Red Platoon
A True Story of American Valor
-
-
٤٫٨ - ١٫٢ ألف من التقييمات
-
-
- 8٫99 US$
وصف الناشر
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.
مراجعات العملاء
Should be required reading for everyone in Congress and every military officer
I am humbled by this account of what those who served at COP Keating went through, and angered by the losses caused by those who made a decision to place soldiers in a dangerous and indefensible site such as this. Those who made the decision to place a combat outpost here should be convicted for murdering every soldier lost.
My compliments to SSgt Romesha for relating to the public this shameful episode.
Mind boggling
What these men went through during this battle, has got to be the most insane, intense and truly mind boggling experience. You get into the mindset and understand the tactical genius of Mr. Romesha and his fellow soldiers.
Read It
This book recounts the experiences of soldiers who fought for each other's survival during the Battle of Fort Keating, an outpost in Afghanistan. Clinton Romesha, a Medal of Honor recipient, provides a candid account of the events that transpired on October 3, 2009, when eight men sacrificed themselves to protect their comrades. Romesha presents the facts without embellishment, conveying the raw truth of the events. Some readers may recognize this story from the Hollywood film adaptation, "The Outpost," starring Scott Eastwood as Romesha. Unlike the movie, the book presents the story without creative liberties, focusing on the unvarnished truth. This book is a solid, highly recommended read.