Description
Book SynopsisThese are the intense combat experiences of the first Marine to command a special operations task force recounted against a backdrop of his journey from raw Second Lieutenant to Task Force Commander; from leading Marines through the streets of Mogadishu, Baghdad and Mosul to directing special operations in an impossibly complex fight against a formidable foe. The journey culminates in the story's centerpiece: the fight against ISIS - one which finally seems to make sense for the soldiers, sailors and Marines involved, in which the author is able to use the lessons of his harsh apprenticeship to lead the SOF task force under his command to hasten the Caliphate's eventual demise. Milburn combines self-effacing candor with the insight and skill of a natural story teller to make the reader experience what it's like to lead those who fight America's wars.
Trade Review"A decorated Marine's officer's riveting account of some thirty years of often horrific frontline fighting from, Somalia to Iraq. Milburn's to hell and back memoir is gritty, erudite, and reminds us of the extraordinary sort of people who keep us safe while we sleep."--Victor Davis Hanson, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Author, The Second World Wars. How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won "This is simply the finest war memoir to emerge from the last two decades of constant fighting." --Bing West, co-author of "Call Sign Chaos", New York Times Bestseller. "...the best combat memoir to emerge from the modern battlefield. Milburn's astonishing Marine career took him from Somalia in 1992 to Syria In 2018 and everywhere in between, including traditional infantry and unique advisor and special operations commands that resulted in fighting for the same Iraqi cities years apart, again and again. The result is a searing perspective on endless Middle East combat that has no peer." --Owen West, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations "In the fields that today we know as Special Operations, individuals throughout history have developed near-legendary standing....The first half of the 20th century gave us T. E. Lawrence and Marines like Edson, Carlson, and Pierre "Pete" Ortiz.....Without hyperbole, the combat memoir of Colonel Andrew Milburn, USMC, When the Tempest Gathers, establishes this Marine leader's name among this storied group...... this genuine tale of the triumphs and the challenges of leadership in today's wars....is most importantly a compelling and completely authentic story." --Marine Corps Gazette
