Combat Iraq

Five months after being deployed to Iraq, Lima Company's 1st Platoon became one of the first American forces to enter Fallujah, where they encountered some of the most intense hand-to-hand combat since World War II. Civilians were used as human shields or as bait to lure soldiers into buildings rigged with explosives; suicide bombers approached from every corner hoping to die and take Americans with them; radical insurgents, high on adrenaline, fought to the death.

You Just Survive is a combat veteran memoir that pulls no punches. These modern war stories from Iraq and Afghanistan sit beside plain spoken accounts of PTSD and trauma recovery, raw combat moments and the quiet battles that follow when the uniform comes off. This is not a sanitized war book. It is a combat veteran memoir told hour by hour, from turret scans in Ramadi and Marjah to patrols that ended with IEDs, mortars, and decisions you carry forever. If you search for modern war stories from Iraq and Afghanistan, you will find the real, unfiltered scenes that define this book. The book ...

"With so much of this audiobook illustrated by the authors' battlefield experiences, their dramatic, often combative, narration is not entirely out of place...the authors grasp the awesome responsibilities of leading, and their assertive performances convey an urgency that makes this lesson...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Emmy Award–winning ABC News anchor Martha Raddatz shares inspiring profiles of the 9/11 generation of warriors and their families who have shown courage and resilience on and off the battlefield “An antidote to the cynicism that surrounds us, a celebration of...

We have a strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding--"tribes." This tribal connection has been largely lost in modern society, but regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival. Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin...

Discover true stories of the silent heros that live among us with these moving and powerful recollections of war, told by the men and women who lived them. “The stories America needs to hear” —Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Ret.) Walk in my Combat Boots is a powerful collection...

A U.S. Marine's brush with death leads him to the love of his life in this New York Times bestseller of destiny, luck, and the redemptive power of romance. After U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman buried in the dirt during his tour of duty in Iraq, he...

CITY OF FIRE Fallujah 2004 and the Six Weeks of Urban Combat that Rewrote the Iraq War by Gary Mitchell In 2004, Fallujah became the word people used when they meant urban war. The city was fought twice. The second battle—Operation Phantom Fury / al-Fajr—ran from November into late December and turned neighbourhoods into grids of pressure, smoke, and exhaustion. Streets became corridors. Houses became strongpoints. Control shrank to a doorway and a stairwell—and every decision carried a cost. City of Fire follows the campaign as it actually unfolded: the tightening cordon, the iron ...

Saudi Arabia has fallen… …as America fights to hold on. Saddam declares this the “Mother of all Wars.” Iraq controls twenty-five percent of the world’s daily oil output. Prices soar as the Soviet Union moves to fill the void. The world’s first oil war has begun and wreaked havoc on global trade. Fighting around Medina and the Islamic Holy sites turns medieval. Memories of World War I trench warfare return. Will the 101st Airborne be able to stop the Republican Guard from throwing America and the remnants of the Saudi Army into the Red Sea? High above the skies of the desert, ...

"The authors grasp the awesome responsibilities of leading, and their assertive performances convey an urgency that makes this lesson memorable" —Audiofile This program is read by the authors. THE INSTANT #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the #1 New York Times bestselling authors of Extreme...

Amber Smith flew into enemy fire in some of the most dangerous combat zones in the world. One of only a few women to fly the Kiowa Warrior helicopter, Smith rose to pilot in command and air mission commander in the premier Kiowa unit in the army, repeatedly flying into harm's way during her 2005 and 2008 deployments with the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles. Smith takes you into the heat of battle, enabling listeners to feel, hear, and smell the experience of serving as a combat pilot in high-intensity warfare

This program is read by the author, and includes a bonus interview. The riveting story of how a young boy's upbringing with outlaw culture and charismatic role models forged him into an elite Marine and a decorated Pararescueman. "Absence of self is my sword" comprises the final line in "The...

For soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, the road to Baghdad began with a midnight flight out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, in late February 2003. For Rick Atkinson, who would spend nearly two months covering the division for The Washington Post, the war in Iraq provided a unique opportunity...

An original and groundbreaking examination of the psychological devastation of war through the lens of Homer’s Iliad in this “compassionate book [that] deserves a place in the lasting literature of the Vietnam War” (The New York Times). In this moving and dazzlingly creative book, Dr...

From the acclaimed author of The Dead and Those About to Die comes a sweeping narrative of six decades of combat, and an eye-opening account of the evolution of the American infantry. From the beaches of Normandy and the South Pacific Islands to the deserts of the Middle East, the American soldier has been the most indispensable - and most overlooked - factor in wartime victory.

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Marine Corps' ground campaign up the Tigris and Euphrates was notable for speed and aggressiveness unparalleled in military history. Little has been written, however, of the air support that guaranteed the drive's success. Paving the way for the rush to Baghdad...

Strike Hard and Expect No Mercy is the story of boots on the ground in Iraq, as seen through the eyes of a tank platoon leader. Baqubah, on the eve of the Surge, and Sadr City, during the spring uprising of 2008, saw some of the darkest hours of the war. A tough dragon, the M1A2 Abrams tank and its crews were often called to crack the toughest nuts on the battlefield, and victory, even survival, was not guaranteed. It is a gritty and visceral dive into the combat experience, flavored with the anguish of loss, the exhilaration of victories, the frustrations of defeats, and the humor required...

An “infuriating, fast-paced” (The Washington Post) account of the Navy SEALs of Alpha platoon, the startling accusations against their chief, Eddie Gallagher, and the courtroom battle that exposed the dark underbelly of America’s special forces—from a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter ...

The AC-130 gunship was quickly developed in 1968 to provide fire support for ground forces in Vietnam. Twenty-eight C-130 cargo aircraft were converted into AC-130s for night attack operations. The AC-130 was crude, ugly, ad hoc, and detested by many within the USAF...but it worked, and it worked well. Likewise, AC-130 crews were deemed unruly “biker gangs” but performed magnificently in every major US military operation from 1976 to 1995. Most of these combat operations were cloaked in secrecy, but records once classified for up to 20 years have now been opened.  

May 6, 1986: Nick Popaditch arrives at the Receiving Barracks, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, California. April 9, 2003: An AP photographer captures a striking image seen around the world of the Gunny Sergeant smoking a victory cigar in his tank, the haunting statue of Saddam Hussein hovering in the background. Popaditch is immortalized forever as "The Cigar Marine."