Showing titles in Afghan & Iraq Wars

On September 11, 2001, Doug Laux was a freshman in college, on the path to becoming a doctor. But with the fall of the Twin Towers came a turning point in his life. After graduating, he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, determined to get himself to Afghanistan and into the center of the action. Through persistence and hard work, he was fast-tracked to a clandestine operations position overseas. Dropped into a remote region of Afghanistan, he received his baptism by fire.

Ever since he was a young boy growing up on the streets of Staten Island, New York, Michael Ollis wanted to be a soldier. Inspired by his father, who fought in Vietnam, Mike’s deep desire to serve was cemented on the day his beloved city was attacked. From 9/11 onward, Mike’s one and only mission was to save lives.

Sergeant Bill Bee is the Marine in one of the defining images from the War on Terror. He responded to gunfire without protective gear when a Taliban sniper shot hit a sandbank just a few inches from his head in Garmsir, Helmand Province. When his world plunged into darkness, he thought his luck had run out. But he somehow survived, and his brush with death on May 18, 2008, was captured by a Reuters photographer. The images were broadcast around the world and became an iconic display of bravery at a time when support for the war in Afghanistan was low.

Un-American is a hybrid of social commentary and memoir that exposes how blind support for war exacerbates the problems it’s intended to resolve, devastates the people allegedly being helped and diverts assets from far larger threats like climate change. Un-American is a revolutionary act, offering a blueprint for redressing America’s relationship with patriotism, the military and military spending.

They marched under the heat with 40-pound rucksacks on their backs. They fired weapons out of the windows of military vehicles, defending their units in deadly battles. And they did things their male counterparts could never do—gather intelligence on the Taliban from the women of Afghanistan. Beyond the Call follows the groundbreaking journeys of three women as they first fight military brass and culture and then enemy fire and tradition. And like the men with whom they served, their battles were not over when they returned home.

Their stories needed to be told. And classmates working together, under a blanket of trust and friendship, was the only way to allow people to open up. It was a three year journey into the hearts and souls of America's youngest heroes to gather these important historical accounts, but it was worth every hour spent. Inside this book are the voices the first Annapolis graduates into a decade of war and they remind us that America is in good hands. They were walking to class on 9/11, wearing Naval Academy summer working blues, when the towers were struck.

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.

At just eighteen years old, Miles Lagoze joined the Marine Corps a decade after the war began and found himself surrounded by people not unlike those he’d left behind at home—aimless youth searching for stability, community, and economic security. Deployed to Afghanistan as a Combat Cameraman—an active-duty videographer and photographer—Lagoze produced slick images of glory and heroism for public consumption. But his government-approved footage concealed a grim reality. Here, Lagoze pulls back the curtain and illustrates the grisly truth of the longest war in American history.

The General’s dysfunctional home life drove him to apply to the Air Force Academy almost 40 years ago, where he was provided with a new family and sense of worth he had never gotten from his own father. This purpose has driven the General throughout his remarkable career, taking him to Alaska, the Pentagon, and Germany; to Florida during Hurricane Opal, and has also allowed him to work alongside Presidents Bush and Obama and Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Ashton Carter. Journey is a book about leadership. It is packed with the General’s lessons from life in the military.

This awe-inspiring odyssey transcends the boundaries of time, culture, and the human spirit. Jo describes her participation in VETS (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions) programs as she experiences the healing power of plant and animal medicines in Mexico. She writes about being a Sundancer on the Lakota and Menominee reservations. Her clear narrative delves deep into the portals of consciousness and realms of the sacred. 

A detailed personal account of a combat advisor, mentoring the developing Afghanistan National Army in 2006 in the mountainous and hostile eastern region...Living with and supporting a foreign military, Andy was critical in enabling the Afghan forces to fire their howitzer indirectly, a historical objective milestone to set the conditions for coalition withdrawal.

American Heroes on the Homefront gives a unique perspective on the situation our nation faces and the qualities of those who protect us, as well as the true impact of their sacrifices on their families and loved ones.

At 5:58 a.m. on 3rd October 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 soldiers stationed there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war that year. Four months after the battle, a review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place.

In Service to Civilian: A Journey Through PTSD you will enter the mind of a combat vet who became a law enforcement officer after a tour in Iraq where comrades were killed and wounded. Policing the streets, he faced the balance between selfless service, integrity, bureaucracy, and the weight of the negative policing culture around him. All this while fighting ever-increasing depression and ultimately a PTSD incident that brought him to the edge of suicide.

At a time when her college peers are debating what to major in, going to parties, and working jobs they can quit without threat of prosecution, Rosa is a secret traitor. She is a conscientious objector stuck in a National Guard uniform during the War on Terror. When the call comes to ship out, she faces the biggest quandary of her life: stay in an organization she has lost respect for and fulfill her duties, or follow her moral compass, no matter the consequences.

L’auteur raconte son histoire personnelle en tant que fantassin québécois ayant vécu trois missions de combat consécutives dans les zones les plus dangereuses de l’Afghanistan entre 2007 et 2011. Il se livre corps et âme avec intensité dans ce récit où l’attrait de l’aventure guerrière l’amène à développer une dépendance à l’adrénaline. Le tout débute avec les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 pour se terminer 10 ans plus tard après avoir été plongé dans les abysses de l’horreur à travers son parcours.

Follow Jason as he takes us from the training grounds of Fort Bragg, NC, to the mountains of Afghanistan, to the mean streets of Phoenix as a police officer. And from the earthquake remains of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to the beaches of Hawaii to being wounded in the line of duty and left crippled and homeless.

Simple, emotional, and visceral, this story is about earth’s brokenness, God’s presence, and the true significance that resonates deep in the soul of every man. To be great and to do great things are embedded in the heart of every man, but the process of becoming that man demands courage, perseverance, and faith.

When Israel “DT” Del Toro, Jr.'s Humvee rolled over a roadside IED in Afghanistan, he had one thought as he lost consciousness: I have to keep the promise I made to my dad. DT was orphaned at the age of fourteen, and on the night before his father died, he repeated the promise his dad required: “Take care of your brothers and sisters.” Throughout his childhood and into adulthood, DT indeed looked after his younger brother and sisters, even to his own detriment and sacrifice.

Nayaf, 4 de abril de 2004. 12 horas. La base Al-Ándalus sufre el ataque de los milicianos del Ejército del Mahdi. Más de dos centenares de soldados españoles encuadrados enla División Mecanizadadeben movilizarse azarosamente, tomar posiciones y abrir fuego en un combate que durará horas y que supondrá el fin de la labor reconstructora de España en Irak. Los nuevos datos recogidos en la presente edición, corregida y aumentada, hablan de 250 muertos. Y al final, la guerra narra el antes y el después de aquellos soldados.