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The Man in the Arena cover art

The Man in the Arena

Written by: Eddie Gallagher, Andrea Gallagher
Narrated by: Eddie Gallagher, Andrea Gallagher
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Publisher's Summary

On September 11, 2018, Navy SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher - a highly-decorated combat veteran with nine deployments to war zones in Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq - was arrested for war crimes at the TBI medical clinic where he was receiving treatment. His incarceration was the culmination of a year-long whisper campaign started by a group of disgruntled members of his SEAL platoon after a successful deployment fighting ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. At the end of that deployment, Chief Gallagher was named the number-one chief at SEAL Team 7, put in for a Silver Star for valor on the battlefield, and listed for promotion to Senior Chief. The junior members whom Chief Gallagher had called out for cowardice and ineptitude in combat decided they couldn't let any of those things stand and escalated minor complaints into false accusations of stabbing a captured ISIS fighter and shooting noncombatants that gained international attention.

Despite a corrupt investigation and a deceitful prosecutor who would be removed from the case for spying on defense attorneys, Chief Gallagher was found innocent on all major charges, and freed from prison. But only after his family was put through hell, and President Trump intervened to allow Chief Gallagher a fair trial in a military justice system designed to break and persecute our country's warfighters.

While heavily covered in the media, the full story of how a war hero was railroaded and nearly sent to prison for life for crimes he didn't commit has never been told. Chief Gallagher did not testify at his trial and has spoken in little detail about how this travesty came about. Until now. A shocking, raw, tell-all expose that pulls no punches, and identifies each and every bad actor in this surreal story. Book includes QR codes that link to videos of the accusers’ NCIS interviews, trial audio, and text message threads highlighting the plot to take Chief Gallagher down.

"People always tell me, if our life was a movie, no one would believe it." (AG)

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Andy Symonds (P)2021 Ballast Books

What listeners say about The Man in the Arena

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Great read

Great read, stories like this need to get out. True justice needs to be a hallmark of freedom.

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War is a tough business for tough men

Anyone familiar with Theodore Roosevelt's The Man in the Arena will understand why Eddie Gallagher chose it for the book title. On his final deployment led his men into the fight against ISIS and brought them all home alive. For the moms and dads, wives, sweethearts and children of these men it's what they pray for, the return of their loved ones. But among Eddie's men, there were a few malcontents who thought the work was too hard, the demands too difficult. To retaliate, they hatched a plot to accuse Eddie of war crimes. They found a few officers along the chain of command who were suspiciously happy to take it forward with the intent of putting Eddie in prison for life and to deny him his rights along the way.

Denied pretrial bail and not informed of the charges, Eddie was condemned to languish in the brig until his wife Andrea and brother Sean waged a different kind of war against a military establishment determined to punish Eddie without trial or examination of evidence.

If you read Theodore Roosevelt's The Man in the Arena, you'll understand the message. We're all guilty of judging others who are in the fight while we sit on the sidelines. Almost always that judgment is flat out wrong.

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  • RcK
  • 2021-08-13

Powerful Story

Great telling of this story. Shows corruption of the highest levels of the Navy. Have been following Chief Gallagher since Donut Operator made his video on the story. Been waiting for this book since the beginning. It was well worth the wait.

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Remarkable!

Remarkable story. Well written. Nice personal touch having the individuals read their own parts. Thanks for your service and sharing your story.

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Incredible

This story truly depicts character, the traits we’d all like to say apply to us were enshrined by Eddie and Andrea, integrity shone thru and loyalty lead the charge

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