10 books about the war in Afghanistan

The New York Times bestselling true account of John Chapman, Medal of Honor recipient and Special Ops Combat Controller, and his heroic one-man stand during the Afghan War, as he sacrificed his life to save the lives of 23 comrades-in-arms. In the predawn hours of March 4, 2002, just below the 10,469-foot peak of a mountain in eastern Afghanistan, a fierce battle raged. Outnumbered by Al Qaeda fighters, Air Force Combat Controller John Chapman and a handful of Navy SEALs struggled to take the summit in a desperate bid to find a lost teammate. Chapman, leading the charge, was gravely wounded in the initial assault. Believing he was dead, his SEAL leader ordered a retreat. Chapman regained consciousness alone, with the enemy closing in on three sides. John Chapman's subsequent display of incredible valor -- first saving the lives of his SEAL teammates and then, knowing he was mortally wounded, single-handedly engaging two dozen hardened fighters to save the lives of an incoming rescue squad -- posthumously earned him the Medal of Honor. Chapman is the first airman in nearly fifty years to be given the distinction reserved for America's greatest heroes. Alone at Dawn is also a behind-the-scenes look at the Air Force Combat Controllers: the world's deadliest and most versatile special operations force, whose members must not only exceed the qualifications of Navy SEAL and Army Delta Force teams but also act with sharp decisiveness and deft precision -- even in the face of life-threatening danger. Drawing from firsthand accounts, classified documents, dramatic video footage, and extensive interviews with leaders and survivors of the operation, Alone at Dawn is the story of an extraordinary man's brave last stand and the brotherhood that forged him.

The Instant New York Times Bestseller by Co-Star of Fox's American Grit and Legendary Ranger Nick Irving Groundbreaking, thrilling and revealing, The Reaper is the astonishing memoir of Special Operations Direct Action Sniper Nicholas Irving, the 3rd Ranger Battalion's deadliest sniper with 33 confirmed kills, though his remarkable career total, including probables, is unknown. Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary military career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labeled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian. Irving's astonishing first-person account of his development into an expert assassin offers a fascinating and extremely rare view of special operations combat missions through the eyes of a Ranger sniper during the Global War on Terrorism. From the brotherhood and sacrifice of teammates in battle to the cold reality of taking a life to protect another, no other book dives so deep inside the life of an Army sniper on point.

In 2009, Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of 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 United States 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 Americans their lives. Red Platoon is a firsthand account of the Battle for COP 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.--From dust jacket.

Chronicles the life of Navy SEAL Team Six operator Adam Brown, a man whose heroism and devotion still stand as a beacon to his friends and family, even after his death in the Afghan Hindu Kush mountains in 2010.

Chief Warrant Officer Erik Sabiston tells the story of his four-man flight crew's experiences evacuating wounded soldiers from the mountains of Afghanistan in their unarmed medevac helicopter, known as Dustoff 7-3.

From Beau Wise and Tom Sileo comes Three Wise Men, an incredible memoir of family, service and sacrifice by a Marine who lost both his brothers in combat--becoming the only "Sole Survivor" during the war in Afghanistan. Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, three brothers by blood became brothers in arms when each volunteered to defend their country. No military family has sacrificed more during the ensuing war, which has become the longest ever fought by America’s armed forces. While serving in Afghanistan, US Navy SEAL veteran and CIA contractor Jeremy Wise was killed in an al Qaeda suicide bombing that devastated the US intelligence community. Less than three years later, US Army Green Beret sniper Ben Wise was fatally wounded after volunteering for a dangerous assignment during a firefight with the Taliban. Ben was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, while Jeremy received the Intelligence Star—one of the rarest awards bestowed by the U.S. government—and also a star on the CIA’s Memorial Wall. United States Marine Corps combat veteran Beau Wise is the only known American service member to be pulled from the battlefield after losing two brothers in Afghanistan. Told in Beau’s voice, Three Wise Men is an American family’s historic true story of service and sacrifice.

The Wall Street Journal's national security reporter takes readers into the lives of the U.S. Special Forces, who are being increasingly relied upon to fight and win the war in Afghanistan, with devastating consequences both at home and abroad. In 2013, President Obama began the drawdown of troops in Afghanistan. But only a year into the withdrawal, Obama began allowing the U.S. military to resume combat operations, relying almost entirely on U.S. Special Operations forces. It was the beginning of a new, covert war. Reporter Jessica Donati shows how policy shifted, and argues that the war is undermining American interests both at home and abroad. It is eroding morale among America's most elite and most important forces and widening the disconnect between the military and the general public. This covert war fought by U.S. Special Forces is not fought as a nation, but as a secretive tool of policy. With big picture insight and on-the-ground grit, Donati argues that U.S. foreign policy and reliance upon covert warfare is allowing Afghanistan to continue as a safe-haven for extremist groups, and become more susceptible to foreign powers like China and Russia. As Afghanistan becomes more unstable, America will continue to fight a full-blown war with no end in sight.

A platoon of Marines and CIA operatives clash in a fight to the death with the drug lords and the Taliban, while in Washington, the president seeks a way out. This authentic war story vividly displays how a warrior must replenish his own moral courage and not allow ambition to coarsen his sense of decency. The Last Platoon explores firefights expertly told by a combat veteran. Readers feel like they have entered a strange, alien world as they watch the Marines and Taliban clash, circle each other, probe for weakness, and clash again in primordial violence, neither side yielding. While intrigue and deceit play out at the higher levels, in Afghanistan’s bright poppy fields only the killing instinct will decide the winner. “Bing West is the grunt’s Homer.” —L.A. Times “No correspondent has spent as much time on this ground as former Marine, Bing West, and no one has brought to it as much real-world, infantry-command experience.” —Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire “Bing West is on his way to becoming the Thucydides of the global war on Terror.” —The Washington Times “Some of the most compelling descriptions of small-unit combat that I have ever read.” —The Wall Street Journal “Bing has seen more war than most professional soldiers…utterly gripping—and utterly different from the sanitized picture.” —Max Boot, author of Invisible Armies: An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present “West shows in the most granular, detailed way how and why America’s counterinsurgency in Afghanistan is failing.” —The New York Times “West has become the Marine Corps’ bard of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as an embedded reporter in some of the most brutal fighting.” —The Washington Times