Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor
Written by Clinton Romesha
Narrated by Clinton Romesha and Will Damron
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
The only comprehensive, firsthand account of the thirteen hour firefight at the Battle of Keating by Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, for readers of Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden and Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
"'It doesn't get better.' To us, that phrase nailed one of the essential truths, maybe even the essential truth, about being stuck at an outpost whose strategic and tactical vulnerabilities were so glaringly obvious to every soldier who had ever set foot in that place that the name itself -- Keating -- had become a kind of backhanded joke."
In 2009, Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the U.S. military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after its construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: it was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend.
On October 3, 2009, after years of constant smaller attacks, the Taliban finally decided to throw everything they had at Keating. The ensuing 14-hour battle-- and eventual victory-- cost 8 men their lives.
Red Platoon is the riveting first-hand account of the Battle of Keating, told by Romesha, who spearheaded both the defense of the outpost and the counter-attack that drove the Taliban back beyond the wire, and received the Medal of Honor for his actions.
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Reviews for Red Platoon
43 ratings6 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A good read, all things considered. At first, more of a novelized after-action report, but the story grows in the telling and ends up with a literary tone in the epilogue. Nicely done and hats off to the brave souls who didn't come home and again to those who returned to tell their story and live their lives in peace. Three stars.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is not a story. This is not fiction. This is a recounting of the battle of Command Outpost Keating. This is war in all its gruesomeness and valor. The men depicted are ordinary guys thrust into a fight for their lives. Clinton Romesha does not make these men out to be heroes. He tells what they did and how they did it. He shows their moments of fear and failure. He shows where they over came their faults and demonstrated extraordinary courage.
Romesha received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action during the 14 hour battle. Yet he gives the lion's share of the praise to his commanding officer and the men he fought with. He gives high praise to the pilots and airmen whose actions played a key role in preventing Command Outpost Keating from being over run by the Taliban. Although Taliban are portrayed as killers, Romesha gives them grudging respect for their strategy and tactics. Romesha is less kind with our Afghan allies.There is an epilogue which tells what happened to the men of Red Platoon after their tours of duty.
Romesha does not make any comment on the politics of the Afghan War. His focus is on the men and their experience. He shows in graphic detail the human cost of this battle. The mistakes made. The hard cost of victory. In plain spoken text he tells what they saw, what they did and who they cared about. By doing this Romesha makes the reader understand the psychological cost war extracts from those who fight it, and the sense of brotherhood and purpose it gives in return
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am a fan of military books. They are probably the number one type of nonfiction book that I read. Most of the books however have been about the past wars. Red Platoon is the most recent book I have read in a while focusing on a more current war. At first I was not into this book, which disappointed me due to the subject matter. Yet, because of this subject matter I tried to stick with the book. The second time I opened up this book it was like I was reading a different book, I was more focused and engaged in Clinton Romesha and his fellow comrades of the Black Knight Troop. This is probably one of the most realistic military books I have read in a while. There really was no holding back from the poo barrels to life in the barracks to the graphic details of the men getting hit and their brains spilling all over the dirt. If you are a fan of military stories than you are used to the language. Which for me I am used to and accept as part of the story. It was like I was there with Clinton and the rest of his comrades as they were taking heavy fire. It is people like Clinton and his comrades that fight for the rest of us and are willing to share their stories that we can have movies base don these books like the most recent movie, 13 Hours. This is a must, must read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The author is a Medal of Honor recipient for a battle to hold a useless outpost in Afghanistan. He is not experienced author but he has put together one of the most penetrating books on battle that I've ever read. He starts out by describing the principle players in everyday language. and then he doesn't just describe the battle, he actually puts the reader into the action He allows the reader to cry out against incompetence, missed opportunities and just plain bad luck. A certain fatalism seems to pervade the whole narrative yet it is also clear no one wants to die. Without articulating it, he clearly would support the idea that soldiers do not die for liberty, country or patriotism; rather he makes it clear they are devoted first to each other and then all the other things for which human beings fight in battles. In that regard, this is almost a text book. Still, there is also the blood and gore of savaged bodies.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A descriptive account of the battle of Keating from a first hand point of view. God bless those who didnt come home.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If anyone wonders what it is like to truly be in a battle for one’s life, this is the book for you. Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha brings the reader into what it was like when Command Outpost Keating in Afghanistan came under attack where they were both outnumbered and outgunned by Taliban fighters in one of the most organized attacks ever put into play by our enemy. Romesha brings the reader right into actual combat describing almost by the minute what everyone involved was thinking and doing as the battle progressed. The courage and skills that these young men brought out in themselves and each other is a testament to what is right with our country. However, the simple fact that can’t be ignored is the sheer stupidity of building this outpost where it was. It was in a valley surrounded by high mountains on all sides. It was accessible by only one road deemed too dangerous to navigate so all deliveries had to be done by air. Making these air deliveries almost impossible were the mountains hiding offensive weapons that could easily bring down helicopters when properly placed and the other fact that the landing zone was across a river, making it had to defend from attacks from above. Even I know that the advantage in a military attack goes to the ones on higher ground, so why the “brilliant” strategists thought to build a post in such a virtually indefensible and remote place would result in anything but a bloodbath is beyond my comprehension. Therefore, while I admire and respect the men who fought so valiantly that day against almost insurmountable odds, especially those who gave up their lives in defense of COP Keating, I am also both amazed and horrified by those military leaders who put them in the position of having to do so.