Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story Of A Band Of US Soldiers Who Rode To Victory In Afghanistan (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
Horse Soldiers sheds light on perhaps the most successful operation of the War in Afghanistan. It does so by reliving events through the eyes of American and Afghan soldiers and civilians. In 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks, a group of Army Special Forces soldiers was airlifted into Afghanistan. Once there, they were to provide assistance to the Afghan warlords of the Northern Alliance, soldiers who had been battling the Taliban for years. These Americans dropped into what at times seemed an alien culture with little intel, rudimentary language skills, and orders to make Afghanistan an "uncomfortable" place for the Taliban. To survive, they inserted themselves into Afghan culture. They lived and fought alongside Afghan citizen soldiers. They learned how to use the forbidding terrain to their advantage. They even rode horses into battle. The result? The Taliban was dealt a series of crippling defeats and the Afghan people came to know these Americans as stalwart allies. Stanton's book sometimes reads more like a novel than history. He gets inside the heads of the soldiers and civilians who witnessed these events. He gives them voices and personalities. The stories they tell range from humorous to horrifying. Stanton shows a clear image of how war should be fought in the 21st century: not by full scale invasions, but by small forces willing to work within the culture and rebuild the countries into which they are sent. He does this by revealing the heroism and sacrifice of American and Afghans, and how they learned to work alongside each other.Horse Soldiers is a book to make any American proud of our Army Special Forces soldiers. Definitely gave me a more intimate understanding of the tribal system of North Afghanistan. I feel like I understand the conflict better now, and the manner that the US and SF approached Afghanistan and Iraq in a different manner. I expected more "Horse Stories" and less combat reporting, but I was surprised by the explanation of the relationships with the Afghan people and the strategy of the conflict. I'd recommend this book to people who want to understand the motivations of the troops on the ground as opposed to the soundbites from CNN and Fox news.
What do You think about Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story Of A Band Of US Soldiers Who Rode To Victory In Afghanistan (2009)?
Loved this book. Not a huge non-fiction fan but this one really kept my interest.
—frya
Great writing. Gave me a better understanding of Afghanistan.
—Terry
Didn't enjoy this nearly as much as "In Harm's Way."
—Baya
