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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
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ONE MILLION STEPS
A Marine Platoon at War
In ONE MILLION STEPS, Bing West embedded with the 50 Marines of 3rd Platoon, who were attempting to control the most violent area of Afghanistan in 2010-2011. West tells of the troops' everyday struggles and draws a scathing broader picture of the policymakers whose failed strategy cost lives. Half of the 3rd Platoon did not survive.
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 them 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.
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 grim odds and refused to back down. These Marines—four-year volunteers, not career soldiers—attacked and attacked. When a leader was struck down, another rose up to take his place. How does one man instill courage in another? What explains their ferocity? What welded these men together as firmly as steel plates?
Based on 3rd Platoon’s handwritten log, as well as months of face-to-face interviews, 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, Bing 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.
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.
Francis J. "Bing" West is a highly decorated Marine veteran and served as assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. A nationally acclaimed war correspondent, he has written eight books on military history, which have become New York Times and Foreign Affairs bestsellers. Most recently, he is the co-author of Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer's memoir, Into the Fire. Please visit www.bingwest.com
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Published 2014-09-09 by Random House |