Roberts Ridge: A Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan Mass Market Paperback Author: Visit Amazon's Malcolm MacPherson Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0553586807 | Format: PDF, EPUB
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From Publishers Weekly
On March 2, 2002, U.S. intelligence launched Operation Anaconda; having noted a concentration of al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in the Shah-i-Kot Valley, they dispatched MAKO-30, a seven-man navy SEAL reconnaissance team, attempted a helicopter landing on Takur Ghar, the highest overlooking peak. Tasked with calling in air strikes, MAKO-30 found its landing zone to be a well-concealed al-Qaeda camp; the team's Chinook helicopter was driven off by withering ground fire. When SEAL Neil Roberts fell out of the chopper, the others insisted on going back for him. With the team pinned down by enemy fire and facing annihilation, commanders dispatched a quick reaction force of army Rangers to rescue them. Thus began a harrowing 17-hour drama every bit as perilous and courageous as the Rangers' ill-fated Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia; novelist (
Deadlock) and journalist (
The Black Box) MacPherson eloquently captures this gripping tale, based on interviews with many of the survivors and access to the army's after-action report. And while the battle "played no part in the success of Anaconda," and was in fact a distraction for decision makers, the army after-action report cites the troops' "conspicuous bravery" and "countless acts of heroism"—all of which MacPherson captures with aplomb.
(Sept. 6)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
This is a real-life thriller with not quite the triumphant ending that fiction often provides, to be sure, but relating a great many hard-won lessons. In March 2002 a team of U.S. Navy SEALs attempted the capture of Takur Ghar, a 10,000-foot-high mountain whose seizure would give the American forces in Afghanistan a key observation post. But the mountain was defended, and when the special forces helicopter reached the peak, it was shredded by enemy fire, and Petty Officer First Class Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft. His fellow SEALs were determined to bring him out. This is the story of that attempt. Well told and frightening as well as true, this is a book that bridges the breach between the increasingly professional American military and a civilian culture possessing little knowledge or experience of the military. Though not the only such book, one of the best recent ones.
Frieda MurrayCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Download latest books on mediafire and other links compilation Roberts Ridge: A Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan Mass Market Paperback Free PDF
- Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Dell (July 25, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0553586807
- ISBN-13: 978-0553586800
- Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
I really wanted to like this book as those who fought there did so with great courage and skill and made such incredible sacrifices. However, I felt the author let them down in two primary areas-a lack of background for the original insertion decision and the decisions made from afar during the fight.
I was also disappointed with the very limited indexing. There are also some critical inconsistencies in the book.
The Seals came to the area looking for a mission on very short notice. It was apparently not their decision, but from far up the food chain and thousands of miles away in a flat land. There was a failure to appreciate the need to adapt to the altitude.
Control of Takur Ghar was not seen as essential in the plan for the operation prior to the arrival of the Seals. However, the author appears to start with the premise that control was essential, but in the end accepts the view that it was not essential.
The decision imposed on the Seals to make a direct aerial assault on the position after experiencing delays, rather than delay 24 hours, was an imposition from above. One of the grave risks of the new information age is that those (both military officers and politicians) receiving satellite, UAV data and perhaps battlefield video will abandon their roles of strategic planning and information dissemination in favor of making tactical decisions without situational awareness. It's a recipe for disaster.
There's a reason that a great football coach is down on the field while the spotters and perhaps those who recommend plays are high above the stadium.
In some respects the limitations of the book are a reflection of that lack of shared information and situational awareness which plagued the fighters during the events.
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