Victory Point Operations Red Wings and Whalers - the Marine Corps' Battlefor Freedom in Afghanistan

by Darack, Ed

• ISBN13: 9780425226193
• ISBN10: 0425226190
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781101032480
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-07
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

Summary

The Riveting untold story of the Marine missions that led to free elections in Afghanistan. In late June 2005, media sources recounted the tragic story of nineteen U.S. special operations personnel who died at the hands of insurgent / terrorist leader Ahmad Shah— and the lone survivor of Shah’s ambush—deep in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan. The harrowing events of Operation Red Wings marked an important—yet widely misreported—chapter in the Global War on Terror, the full details of which the public burned to learn. Victory Pointreveals the complete, as-yet untold, story of Operation Red Wings (often mis-referenced as Operation Redwing”), and the follow-on mission, Operation Whalers. Together, these two U.S. Marine Corps operations (that in the case of Red Wings utilized Navy SEALs for its opening phase) unfurl not as a mission gone terribly wrong, but of a complex and difficult campaign that ultimately saw the demise of Ahmad Shan and his small army of barbarous fighters. Due to the valor, courage, and commitment of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment in the summer of 2005, Afghanistan was able to hold free elections that Fall. Here is the inspiring true account of heroism, duty, and brotherhood between Marines fighting the War on Terror.

Author Biography

Writer/photographer Ed Darack has followed the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment since their pre-Afghan mountain warfare training, and has continued with them through Afghanistan and their subsequent deployment into Iraq. He is the author of three previous books.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Author's Note	p. xv
Welcome to Afghanistan	p. 1
The Battalion	p. 28
Synergy of Success	p. 48
Into the Hindu Kush	p. 63
Red Wings Takes Flight	p. 95
Ambush	p. 124
Storm of Chaos	p. 142
Redoubled Efforts	p. 172
Whalers Unleashed	p. 191
Armageddon, Denied	p. 205
One Ridge Distant, A World Apart	p. 229
Star Wars	p. 249
Kinetic Exfil	p. 263
Victory Point	p. 277
Afterword	p. 281
Acknowledgments	p. 285
Primary Weapon Systems	p. 287
Interviewees	p. 297
References	p. 299
Index	p. 303
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