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Since the first days of the Iraqi invasion, supporters of the war have cautioned the public not to view this conflict as another Vietnam. They rightfully point to many important distinctions. There is no unified resistance in Iraq. No political or religious leader has been able to galvanize opposition to U.S. intervention the way that Ho Chi Minh did in Vietnam. And it is not likely that 580,000 American troops will find their way to Iraq. However, there are two similarities that may dwarf the t...

This book is crafted around soldiers’ personal descriptions of their war experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq that culminate in life-altering injuries to the brain and psyche, along with the equally dramatic story of their recoveries. An irony of America’s 21st century wars has been that while our combat medical and medevac capabilities have grown enormously (from a rough average of 4:1 wounded to dead in World War II to 8:1 today), the nature of many of America’s soldiers’ wounds has undergone a...

In a collection of compelling, original portraits, the authors celebrate the extraordinary heroism on the battlefield and the equally valuable contributions on the home front of this generation's American veterans.

The military adventure that George W. Bush embarked on within months of his inauguration in 2001 was to eclipse everything else in his presidency. His name will forever be synonymous with the "war on terror." What started as a military response to al Qaeda's attacks in New York and Washington on 9/11, with the goal of neutralizing al Qaeda and its Taliban hosts in Afghanistan, quickly fused with the neo-conservative agenda to dominate and reshape the Middle East. Al Qaeda's terrorism was answere...

Nine men. 2,000 enemies. No back-up. No air support. No rescue. No chance...First in - the official motto of one of the British Army's smallest and most secretive units, 16 Air Assault Brigade's Pathfinder Platoon. Unofficially, they are the bastard son of the SAS. And like their counterparts in Hereford, the job of the Pathfinders is to operate unseen and undetected deep behind enemy lines. When British forces deployed to Iraq in 2003, Captain David Blakeley was given command of a reconnaissan...

In Deceit on the Road to War, John M. Schuessler examines how U.S. presidents have deceived the American public about fundamental decisions of war and peace. Deception has been deliberate, he suggests, as presidents have sought to shift blame for war onto others in some cases and oversell its benefits in others. Such deceit is a natural outgrowth of the democratic process, in Schuessler's view, because elected leaders have powerful incentives to maximize domestic support for war and retain consi...

The explosive sequel to the bestselling PATHFINDER.For the first time ever an elite British operator tells the gruelling story of his selection into the Pathfinders - Britain's secret soldiers. Pathfinder selection is a brutal physical and psychological trial lasting many weeks. It rivals that of the SAS and takes place over the same spine-crushing terrain, in the rain-and-snow-lashed wastes of the Welsh Mountains. For two decades no one has been able to relate the extraordinary trials of Britis...

Marine Sergeant Clint Van Winkle flew to war on Valentine's Day 2003. His battalion was among the first wave of troops that crossed into Iraq, and his first combat experience was the battle of Nasiriyah, followed by patrols throughout the country, house to house searches, and operations in the dangerous Baghdad slums. But after two tours of duty, certain images would not leave his memory - a fragmented mental movie of shooting a little girl; of scavenging parts from a destroyed, blood-spattered...

When George W. Bush campaigned for the White House, he was such a novice in foreign policy that he couldn't name the president of Pakistan and momentarily suggested he thought the Taliban was a rock-and-roll band. But he relied upon a group called the Vulcans—an inner circle of advisers with a long, shared experience in government, dating back to the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and first Bush administrations. After returning to power in 2001, the Vulcans were widely expected to restore U.S. foreign poli...

Decorated US navy SEAL lieutenant Jason Redman was critically wounded in 2007 while leading a mission against a key al-Qaida commander, when his mobility and assault forces team was ambushed and he was struck by machine-gun fire at point-blank range. During the intense recovery that followed, Redman gained national attention after posting a sign on his hospital door that went on to become a symbol for wounded warriors everywhere. In this inspiring account he speaks candidly of his SEAL career an...

Experience aerial combat at the controls of the fearsome AH-64 Apache attack helicopter during the Operation Iraqi Freedom “Surge.” Author Dan McClinton was an Apache pilot with the US Army’s 1st Cavalry Division through three combat deployments to Iraq. As a battalion tactical operations officer, he planned and executed attack helicopter missions in and around Baghdad in 2006–07. His memoir reveals for the first time many stories of selfless service, courage, and sacrifice that all readers will...

Northern Iraq, 2004 - a lawless region of rock, sand, scrub and warring factions, so dangerous the regular Coalition armies were reluctant to put their soldiers in harm's way up there. Enter the 'civilian contractors': private armies in all but name, with state of the art funding, equipment and training, packing immense firepower and staffed by veterans of the world's elite forces. Working in small groups alongside the US Army, men from all corners of the globe volunteered to risk their lives da...

The shocking inside account that has outraged the Bush administration, Chain of Command gives the most revealing and terrifying picture yet of what really led to war in Iraq. Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose sensational reportage has revealed the stories the others can't - or won't - get, traces the chain of events that turned America from victim of terrorism on 9/11 to perpetrator of a dirty and disastrous war. Plumbing an unrivalled list of top military and CIA contac...

Now Generation Kill tells the soldiers' story in their own words. The narrative focuses on a platoon of 23 marines, many of them vetrans of Afghanistan, whose elite reconnaissance unit spearheaded the blitzkrieg on Iraq. This is the story of young men that have been trained to become ruthless killers. It's about surviving death. It's about taking part in a war many questioned before it even began. Evan Wright was the only reporter with Frist Recon, which operated well ahead of most other forces,...