Roberts Ridge

· Delacorte Press
4,4
73 reviews
eBook
352
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

Afghanistan, March 2002. In the early morning darkness on a frigid mountaintop, a U.S. soldier is stranded, alone, surrounded by fanatical al Qaeda fighters. For the man’s fellow Navy SEALs, and for waiting teams of Army Rangers, there was only one rule now: leave no one behind. In this gripping you-are-there account–based on stunning eyewitness testimony and painstaking research–journalist Malcolm MacPherson thrusts us into a drama of rescue, tragedy, and valor in a place that would be known as...

ROBERTS RIDGE

For an elite team of SEALs, the mission seemed straightforward enough: take control of a towering 10,240-foot mountain peak called Takur Ghar. Launched as part of Operation Anaconda–a hammer-and-anvil plan to smash Taliban al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan –the taking of Takur Ghar would offer U.S. forces a key strategic observation post. But the enemy was waiting, hidden in a series of camouflaged trenches and bunkers–and when the Special Forces chopper flared on the peak to land, it was shredded by a hail of machine-gun, small arms, and RPG rounds. A red-haired SEAL named Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft. And by the time the shattered helicopter crash-landed on the valley floor seven miles away, Roberts’s fellow SEALs were determined to return to the mountain peak and bring him out–no matter what the cost.

Drawing on the words of the men who were there–SEALs, Rangers, medics, combat air controllers, and pilots–this harrowing true account, the first book of its kind to chronicle the battle for Takur Ghar, captures in dramatic detail a seventeen-hour pitched battle fought at the highest elevation Americans have ever waged war. At once an hour-by-hour, bullet-by-bullet chronicle of a landmark battle and a sobering look at the capabilities and limitations of America’s high-tech army, Roberts Ridge is the unforgettable story of a few dozen warriors who faced a single fate: to live or die for their comrades in the face of near-impossible odds.

Ratings and reviews

4,4
73 reviews
Reapers Punch
09 March 2016
Military leaders and subordinates alike should take the time to read such a compelling piece of literature such as this. What we do for a comrade is unheard of in the civilian arena. Hero's stories need to be told and taught in order to reacquire our sense of patriotism. The type of people spoken about in this book are the real Americans who fought and die everyday.
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A Google user
17 October 2012
Have read many books on modern warefare and this one is by far the worst. The chapters have no flow and a reader can be overwhelmed with too much non-pertaninant information. The story telling was awful. The author goes out of his way to put SEALS in a negative light.
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Scott Leslie
31 July 2016
The value in this book is in the perspectives in which it was written and all that went wrong in the mission and subsequent rescue attempts. The decisions made at the top affected every man down range... For better or for worse. The heroism, ingenuity and resolve of the boots on the ground was nothing short of phenomenal.
5 people found this review helpful
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About the author

Malcolm MacPherson is a journalist and author of several fiction and non-fiction books. He served in the Marine Corps, and worked as a staff journalist for Time and Newsweek magazines, the latter for 12 years as a foreign correspondent. Most recently, he reported from Iraq on assignment with Time. He lives in Warrenton, Virginia with his wife and two kids.

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