KANDAK

KANDAK PDF Author: Patrick Hennessey
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141966270
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
From the author of the top ten bestseller The Junior Officers' Reading Club. When Patrick Hennessey returned home from Afghanistan, battle-worn, exhilarated, unsure if he'd see anything like it in his life again, he left behind him bands of friendship forged in the heat of the moment between living and dying. The comrades he left furthest behind were Qiam, Syed and Majhib. They are still there in the dust and heat of Helmand, soldiers fighting for their homeland. KANDAK is the story of how these lasting bonds were made. Written in the spare and lucid prose of Junior Officers' Reading Club, Patrick Hennessey tells of their comically bad first meetings, the mutual suspicion, incomprehension and cultural divides that characterise early interactions between British and Afghan soldiers, to the moments under fire when those divides can, sometimes, cross chaos and culture shocks to turn into brotherhood. An account of friendship and loss, of warriors and soldiers, KANDAK explores the reasons men pick up the sword, and how in the intensity of battle, unlikely alliances can be formed.

KANDAK

KANDAK PDF Author: Patrick Hennessey
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141966270
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
From the author of the top ten bestseller The Junior Officers' Reading Club. When Patrick Hennessey returned home from Afghanistan, battle-worn, exhilarated, unsure if he'd see anything like it in his life again, he left behind him bands of friendship forged in the heat of the moment between living and dying. The comrades he left furthest behind were Qiam, Syed and Majhib. They are still there in the dust and heat of Helmand, soldiers fighting for their homeland. KANDAK is the story of how these lasting bonds were made. Written in the spare and lucid prose of Junior Officers' Reading Club, Patrick Hennessey tells of their comically bad first meetings, the mutual suspicion, incomprehension and cultural divides that characterise early interactions between British and Afghan soldiers, to the moments under fire when those divides can, sometimes, cross chaos and culture shocks to turn into brotherhood. An account of friendship and loss, of warriors and soldiers, KANDAK explores the reasons men pick up the sword, and how in the intensity of battle, unlikely alliances can be formed.

Infantry

Infantry PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Infantry
Languages : en
Pages : 56

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Book Description


U.S. Army Afghan National Army Infantry and Counterinsurgency COIN Manual

U.S. Army Afghan National Army Infantry and Counterinsurgency COIN Manual PDF Author:
Publisher: Jeffrey Frank Jones
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 805

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Book Description
Foreword This manual takes a general approach to COIN. The Army recognizes that every insurgency is contextual and presents its own set of challenges. You cannot fight the Taliban the way you would fight the former Soviet Union; the application of principles and fundamentals to deal with each vary considerably. Nonetheless, all insurgencies, even today’s highly adaptable strains, remain wars amongst the people, employ variations of standard themes, and adhere to elements of a recognizable revolutionary campaign plan. This manual therefore addresses the common characteristics of insurgencies. It strives to provide those carrying out a counterinsurgency campaign a solid foundation on which to build in seeking to understand and address specific insurgencies. A counterinsurgency campaign is, as described in this manual, a mix of offensive, defensive, and stability operations, conducted along multiple lines of operation. It requires Soldiers to employ a mix of both familiar combat tasks and skills more often associated with nonmilitary agencies, with the balance between them varying depending on the local situation. This is not easy. Leaders at all levels must adjust their approach constantly, ensuring that their elements are ready each day to be greeted with a handshake or a hand grenade, to be nation builders as well as warriors, to help reestablish institutions and local security forces, to assist in the rebuilding of infrastructure and basic services, and to facilitate the establishment of local governance and the rule of law. The list of such tasks is a long one and involves extensive coordination and cooperation with a myriad of intergovernmental, indigenous, and international agencies. Indeed, the responsibilities of leaders in a counterinsurgency campaign are daunting – and the discussions in this manual endeavor to alert them to the challenges of such campaigns and to suggest general approaches for grappling with those challenges. Conducting a successful counterinsurgency campaign thus requires a flexible, adaptive force led by agile, well-informed, culturally astute leaders. It is our hope that this manual provides the necessary guidelines to succeed in such a campaign, in operations that inevitably, are exceedingly difficult and complex. Our Soldiers deserve nothing less.

Where Youth and Laughter Go

Where Youth and Laughter Go PDF Author: Seth William Bell Folsom
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612518729
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Where Youth and Laughter Go completes LtCol Seth Folsom’s recounting of his personal experiences in command over a decade of war. It is the culminating chapter of a trilogy that began with The Highway War: A Marine Company Commander in Iraq in 2006 and continued with In the Gray Area: A Marine Advisor Team at War in 2010. The chronicle of Folsom’s command of 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, “The Cutting Edge,” and his harrowing deployment to Afghanistan’s volatile Sangin District presents a deeper look into the complexities and perils of modern counterinsurgency operations in America’s longest war. Charged with the daunting task of pacifying a region with a long history of violence and instability, Folsom and his Marines struggled daily to wage a dynamic campaign against the shadowy enemy force that held Sangin’s population firmly in its grip. With peace and stability always teetering on the brink of collapse, the Marines of “The Cutting Edge” confronted their own mortality as they conducted endless patrols through Sangin’s minefields while fighting to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan villagers. No other books have been published from the perspective of a Marine infantry battalion commander in Afghanistan. It was Folsom’s job, as the unit commander, to lead his Marines under impossible circumstances. LtCol Folsom made the unusual decision to patrol with his rifle squads every day through Sangin, where his Marines dodged improvised explosive devices and sniper fire from an invisible enemy. As his tour progressed and casualties mounted, he found his objectivity evaporating and the love for his men growing. Where Youth and Laughter Go is more than a blood-and-guts war story, it is a jarring, “boots on the ground”–level examination of the myriad challenges and personal dilemmas that today’s young service members face as the United States approaches its final endgame in Afghanistan.

