Iraq Memoir

This awe-inspiring odyssey transcends the boundaries of time, culture, and the human spirit. Jo describes her participation in VETS (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions) programs as she experiences the healing power of plant and animal medicines in Mexico. She writes about being a Sundancer on the Lakota and Menominee reservations. Her clear narrative delves deep into the portals of consciousness and realms of the sacred.

After returning home from Iraq, I thought the battle was over, but little did I know, it was just beginning. As you hear about all the success and happiness achieved as a Marine, husband, and father, we will explore some of the darkest, most hopeless, and toughest battles I have ever fought with PTSD, addictions, homelessness, and divorce. God's love and grace made what seemed impossible possible. But "Miracles on a Rooftop" is not just a tale of combat and chaos. It is also a story of love, family, and the unwavering bond that sustains us through the darkest of times.

At a time when her college peers are debating what to major in, going to parties, and working jobs they can quit without threat of prosecution, Rosa is a secret traitor. She is a conscientious objector stuck in a National Guard uniform during the War on Terror. When the call comes to ship out, she faces the biggest quandary of her life: stay in an organization she has lost respect for and fulfill her duties, or follow her moral compass, no matter the consequences.

Iraqi microbiologist Thamer Abdul Rahman Imran has information vital to stopping the unthinkable: a biological attack on the US. When he learns that the new Iraqi government wants to arrest him and the insurgents want to kill him, he goes into hiding. Racing against time, ex-Secret Service agent Steve Monteiro and his team set out on a mission to find the missing scientist and learn what he knows. The journey takes them from the White House to the Middle East as they fight bureaucrats in Washington who want them to fail. Why? And what is this vital information that Thamer possesses?

Follow Jason as he takes us from the training grounds of Fort Bragg, NC, to the mountains of Afghanistan, to the mean streets of Phoenix as a police officer. And from the earthquake remains of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to the beaches of Hawaii to being wounded in the line of duty and left crippled and homeless.

When E.M. Liddick, a legal advisor to a special operations task force, returns from another tour in Afghanistan, he finds his formerly idyllic life in shambles. He's haunted by the decisions he made overseas, he's just told his wife of 11 years he's no longer in love with her, and his father—the person whom he would have turned to for advice—is 10 years deep into a battle with younger-onset Alzheimer's. Broken and lost, Liddick wonders, "How can I possibly find my way without you, Dad?"

At just eighteen years old, Miles Lagoze joined the Marine Corps a decade after the war began and found himself surrounded by people not unlike those he’d left behind at home—aimless youth searching for stability, community, and economic security. Deployed to Afghanistan as a Combat Cameraman—an active-duty videographer and photographer—Lagoze produced slick images of glory and heroism for public consumption. But his government-approved footage concealed a grim reality. Here, Lagoze pulls back the curtain and illustrates the grisly truth of the longest war in American history.

Not even old enough to drink, Corporal Savannah Cannon is a young enlisted United States Marine deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2010. As a tactical data networking specialist, she is sent away from everyone she knows and attached to a Regimental Combat Team where women are not allowed to repair communications. Her experiences over the next few months shed light on the unique and difficult positions women are placed in when supporting combat roles, while offering a raw look at the painful choices women must sometimes make.

Sergeant Bill Bee is the Marine in one of the defining images from the War on Terror. He responded to gunfire without protective gear when a Taliban sniper shot hit a sandbank just a few inches from his head in Garmsir, Helmand Province. When his world plunged into darkness, he thought his luck had run out. But he somehow survived, and his brush with death on May 18, 2008, was captured by a Reuters photographer. The images were broadcast around the world and became an iconic display of bravery at a time when support for the war in Afghanistan was low.

As a young boy, I was engulfed by the romanticism associated with warfare and was destined for a career within the infantry, but I was never prepared for what comes after and the hidden wounds of warfare that always seem to remain. In the 1990s, the British Army was world-renowned as being "The Best", yet, when it came to the welfare of its soldiers, this was far from the case. Our behavioral conditioning had been perfected, and we were trained to dehumanize and kill the enemy without question or hesitation, but what are the long-term psychological effects of such methods?

