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Aware of U.S. plans to withdraw from the country, knowing their efforts were only a footprint in the sand, the fifty Marines of 3rd Platoon fought in Sangin, the most dangerous district in all of Afghanistan. So heavy were the casualties that the Secretary of Defense offered to pull the Marines out. Instead, they pushed forward. Each Marine in 3rd Platoon patrolled two and a half miles a day for six months—a total of one million steps—in search of a ghostlike enemy that struck without warning. Why did the Marines attack and attack, day after day?
Every day brought a new skirmish. Each footfall might trigger an IED. Half the Marines in 3rd Platoon didn’t make it intact to the end of the tour. One Million Steps is the story of the fifty brave men who faced these grim odds and refused to back down. Based on Bing West’s embeds with 3rd Platoon, as well as on their handwritten log, this is a gripping grunt’s-eye view of life on the front lines of America’s longest war. Writing with a combat veteran’s compassion for the fallen, West also offers a damning critique of the higher-ups who expected our warriors to act as nation-builders—and whose failed strategy put American lives at unnecessary risk.
Each time a leader was struck down, another rose up to take his place. How does one man instill courage in another? What welded these men together as firmly as steel plates?
This remarkable book is the story of warriors caught between a maddening, unrealistic strategy and their unswerving commitment to the fight. Fearsome, inspiring, and poignant in its telling, One Million Steps is sure to become a classic, a unique and enduring testament to the American warrior spirit.
Praise for One Million Steps
“West shows the reality of modern warfare in a way that is utterly gripping.”—Max Boot, author of Invisible Armies
“A gripping, boot-level account of Marines in Afghanistan during the bloody struggle with Taliban fighters.”—Los Angeles Times
“One Million Steps transcends combat narrative: It is an epic of contemporary small-unit combat.”—Eliot A. Cohen, author of Supreme Command
“A blistering assault on America’s senior military leadership.”—The Wall Street Journal
“A heart-pounding portrayal . . . a compelling account of what these men endured.”—The Washington Post
“Stunning, sobering, and brilliantly written.”—Newt Gingrich
“One of the most intrepid military journalists, Bing West, delivers a heart-wrenching account of one platoon’s fight.”—Bill Bennett, host of Morning in America
“Bing West has reconfirmed his standing as one of the most intrepid and insightful observers of America’s wars. . . . One Million Steps reveals the essence of small-unit combat, the very soul of war.”—The Weekly Standard
“A searing read, but it is one that all Americans should undertake. We send our sons into battle, and few know what our warriors experience.”—The Washington Times
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
September 9, 2014 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781588369338
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781588369338
- File size: 18382 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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September 1, 2014
The terrible toll of the Marine Corps' ferociously fighting Third Platoon in Afghanistan, within the context of a larger failed U.S. effort. Embedded with the Third in January 2011 during its dangerous drive to clear out the Taliban from Sangin, a poppy-farming community in southern Afghanistan bordering Helmand province, war correspondent and Marine veteran West (The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy and the Way Out of Afghanistan, 2011, etc.) offers a suspenseful account of the perilous mission, during which the platoon suffered a greater than 50 percent casualty rate. Though the objective of the mission-winning over the Sangin tribes of farmers, installing a turbine at the Kajaki Dam and instilling a "nation-building" ethos through the U.S. military's counterinsurgency policy-was not achieved, West demonstrates the tenacity and cohesion that kept this fighting force together and driven despite the horrendous conditions. The author gives a terrific overview of the Western attempt after 9/11 to expunge Al-Qaida, while the U.S. remained ostensibly to build a democratic nation. Yet the Taliban crept back in to secure the wealth of the poppy fields, routinely attacking the British garrison around the district market and ringing it with IEDs. When the Marines went in with President Barack Obama's call for a surge, the mission was to "drive the enemy out of Helmand by walking every foot of farmland"-6,000 steps per day. Despite the confusion about the goal, downgrading "defeat" of the Taliban to "diminish," and attempting to win hearts and minds rather than killing their way to victory, the U.S Marines took over from the British and kept their sights on defeating the enemy. The battle-hardened Marines lived in caves and were frequently blown apart by IEDs, leaving shock and anger and a fresh will to move forward. West's last chapter, "Who Will Fight for Us?" offers a heart-rending assessment of the collapse of this long war of attrition. A moving account of bravery.COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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