. The book is way over militarized and a tough read. This also goes for his book on our exploits in the Al Anbar a year later.

To many ridiculous quotes from ignorant staff NCOs and Officers. These were far from necessary.

While I’m glad to hear our battalions exploits throughout two theaters of war, this book was poorly written.

Back to Lecky, Burgin and Sledge I guess.

The Marine Corps always gets the job done

this was a great story of leadership suffering endurance in the United States Marine Corps taking the fight to the enemy this time and every time

For Posterity

It's good to have a civilian accounting of these two operations. This is a vibrant historical report.

No action

All macro, pple like me are looking for POV of soldiers not grand schemes and plans not for me and not sold as a macro book

Wordy, but worth it

And amazing story that puts Lone Survivor in context. It is hard to discuss this book without referencing that one, but that’s the point. Most people will come to this story through Lone Survivor. They both tell a good story, and while lone survivor focuses on the Navy SEALs, Victory Point focuses on the Marines. And providing an important bridge between the individual stories, and the wider Afghan War.

Gods bless the US MARINES.

More and more as I read the heroics of our troops in wartime I m impressed at their dedication and valor.
And less impressed with the poor planning of the supposed higher command of said forces. And the lack of being held accountable for the screwups they planned. We can put men on the moon but not develop adequate communication systems for our warriors.

2/3 Hard Corps!

Ed Darack did a fantastic job of telling the story of the Marines of 2/3. Operation Red Wings is familiar to many people, being told in both book and movie form (Lone Survivor).
Vixtory Point tells that story from a different view, and it's one that is frustrating and infuriating to hear. The problems with that operation from its inception and the mess of different task forces not working together well led to a prominent failure.
The follow on operation, Whalers, is known by few, mostly just the Marines that were there. The bravery and tenacity they displayed led to a back breaking blow against Ahmad Shaw and ended his influence in the Korengal and destroyed his ambition to become a top Taliban leader.
My thanks goes to Ed for walking those mountains with us and telling our story faithfully.

Semper Fidelis
2/3! Hard Corps!