Military Afghanistan

War-organized violence against an enemy of the state-seems part and parcel of the American journey. Indeed, the United States was established by means of violence as ordinary citizens from New Hampshire to Georgia answered George Washington's call to arms. Since then, war has become a staple of American history. Counting the War for Independence, the United States has fought the armed forces of other nations at least twelve times, averaging a major conflict every twenty years.

Over one million Americans have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the past four years, but fewer than 500 from this group have earned a Silver Star, Navy Cross, Air Force Cross, Distinguished Service Cross, or the Medal of Honor. Those who have been awarded these distinguished honors all demonstrated an extraordinary courage under fire in the worst of circumstances.

In the unforgiving landscape of Afghanistan's Tangi Valley, a military base tells its own extraordinary story. Neither human nor fully inanimate, this “square of dirt” becomes a sentient witness to the brutal rhythms of war, listening intently to the soldiers who build and inhabit it. From American soldiers wrestling with fear and purpose to Afghan troops left to defend an increasingly untenable position, from quiet moments of vulnerability to explosive confrontations, the base observes everything—collecting stories, counting losses, and understanding the futility of conflict in ways ...

An explosive, behind-the-scenes look into the workings of the U.S. war in Afghanistan that lifts the curtain of the world stage to reveal the devastating greed, waste, and failure surrounding this unwinnable war.

Most scholars and analysts believe that the primary cause of our abysmal war record since Vietnam has been the US military’s overwhelmingly conventional approach to conflict, which favors kinetic operations, highly mobile precision firepower, and sophisticated systems of command and control. Here, James Warren argues that a much more formidable obstacle to success has been pervasive strategic ineptitude at the highest levels of decision-making, including the presidency, the national security council, and the foreign policy community in DC.

Four US Navy SEALs, attached to the ship’s company of the USS Ronald Reagan, are leaving the dark continent of Africa after a long, hard fight against fanatic Islamists that came close to costing them their lives. Relaxing on the flight deck, Master Chief Rod Cooper’s dreams of a long spell of shore leave are rudely shattered. The hard fight is not over and things just got worse. A lot worse. Africa is no stranger to tinpot dictators. Warlords luring the gullible into joining and frequently dying for their violent coup. The latest in this long line of warlords is planning to establish ...

After being commissioned into the US Air Force, MJ Hegar was selected for pilot training by the Air National Guard, finished at the top of her class, then served three tours in Afghanistan flying combat search and rescue missions, culminating in a harrowing rescue attempt that would earn MJ the Purple Heart as well as the Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor Device. But it was on American soil that Hegar would embark on her greatest challenge - to eliminate the military's Ground Combat Exclusion Policy.

Senior Chief Turbo, Memoir of a Navy SEAL K-9 recounts the life of a military working dog named Turbo, from his birth in Holland and participation in Dutch police dog (KNPV) trials, to training with a Navy SEAL dog handler and joining him for two combat deployments to Afghanistan. Written from a dog's unique perspective, and based on actual, first-hand accounts of a SEAL handler-dog team, Senior Chief Turbo illustrates the bonds of loyalty and friendship that drive all warriors.

Jayson Clark was always the life of the party. He enjoyed goofing off, fooling around, and cracking jokes, all to keep people around him from guessing at his tortured past and the memories that threaten to destroy any peace he could have… until Molly somehow finds out the truth. Molly Goode deals with children all day long as a teacher – so she knew exactly how to handle her flirtatious pen pal, or so she thought. Stumbling upon Jayson’s past unexpectedly, she discovers the vulnerable secrets he keeps hidden away from the rest of the world. Could opening up to him, revealing her own ...

From the author of The Noah Hunter series. Serve in the Shadows: Recruitment While on deployment in Afghanistan, Master Sergeant Derek Lawson of the 75th Ranger Regiment received a warning, barely in time to avoid a bullet from a hidden sniper. After a confused and thankful Derek looked for the person, there was no one to be found. Back at base camp, the master sergeant received news that his brother, Grant Lawson, was killed. Grant, a CIA officer, was murdered while he gathered pertinent information for a critically sensitive mission that involved a former Afghanistan bomb-maker coerced ...

Over a 35-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions - unusual for a general.

In 2007, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade posted to northeastern Afghanistan's Kunar Province. Battle Company, the best within the Brigade, was assigned the toughest Area of Operations. It was called the Korengal Valley. During their fifteen-month tour, Battle Company saw more combat than any unit since Vietnam. Raw and unapologetic, To Quell the Korengal is a first-hand account of life on the front lines.

Returning from the Pacific on the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, a four-man SEAL Team is looking forward to a spell of R and R. The Pentagon has other ideas. An NSA agent is missing, kidnapped by terrorists, which is bad. He was carrying an unencrypted laptop loaded with details of US operations in the Gulf. Which is a catastrophe. Rod Cooper’s Team is tasked to get it back. As if the interruption to their well-deserved spell of leave couldn’t be worse, they discover the kidnappers, Shabbab, are based in Mogadishu, Somalia. Scene of previous US debacles, and infested with extreme ...

Relive six decades of flying helicopters, including an extended tour in Vietnam and the mountains of Afghanistan, with a little Iraq, Kuwait, and National Guard thrown in. This is Minuteman: Two, Three…Go! recounts Wayne Chasson’s times, from the early, young, and dumb days to becoming a more seasoned pilot of Huey and other helicopters in three American wars and the National Guard here at home. Chasson relives it all for us in this gritty and honest memoir — with humility, humor, and gratitude — as he himself is still trying to figure out how he made it through alive.

This audiobook challenges several longstanding notions about the American way of war. It examines US military practice (strategic and operational) from the War of Independence to the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan to determine what patterns, if any, existed in the way Americans have used military force. Echevarria surveys all major US wars and most every small conflict in the country's military history.

The key to understanding the calamitous Afghan war is the complex, ultimately failed relationship between the powerful, duplicitous Karzai family and the United States, brilliantly portrayed here by the former Kabul bureau chief for The Washington Post.

The Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command from July 2000 through July 2003, General Tommy Franks made history leading American and Coalition forces to victory in Afghanistan and Iraq, the decisive battles that launched the war on terrorism.

Elliot Ackerman left the American military ten years ago, but his time in Afghanistan and Iraq with the Marines and later as a CIA paramilitary officer marked him indelibly. When the Taliban began to close in on Kabul in August 2021 and the Afghan regime began its death spiral, he found himself pulled back into the conflict. Afghan nationals who had worked closely with the American military and intelligence communities for years now faced brutal reprisal and sought frantically to flee the country with their families.

Frank K. Sobchak explores security force assistance across five case studies, examining what factors were most critical for U.S. Special Forces units to build capable partners

This is the introductory book in the Logan Alexander series. Navy Seal, Logan Alexander, is trying to put his life back together following a career-ending injury in Afghanistan, when he learns that his younger brother, Cooper, has been killed in an ambush while on patrol with his Ranger unit in Iraq. As Alexander delves into the circumstances leading to Cooper’s death, he learns of the role that the secret arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Qods Force, plays in exporting terror. Alexander vows to avenge his brother’s death. With the financial backing of a Kuwaiti ...