Fighting 69th : From Ground Zero to Baghdad

by Flynn, Sean Michael (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780143114925
• ISBN10: 0143114921
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-30
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

One of the most celebrated units in the military for more than a century, by 1990, New York City’s Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard was scarcely fit for duty. Its equipment was derelict, its discipline nonexistent, many of its leaders inept, and its ranks filled with kids barely out of high school who had little intention of serving their country for any longer than it took to get their paycheck, college credit, or job training. Then came the attacks of September 11 and the invasion of Iraq. In The Fighting 69th, Sean Michael Flynn, himself a member of the unit, chronicles the extraordinary transformation of this band of amateur soldiers into a battle-hardened troop at one of the most lethal sites of war.

Author Biography

Sean Michael Flynn served as a company commander during the Fighting 69th-'s service from Ground Zero to Iraq, and prior was in the U.S. Air Force. He has a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Table of Contents

Author's Note	p. xi
An Infantry Primer	p. xiii
Prologue	p. 1
October 1991
Homeland Defense: March 2001-February 2004
Weekend Warriors	p. 11
Saint Patrick's Day 2001
Failure to Launch
Missionaries, Mercenaries, and Misfits
Minutemen	p. 32
A New Paradigm
Beirut-on-Hudson
The Strategic Reserve	p. 51
Not Ready for Prime Time
The Roughnecks
Preemption	p. 69
Parking Lot Heroes
Saint Patrick's Day 2002
The Bridge-and-Tunnel Group
The End of the Whip	p. 88
The Storm Before the Hurricane
Saint Patrick's Day 2003
When Pigs Fly
Operation Iraqi Freedom: March 2004-September 2005
When the 69th Comes Back	p. 115
Saint Patrick's Day 2004
Checking the Box
The Blacksheep
General Order Number 1
Green in the Desert	p. 141
Reconnaissance
Shithouse Poets
Mach Jesus
Taji	p. 158
Task and Purpose
Babes in the Woods
Napalm in the Morning
The Rouge Bouquet	p. 178
Framework Operations
The First Kill
The Economy of Force
The Infantry	p. 200
Counterinsurgency
Charlie 24
The Heart of Darkness
Information Operations	p. 215
Hagar the Horrible
The Most Dangerous Road in the World
Route Irish	p. 231
Last Man Standing
Checkpoint 541
Vehicle-Borne Death
Saint Patrick's Day 2005
Task Force Wolfhound	p. 250
Fresh Legs
The Trial
Revenge of the Assassins
Iraquization
Boots Off the Ground	p. 272
69 Minutes
The Enemy at Home
Afterword: The Operational Reserve	p. 284
Saint Patrick's Day 2006
Afterword to the Paperback Edition	p. 289
Acknowledgments	p. 295
Index	p. 297
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.