From Major General Jeffrey Schloesser—former Commanding General of
the 101st Airborne Division and Regional Command-East—comes a revealing
memoir of leadership in the chaos and fog of the Afghanistan War.
War
is the most brutal of human endeavors, and I have experienced enough
war to know to take cover when politicians and poets and armchair
warriors speak extravagantly of patriotism and national honor.
Join
Major General Schloesser in the daily grind of warfare fought in the
most forbidding of terrain, with sometimes uncertain or untested allies,
Afghan corruption and Pakistani bet hedging, and the mounting
casualties of war which erode and bring into question Schloesser’s most
profoundly held convictions and beliefs. Among several battles,
Schloesser takes readers deep into the Battle of Wanat, where nine U.S.
soldiers were killed in a fierce, up-close fight to prevent a new
operating base from being overrun. This encounter required Schloesser to
make tactical decisions that had dramatic strategic impact, and led him
to doubts: Can this war even be won? If so, what will it take?
This
book is a rare insight and reflection into the thoughts of critical
national decision-makers including President George W. Bush, Secretary
of Defense Robert Gates, then Senator Barack Obama, and numerous foreign
leaders including Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Key military
leaders—including then Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Admiral Michael Mullen, then Central Command Commanding General David
Petraeus, then Lieutenant General and future Chairman Martin Dempsey,
and International Security Force Commander General David McKiernan—all
play roles in the book, among many others, including Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley and Army Chief of Staff General James
McConville. Analyzing their leadership in the chaos of war Schloesser
ultimately concludes that successful leadership in combat is best based
on competence, courage, and character.
