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12 Strong

The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers

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12 Strong

Written by: Doug Stanton
Narrated by: Jack Garrett
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The inspiration for the major motion picture 12 Strong from Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon.

From the New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way comes a true-life story of US Army Special Forces soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory in the Afghanistan War.

Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following September 11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty-to-one, they pursued the enemy army across the mountainous Afghanistan terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential to defeat their opponent throughout the country.

The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators as they rode into the city, and the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban regime had been overthrown.

Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed by the would-be POWs. Dangerously overpowered, they fought for their lives in the city’s immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the entire effort to outmaneuver the Taliban was likely doomed.

Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton’s account of the Americans’ quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The soldiers on horses combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople proved a valuable lesson for America’s ongoing efforts in Afghanistan. Armed Forces Middle East Military Wars & Conflicts

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At first I disliked the narrators voice- too soft but I got used to it. I got the book as well because sometimes I couldn’t believe what I heard and had to read it physically!

So awesome!

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An amazing true story
What it takes to do right and win under the hardest of odds

Amazing true story

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the story of the Special Forces soldiers is amazing, I just find that the author put a little too much of his own opinion into the main storytelling. the little bit he does at the end is fine, because that section is legitimately just for him telling his opinion. but when he sprinkles it throughout the book it kind of takes away from the reality of the story.

also, it could just be me but it took me awhile to get used to the reader.

good story, flawed telling

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This book really gave me a good perspective of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. It is interesting because the story line is a little different than most books of its kind, because it really does tell an unusual story. There are some pretty amazing events related in this book. It is certainly worth listening to..

Interesting Story

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First of all, this book should t be read or presented as non fiction but more so as historical fiction. With the recurrent theme of the author getting basic open source facts wrong, misconstruing events, assigning credit to those undeserving, hiding the mistakes of some and laying blame on others, along with his constant injection of his opinion, its about as historically accurate as most historical fiction works. The author works with a clear agenda, overplay the role of senior US Army Special Operation personal, while hiding their blunders. At the same time he consistently undercuts the role of the Afghans, the CIA teams in county and the ODA’s, while assigning the blame for their leaderships blunders to them.

There are more accurate books out there that are better written and read. Read them instead.

Take it with a grain of salt.

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