While serving a portion of his time under the Special Operations Command, Benjamin Sledge fought to keep his humanity amid the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan. But war never leaves its participants unscathed. In Where Cowards Go to Die, Sledge reveals an unflinchingly honest portrait of war that few dare to tell.

This narrative presents a firsthand account of a Marine who played a small role in the Afghan War. It begins with his enlistment in the Marine Corps immediately after high school, driven by dreams of earning the prestigious title of United States Marine and serving his country in combat. The story culminates with his reentry into the civilian world, marked by the challenging task of making sense of the profound experiences he underwent.

Lance Corporal Jeff Bodell recounts his harrowing experiences as a member of a Police Mentor Team during the brutal Battle of Marjah in 2010. In the scorching Afghan heat, amidst the chaos and bloodshed, this gripping first-person narrative unveils the raw realities of war and the unbreakable camaraderie forged in the crucible of combat. Join Bodell and the resilient members of Shadow One-Four as they confront a relentless Taliban force, fighting not only for survival but for the brotherhood that binds them.

m Leben eines Soldaten ist der Tod jederzeit nah. Otto Bulletproof machte diese Erfahrung, als er als Teil einer Fallschirmjägereinheit der Bundeswehr in Afghanistan in Lebensgefahr geriet. Von Raketenbeschuss und heiklen Missionen bis zum Tod eines Kameraden erzählt er in Becoming Bulletproof Geschichten aus dieser Zeit und davon, was ihn das Militär über Pflichtbewusstsein, Sinn und Werte gelehrt hat. Und natürlich berichtet er von herausfordernden Survival-Touren wie »7 vs. Wild« oder der »Warrior«-Reihe, die sein Leben bereichern, seitdem er aus dem Militär ausgeschieden ist.

When Israel “DT” Del Toro, Jr.'s Humvee rolled over a roadside IED in Afghanistan, he had one thought as he lost consciousness: I have to keep the promise I made to my dad. DT was orphaned at the age of fourteen, and on the night before his father died, he repeated the promise his dad required: “Take care of your brothers and sisters.” Throughout his childhood and into adulthood, DT indeed looked after his younger brother and sisters, even to his own detriment and sacrifice.

A candid and multifaceted look at life as a security contractor in Iraq in the early years after the American invasion. It’s not just a story of surviving IEDs and firefights while protecting American contractors—though those moments are vividly recounted—it’s also an exploration of the broader, often unexpected, experiences that defined the author’s two and a half years in Iraq.

A firsthand account of a young boy from Wolverhampton who joined the British Army for an adventure and his experiences of war in Iraq 2003 and Afghanistan 2006, which saw him and his fellow soldiers involved in some of the most intense combat since the Korean War.

In July 2009 Geraint (Gez) Jones was sitting in Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, with the rest of The Firm - Danny, Jay, Toby and Jake, his four closest friends, all junior NCOs and combat-hardened infantrymen. Thanks to the mangled remains of a Jackal vehicle left tactlessly outside their tent, IEDs were never far from their mind. Within days they’d be on the ground in Musa Qala with the rest of 3 Platoon - a mixed bunch of men Gez would die for.

In March 2008, the public learned the news that Prince Harry had been fighting with British troops in Afghanistan. This amazing book gives the definitive inside story of Prince Harry's brave service and reveals, amongst other breathtaking stories, how the third in line to the throne was operating only 500 yards from enemy positions, calling in air strikes and carrying out surveillance of Taliban fighters in Helmand province.

In 2005, Dana Canedy’s fiancé, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, began to write what would become a 200-page journal for his son in case he did not make it home from the war in Iraq. He was killed by a roadside bomb on October 14, 2006. His son, Jordan, was seven months old. Inspired by his example, Dana was determined to preserve his memory for their son. A Journal for Jordan is a mother’s fiercely honest letter to her child about the parent he lost before he could even speak. It is also a father’s advice and prayers for the son he will never know.