Military Iraq

In 1990, U.S. Army Major Martin Stanton was a military advisor stationed in Saudi Arabia. Encouraged by the Army to broaden his cultural horizons, and assured by the U.S. embassy that Kuwait was perfectly safe, Stanton took off for a long weekend there. Roused by gunshots his first night in Kuwait City, Stanton looked out the window and discovered he was in the middle of a full-scale invasion.

On 11 September 2001 19 al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists hijacked four aircraft and mounted the deadliest terrorist attack in history. The outrage triggered a chain of events that saw British forces drawn into a lengthy military campaign against a fierce insurgency in Afghanistan. Sergio Miller served in Defence Intelligence in Whitehall throughout the campaign, and Pride and Fall answers the many questions surrounding the conflict. Based on abundant open-source material generated by the war and first-hand testimonies, this is the story of the men and women who served.

Wiser in Battle is the first book about the war in Iraq by an on-site commander. Former Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez served as Commander of Coalition Ground Forces from June 2003 to June 2004. Wiser in Battle offers the full story of his tenure, providing a first-hand account of Saddam Hussein's capture, the battle of Fallujah, and the never-ending quest to take out Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

From steamy bedrooms to scorched battlefields, stifling suburbia to lush Irish landscapes, Tara invites her listeners in close. Join this California girl on her journey through the unruly waters of Family, Combat, Mental Health, and Love. One intimate essay at a time, Tara contemplates the true cost of survival, as she redefines Together.

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.

Codenamed Operation Telic, the British component of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was the largest gathering of British troops since the Second World War. While the British public prepared for the worst as its soldiers were facing weapons of mass destruction, most servicemen and women were under no illusion that they were invading Iraq to rid the people of Saddam Hussein.

Vets and Pets tells fifteen emotional and entertaining stories of the incredible bonds between wounded warriors, veterans, and other service members and their service and companion animals. Whether these special relationships are with dogs, cats, horses, pigs, or even birds of prey, readers will discover how these remarkable animals help veterans return to civilian life and live independently while simultaneously bringing joy and confidence into their lives.

In this gorgeous memoir that moves from Jon Kerstetter's impoverished upbringing on an Oneida reservation, to his harrowing stints as a volunteer medic in Kosovo and Bosnia, through the madness of Iraq and his intense mandate to assemble a team to identify the remains of Uday and Qusay Hussein, and the struggle afterward to come to terms with a life irrevocably changed, Kerstetter beautifully illuminates war and survival, the fragility of the human body, and the strength of will that lies within.

Master Sergeant Marc Youngquist has served for over 40 years in the military and law enforcement. Over those years, he has met many unsung American heroes. These are men and women who have served our country with limited resources and support while being separated from friends and loved ones for months at a time, often while living in hostile environments.

In recent years, Pakistan has changed from being a state of regional strategic significance to one of major global importance. Its geographical position and delicate religious mix, coupled with a complex political structure and its status as a nuclear power, have ensured that its actions - and inactions - have attracted close scrutiny since 9/11 and the declaration of the "War on Terror". Yet there remains widespread disagreement among political and military analysts as to the real position of this enigmatic nation.

In January 2005 Kirk Johnson, then twenty-four, arrived in Baghdad as USAID's only American employee who spoke Arabic. Despite his opposition to the war, Johnson felt called to civic duty and wanted to help rebuild Iraq. Appointed as USAID's first reconstruction coordinator in Fallujah, he traversed the city's IED-strewn streets, working alongside idealistic Iraqi translators - young men and women sick of Saddam, filled with Hollywood slang, and enchanted by the idea of a peaceful, democratic Iraq. It was not to be.

The U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay - known to the public as Gitmo - has been called the American Gulag, a scene of medieval horrors where innocent farmers and goat herders swept up in Afghanistan and Iraq have been sequestered, tortured, and abused for years on end without access to legal counsel or basic medical services.

The No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling modern classic: A Bravo Two Zero for the Second Gulf War. They were branded as cowards and accused of being the British Special Forces Squadron that ran away from the Iraqis. But nothing could be further from the truth. Ten years on, the story of these sixty men can finally be told. In March 2003 M Squadron - an SBS unit with SAS embeds - was sent 1,000 kilometres behind enemy lines on a true mission impossible, to take the surrender of the 100,000-strong Iraqi Army 5th Corps.

In January 2003, 28-year-old GCHQ translator Katharine Gun received an email from the US National Security Agency that would turn her world upside down. The message requested Katharine’s assistance in co-ordinating an illegal US-UK spy operation which would secure UN authorisation for the Iraq invasion. Horrified, she decided to leak the information to the British press. Katharine’s decision would change her life forever, as she was arrested under the Official Secrets Act whilst becoming a cause célèbre for political activists.

While critics obsessed over cost overruns and early setbacks, something extraordinary was happening on battlefields from Iraq to the Pacific. The Marines weren't just flying a new aircraft—they were pioneering an entirely new way of war. This is the story of that transformation. Since 2007, the Osprey has rewritten the rules of military aviation. It transformed the Marine Corps from a traditional amphibious force into a rapid-deployment global strike capability. It gave Air Force Special Operations unprecedented reach and flexibility. Now it's revolutionizing Navy logistics and promising ...

In 2003, after serving five and a half years as a carpenter in a North Dakota National Guard engineer unit, Bronson Lemer was ready to leave the military behind. But six months short of completing his commitment to the army, Lemer was deployed on a yearlong tour of duty to Iraq. Leaving college life behind in the Midwest, he yearns for a lost love and quietly dreams of a future as an openly gay man outside the military.

This is not a book about Iraq's history, nor an inventory of the many Middle Eastern wars that have spun out over the past twenty years, though both wars and history are part of its narrative, from the American invasion to the Arab Spring, ISIS and beyond. This is the story of a people who once lived under the rule of a megalomaniac leader who shaped the state in his own image. Then one day, after yet another war, a foreign army invaded, toppled the leader, destroyed the state, and proceeded to invent a new country.

They put a price on his head. They did everything they could to disrupt his mission. Finally, when an antitank mine tore off his right foot, the warriors of jihad in Iraq thought they had neutralized one of their most resourceful, determined foes.

In the dead of night, on the morning of March 21, 2003 a team of 12 highly-trained U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers aboard three Special Operations Chinook helicopters, flying at low-altitude, watched in awe as a barrage of Tomahawk missiles, launched from ships in the Red Sea, flew less than 300 feet over their aircraft on the way toward Baghdad, Iraq. It was the opening “Shock and Awe” salvo of the Invasion of Iraq and the soldiers of 5th Special Forces Group’s Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 551 were about to be dropped off for one of the most critical missions of the war.

The Sins of the Father When Rayna and her boss attend an exclusive political fundraising, they witness the assassination of the candidate’s wife by masked thugs. Rayna gives chase and narrowly escapes death when their fleeing SUV suddenly and inexplicably blows up. Were the murderers terrorists? Hired killers? Political extremists? As she and her organized vigilante organization dig deeper, they discover that that the rally was the final piece in the puzzle to finance a plot to blow up an abandoned nuclear reactor. The candidate himself and his best friend are the pained masterminds. ...