Fighting for Afghanistan

Fighting for Afghanistan PDF Author: Sean M Maloney
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612513999
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Fighting For Afghanistan is the third book in the Rogue Historian trilogy, taking Maloney’s story into the conflict in 2006, when the Taliban-led insurgency threatened to overwhelm the U.S.-led coalition in southern Afghanistan. This shift to near-conventional warfare, as opposed to the small-scale guerilla attacks and urban terrorism in Kandahar, caught everybody by surprise and forced a small, under-equipped Canadian battle group, supported by a Canadian-led multinational brigade consisting of American, British, Dutch, forces, into a desperate series of battles to protect the city and to prevent the collapse of British forces in neighboring Helmand province. The author arrived on the ground just as the situation spun out of control and he was able to capture, at all levels from infantry company to battle group to brigade headquarters, exactly what happened. This book explains the difficulties in balancing security and development, the challenges of operating in an austere, alien environment, and the human cost of counterinsurgency warfare in Afghanistan. Fighting For Afghanistan takes the reader through all of the moving parts and planning and then depicts how it played out on the field of battle. During the course of the action, the author became the first Canadian military historian to go into combat since the Korean War. The battles around Kandahar City in 2006 were the turning point in the Afghanistan war and this book is the first to explain events in detail from all three levels. This is the only account that shows the scope of the fighting in the south in this time period. Because of his close proximity to the action, the author was nearly killed on several occasions that summer during the fighting and he brings the intensity of this experience to his writing.

Army Rangers

Army Rangers PDF Author: C.F. Earl
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1422295028
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The Rangers are some of the best-trained and most skilled soldiers in the Army. Their motto—Rangers lead the way!—is not just a slogan; in many of the modern conflicts in which the U.S. military has been involved, the Rangers have been among the first soldiers on the ground. In both Iraq and Afghanistan, Rangers carry out raid, ambush, and rescue missions, as well as many other kinds of operations. Army Rangers gives readers a view into the world of the highly skilled Seventy-Fifth Ranger Regiment, today's Rangers, as well as a look at the history of the unit. Since the Revolutionary War, Ranger tactics and standards have been some of the most effective in the entire military. The book also includes information about: • The tough training courses that all Rangers must endure. • What kinds of weapons the Rangers use today and throughout history. • How the modern Rangers were organized and put into action around the world.

TATTOO ZOO

TATTOO ZOO PDF Author: Paul Avallone
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1491725001
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 563

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Book Description
A novel of the Afghan War, authentic, boots-on-the-ground, TATTOO ZOO comes from a veteran of three-plus years in the war--first as a Green Beret, then later years as a freelance writer/photographer embedded with US Army infantry units. This is the story of the courage, camaraderie and sacrifice of the men of the fictional platoon of the title, as these GIs fight a fierce Taliban in a nowhere piece of picturesque real estate called Wajma Valley, while battling a politically correct four-star command determined to prosecute the Zoosters for war crimes or simply leave them in the valley to die.

Helmand Mission

Helmand Mission PDF Author: Richard Doherty
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 184468816X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
After celebrating St. Patricks Day 2008, 1st Royal Irish Battlegroup deployed to Afghanistans Helmand province as part of 16 Air Assault Brigade. For six months the Royal Irish fought the Taliban in Helmand in some of the most difficult country on earth. At the same time the Battlegroup was training the nascent Afghan National Army (ANA) and many of its engagements were alongside Afghan soldiers. Well trained and with an operational maturity gained from deployments in every year but one since 1998, they were considered the unit in 16 Air Assault Brigade best suited to the critical task of mentoring the ANA. One company deployed with 2 PARA Battlegroup in the Sangin valley. Its soldiers saw intense action against the Taliban, especially through the latters use of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices). Another company was given the task of ensuring the safe passage of an additional generator for the Kajaki dam and was involved in heavy fighting while so doing. TA soldiers from 2 R Irish formed Imjin Company which provided security but also deployed on wider tasks. Professionalism, high levels of trust and the unique humor of Irish soldiers ensured that they had a successful tour and accomplished their missions. This is the stirring story of a regimental family at war and of those who sustained them, including their remarkable chaplain, Padre Albert Jackson, and the rear party which supported the families, especially those whose fathers or sons suffered injury or death. Above all, it is the story of a highly professional unit demonstrating its skills to the world and helping make Afghanistan a better place for its people.

Military Review

Military Review PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 628

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Book Description


Professional Journal of the United States Army

Professional Journal of the United States Army PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Military art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description