Product Description In this ground-breaking book, bestselling author and former U.S. Navy SEAL Dick Couch follows the SEAL Task Unit in Iraq s Anbar Province between 2005 and 2007, chronicling the unit s deployment in the Battle of Ramadi. Based on extensive interviews with Army, Navy, and Marine personnel who fought in the battle and the author s firsthand assessment of the situation when he traveled to Ramadi in 2007, Couch details the previously unrecognized importance of the SEALS in winning the fight to control Ramadi. Calling the battle the most significant military engagement in the global war against terrorism since 9/11 and the most sustained and vicious engagement ever fought by SEALs, Couch describes the success of special operations forces/Navy SEALs fighting side by side with conventional forces. Couch identifies the SEALs ability to adapt and evolve in this urban battle space and their code of brotherhood as the keys of their success. The author argues that the lessons of Ramadi should provide a template for future joint combined cooperation in the war against al-Qaeda and their allies. Couch admits that when he began researching the book in the summer of 2006, he thought he would be writing about the SEALs courage in a losing cause, but what emerged is a startling success story of a joint combined forces/special forces operation that has gone underreported.
About the Author
Dick Couch, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, served on active duty with the Navy Underwater Demolition and SEAL teams for five years. While a platoon leader with SEAL Team One, he led the only successful POW rescue operations of the Vietnam War. In 1972 he joined the CIA and retired from the Naval Reserve in 1997 with the rank of captain. In addition to many bestselling novels, he is the author of several works of nonfiction about the Navy SEALS and the Green Berets, including Chosen Soldier, Down Range, and The Warrior Elite.
Courage and intelligence get results .March 22, 2010 Paolo Galeazzi Very informative and technically very well written - it describes a story worth every American should study at school . A tribute to valor, courage and sacrifice and to adaptive behaviour .
Sheriff of RamadiFebruary 14, 2010 Gregg McGlaughlin Good account of the battle of Ramadi if you want to understand what it was really like. I was there and this is a good account.
the sheriff of RamadiJanuary 2, 2010 James T. Lechner recieved book in a timely manner and in good condition, found it to be a very informative and interesting read, thank you, Jim
A great read filled with human stories and direct resultsDecember 6, 2009 Gregory Tutunjian(Newton, MA USA) I found Dick Couch's experience in and around Ramadi as told in these pages to be very informative and telling, too. Dick relates what worked (and what didn't work) when the SEALs were made responsible for training indigenous Iraqi troops in the area of Ramadi as well as for when and how the SEALs volunteered to support the Army-led effort to retake Ramadi and leave it in the Iraqi's hands.
There are many first person stories told here. Dick did a masterful job of allowing these individuals to speak to the reader. This is also a very informative read. The dedication, sacrifice and creativity of the SEALs and their fellow war fighters are related here in detail.
Sheriff of RamadiSeptember 21, 2009 Sherry K. Dawson(LAS VEGAS) I got this as my brother was in Aramadi. He was very excited to get it. Great to read.
