Red Platoon
A True Story of American Valor
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4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The only comprehensive, firsthand account of the fourteen-hour firefight at the Battle of Keating in Afghanistan by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, for readers of Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.
“‘It doesn't get better.’ To us, that phrase nailed one of the essential truths, maybe even the essential truth, about being stuck at an outpost whose strategic and tactical vulnerabilities were so glaringly obvious to every soldier who had ever set foot in that place that the name itself—Keating—had become a kind of backhanded joke.”
In 2009, Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost (COP) Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after its construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: it was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend.
On October 3, 2009, after years of constant smaller attacks, the Taliban finally decided to throw everything they had at Keating. The ensuing fourteen-hour battle—and eventual victory—cost eight men their lives.
Red Platoon is the riveting firsthand account of the Battle of Keating, told by Romesha, who spearheaded both the defense of the outpost and the counterattack that drove the Taliban back beyond the wire and received the Medal of Honor for his actions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former SSG Romesha, a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions in the 2009 battle for Outpost Keating in Afghanistan, viscerally describes the dirt, danger, and chaos of that battle. This ranks among the best combat narratives written in recent decades, revealing Romesha as a brave and skilled soldier as well as a gifted writer. He supports his own memories with hours of interviews and official reports to describe the battle and its context. Romesha offers some personal history and a rundown of the precarious nature of life at the remote American outpost before launching into his minute-by-minute account of its defense, from the moments prior to the attack at 5:58 a.m. until the first medevac helicopter arrived to remove the wounded and dead at 8:11 p.m. At the end of the battle, of the 50 soldiers at Keating, eight were dead and 27 were wounded. The soldiers were not hardened Special Forces operators, but rather ordinary young Americans "cut from a more ragged grade of cloth." Romesha remains humble and self-effacing throughout, in a contrast with many other first-person battle accounts, and his powerful, action-packed book is likely to stand as a classic of the genre. Photos.
Customer Reviews
Spellbinding.
You will have a hard time finding a more complete account of close quarters combat.
Must read
If you are here because you watched The Outpost, then you have to read this book.
A very well written book
Romesha is a very gifted writer. His account of the event that took place at COP Keating during the early days of October 2009 will forever be etched into my memories. I have a newfound sense of gratitude and thankfulness for our servicemen and women. Their courage, sacrifice, and love of country is truly unrivaled, and Romesha does an excellent job illustrating why.
Thank you to all who have served or are currently serving.