Joker One
A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
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4.6 • 141 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
After graduating from Princeton, Donovan Campbell wanted to give back to his country, engage in the world, and learn to lead. So he joined the service, becoming a commander of a forty-man infantry platoon called Joker One. Campbell had just months to train and transform a ragtag group of brand-new Marines into a first-rate cohesive fighting unit, men who would become his family. They were assigned to Ramadi, the capital of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province that was an explosion just waiting to happen. And when it did happen—with the chilling cries of "Jihad, Jihad, Jihad!" echoing from minaret to minaret—Campbell and company were there to protect the innocent, battle the insurgents, and pick up the pieces.
Thrillingly told by the man who led the unit of hard-pressed Marines, Joker One is a gripping tale of a leadership and loyalty.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Campbell decided as a junior at Princeton that attending Marine Corps Officer Candidate School would look good on his r sum . Three years later, in the spring of 2004, he was in Iraq commanding a platoon known by its radio call sign, "Joker One." Campbell tells its story, and his, in an outstanding narrative of the Iraq War. Joker One counted around 40 dudes: country boys and smalltown jocks; a few Hispanics and a single black. Some were college men with futures; some had pasts they preferred to forget. The battalion was assigned to one of Iraq's worst hot spots: the city of Ramadi, where faceless enemies found shelter among 350,000 Iraqi civilians. Joker One fought from street to street, house to house and ambush to ambush for seven straight months. By the end of the tour, "even the Gunny's hands had started ceaselessly shaking," Campbell writes. Faced with urgent life-and-death decisions, Campbell had learned that "there are no great options... you live with the results and shut up about the whole thing." For all his constant self-questioning, Lt. Campbell brought Joker One home with only one KIA a record as impressive as his account.
Customer Reviews
What I've learned
I began reading combat related military books a little over a year ago. Not having been in the service myself, I wanted to understand what it means to serve.
I anticipated learning about a bunch of action junkies quenching their thirst by trigger pulling. Now after some thirty books, I have learned that my supposition was apologetically myopic.
I have found that serving in the U.S. armed forces is actually about selflessly sacrificing yourself for your brother, and forming a bond of love for your team that few of us outsiders could ever fully understand. It's about love for your brother, not about hate of the enemy.
Joker One not only does a great job of depicting many dirt in your teeth battle stories, but on a higher level, Joker One helps us to understand the bond of love that's born out of the daily life and death struggle of a team of dedicated young men.
I heartily recommend this book!
Joker One review
The feelings are the same 40 some years later. I appreciate life more as a result of my Marine Corps experiences in Vietnam, Okinawa & the Philippines. It gives you a lot of daily gratitude.
I still have some autonomic startle responses that people around me don't understand. Albeit it subtle, but they are still there. Today, it's a good reminder that I'm above ground and have a life to live full of quality.
Namaste, Bill M
Five stars
Great book.