Military – Freedom, Truth and Love

audio book, book review, history, insurgency, Iraq War, Military

History Book Review-Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice by Lt. Col. John A Nagl

Posted on April 7, 2018 by theaudiobooklife

Rating: 9.1 of 10

This wonderful audio book is just shy of eight hours. It took me a day then I listened to it again, believe it or not. It is available through RB Digital. I really enjoyed this book because it covers one of my favorite topics: counterinsurgency. It was a great autobiography of the author and an intimate view inside two of the more recent American wars, both taking place in Iraq: Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. All in all he is one of my favorite authors.

John Nagl is a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the US Army, is a graduate of West Point, earned a PhD from Oxford in Counterinsurgency (his thesis was turned into a book), the former president of CNAS (Center for New American Security) and is currently headmaster of the Haverford School in Pennsylvania. He is an excellent writer and has the ability to convey the harsh lessons of insurgency warfare (such as the Vietnam war). He makes the material enjoyable, intriguing and kind of makes you wonder what our top military brass was thinking at times when it came to their approach to military conflict.

LTC John Nagl and Gen David Petraeus

Being an Army tank commander in Desert Storm and an operations officer with the 1st Infantry Division in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) he offers an intimate view of two technologically different combat zones. I liked the story from Desert Storm when he was awoke by a rocket barrage and said he thought rockets were going off on his chest.

His experience while stationed near Khalidiyah in OIF demonstrated to him that the days of conventional warfare are virtually over or at least not the case in this conflict. Insurgency warfare is the future of combat, we need to address it and take a new approach to how we conduct our war maneuvers in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. So he was tasked co-authoring the book on counterinsurgency warfare while in the midst of these conflicts. This became FM 3-24: the US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manuel, 2006.

I can attest to how poorly OIF was planned and executed. My Quarter Master Company was deployed to Iraq and after a couple months shuffling around country were stationed in Mosul. It felt like there was no plan after the three week long war was over. We were so amped up that we had just won a war in less than a month but nobody knew what the next step was so we just kinda hung out.

The situation was made worse due to the fact that the Iraqi Army, police and most civil servants were fired (termed de-Baathification) by Paul Bremer May 23rd, 2003 bringing chaos to the country over night. This event was the birth of the bloody insurgency that followed when disgruntled Iraqis began attacking coalition forces.

Some of what I learned:

Desert storm was the first war of the big five: the Patriot missile system, the M270 MLRS (multiple launch rocket system), the M1 Abrams tank, the AH-64A Apache attack helicopter and the M2 Bradley fighting vehicle.
Wars rarely turn out as envisioned by the ones who start them.
The guerrilla wins by not losing.
The word guerrilla is derived from the Spanish word Guerra for “war”.
In 2003 the population of Baghdad alone was over six million. No wonder the military had issues establishing law and order.

audio book, Iraq War, Military, POW

I’m Still Standing: From Captive US Soldier to free Citizen- My Journey Home by Shoshana Johnson

Posted on September 8, 2017 by theaudiobooklife

This audio book was eight and a half hours in duration and took me a day. I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t help but take it to heart. I was in Iraq during the invasion in 2003 and ended up getting stationed in Mosul with the 101st Airborne Division. I had the same MOS ( military occupational specialty) as she did: food service specialist (92G). The author is the first and only black female in the history of the US to be taken prisoner of war. She was part of six soldiers to be taken prisoner, including Jessica Lynch. They were in the enemy hands for three weeks until being rescued by US Marines.

This book gives an intimate and personal account of the 507th Maintenance Company being ambushed in Nasiriya March 23, 2003 shortly after the invasion of Iraq began. Their convoy missed a turn, ended up getting lost and had to turn around in a bad part of town. They were attacked by Fedayeen paramilitary forces and Iraqi military in civilian clothes using RPG’s, mortars and small arms. They fought for as long as they could but ended up surrendering to their attackers due to weapons malfunctions among other issues.

The 507th was a maintenance company that works on Patriot missile systems at Ft. Bliss (note: they were disbanded). The 507th lost eleven soldiers in the attack. My mobilization site was also Ft. Bliss and I remember going through CIF ( central issue facility ) at the end of my deployment and seeing their pictures on the wall in memorial. I will never forget seeing that. I was with the 137th Quartermaster Company and we lost one soldier on our deployment to hostile fire. That was a big deal; I can’t imagine losing eleven.

Some of what I learned:

There are no safe jobs in the military.
Her captures did not search her. She had sensitive documents in her pocket that she flushed down a toilet at first opportunity.
Lori Piestewa was the first female native-american born US citizen to die in combat and her nick name was “pie”. Note: everyone in the military has (or is given) a nick name by their buddies.
March 23, 2003 was the deadliest day of the war for US forces due to this attack and a friendly fire incident involving aircraft and US Marines.

pics: thank you goodreads.com and savannahnow.com

audio book, Bin laden raid, Military, Seal team

The Operator: Firing the Shots That Killed Osama Bin Laden and My Years as A Seal Team Warrior

Posted on September 5, 2017September 8, 2017 by theaudiobooklife

I like it when audio books are read by the author. This is one of those. Maybe one in eight are read by the author and he did a stellar job. This book was captivating and totally sucked me in. The author seems like a pretty funny guy. I wouldn’t mind buying him a beer.

This book was nine hours in length and took me a day. It was an especially good book. He talks about: growing up in Montana, his decisions to join the military, Navy Seal training, something like four-hundred combat missions, his burning desire to avenge the WTC victims, killing the worlds most wanted terrorist and his reasons for not re-enlisting. He explains the formation of the Seal Teams and he even raised my low opinion of Richard Marcinko. One kinda sad thing about the book: the author was good friends with Neil Roberts. That was hard to hear.

He’s a talented writer: he is engaging, entertaining and hilarious. You know it’s a good audio book when you laugh out loud to yourself. I enjoyed the ending: He meets with some of the 9/11 families. Enough said.

I have read a fair number of books on the Bin Laden raid and it never gets old. This is one of the more intimate books on the subject. I’ve noticed that the higher ranking someone is in al-Qaeda, ISIS, or the Third Reich (for that matter) the more of a coward they are. Bin Laden didn’t have the brains to surrender nor the courage to go down fighting.

note: some parts are redacted by the DoD. Actually the only part that is redacted is the beep in Seal Team beep.

Some of what I learned:

Cairo (the Belgian Malinois used in the Bin Laden raid) had previously been shot twice by some asshole hiding in a tree with an AK-47.
No matter how many times I read about hell week during BUDs training, it always seems like hell.
All stress is self-induced.
Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward C. Byers Jr. was the first Seal Team beep operator to win the Medal of Honor.

pic: thank you Goodreads.com