Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B0082EH80G | Format: PDF
Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds Description
One of the most critical battles of the Afghan War is now revealed as never before. Lions of Kandahar is an inside account from the unique perspective of an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces commander, an unparalled warrior with multiple deployments to the theater who has only recently returned from combat.
Southern Afghanistan was slipping away. That was clear to then-Captain Rusty Bradley as he began his third tour of duty there in 2006. The Taliban and their allies were infiltrating everywhere, poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, their strategically vital onetime capital. To stop them, the NATO coalition launched Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in its history. The battlefield was the Panjwayi Valley, a densely packed warren of walled compounds that doubled neatly as enemy bunkers, lush orchards, and towering marijuana stands, laced through with treacherous irrigation ditches. A mass exodus of civilians heralded the carnage to come.
Dispatched as a diversionary force in support of the main coalition attack, Bradley's Special Forces A-team and two others, along with their longtime Afghan Army allies, watched from across the valley as the NATO force was quickly engulfed in a vicious counterattack. Key to relieving it and calling in effective air strikes was possession of a modest patch of high ground called Sperwan Ghar. Bradley's small detachment assaulted the hill and, in the midst of a savage and unforgettable firefight, soon learned they were facing nearly a thousand seasoned fighters - from whom they seized an impossible victory.
Now Bradley recounts the whole remarkable story as it actually happened. The blistering trek across Afghanistan's infamous Red Desert. The eerie traces of the elusive Taliban. The close relations with the Afghan people and army, a primary mission focus. Sperwan Ghar itself: unremitting waves of fire from machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades; a targeted truck turned into an infer...
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 8 hours and 37 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Brilliance Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: May 9, 2012
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0082EH80G
"Lions of Kandahar" describes the most important battle we've never heard about until now, one in which a few dozen American special forces and Afghan allies saved overall U.S. and N.A.T.O. efforts in Afghanistan from disaster in 2006. Writing this a few days after the death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of a similar team of Navy SEALS, I find myself thankful we have such special forces heroes on our side in our continuing troubles.
The mission of this book is described as follows: "My team was tasked to 'clean out' the Taliban and foreign fighters, mitigate their influence, reinstate local, legitimate governance, and assist in the reconstruction and security of an underdeveloped urban area the size of Rhode Island. This Herculean task was given to ten men."
In the course of the book we come to know these incredibly-heroic men, and the answers to such questions as why they fight. "My family is why I fight, but it's hard for them to understand the reason I had to travel thousands of miles away to do it." To some extent, we also come to know their enemy. "Their ideology does not value their own people, except as sacrifices for their cause."
The battle itself pits the best of the best American warriors, using advanced equipment and aerial support (a la the Jetsons) against much larger Taliban and foreign forces (the Flintstones) using cheap but effective older weapons and communications technology. We also see, once again, how overly-restrictive rules of engagement nearly lose the day against opponents who respect no such rules.
The history leading up to the pivotal battle is detailed and interesting. No punches are pulled in describing prior failures and opposition that led to the battle and almost to its loss.
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