Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor Paperback – Illustrated, May 2, 2017

Hard to put down this tome which as best as possible describes the battle for a base that was the responsibility of a group of highly trained, selfless US Army soldiers to defend. Their lives and relationships as brothers is put to the test when attacked by a much greater number of also well trained and motivated Taliban forces that ultimately left nearly half of them KIA.

I have no words that can describe the emotions I feel about this event and these men, these heroes. I can’t only thank them and know their actions are inspirational

Absolute tribute to the soldiers that fought a Keating. Emotional, terrifying, above and beyond human capacity. Against all odds, they carried out the impossible defense of a poorly put together death trap

I found this book to help educate people who have no idea about the field of combat and what each soldier or marine goes through during a very intense firefight against a superior in numbers of enemy combatants. As a retired Navy Captain, I have come to know many combat veterans that fought in the last three wars that the United States has been or is still engaged in. War is not glory nor noble. To see body parts strew over the ground, to see unimaginable pools of blood, to see your best friend smoke a cigarette with you one second then have his head destroyed by a snipers bullet will change everything you thought war was. It is not Hollywood perversion but is reality. This book comes close to graphically revealing these experiences. However, I did not like the author spending so much time on writing about him and his actions when in fact everyone was fighting for their life against a enemy with superior numbers of soldiers wanting very badly to kill them. True, the author was awarded the Medal of Honor which is the greatest recognition a man or hopefully woman some day can earn. But war and battles are fought by many parts that are interwoven in order to overcome and defeat an enemy. To me, there is no higher calling than to serve in the military that is sworn to defeat our way of life and are willing to sacrifice themselves for their family, friends, and country. This book is a must read for those that have no idea about combat, the tools our military uses, and the men who lead them. For the combat veteran, there is nothing to be gained. They have been there and done that. Duty, Honor, and Loyalty forever.

Not a John Wayne epic or a Rambo fantasy , it is however a look a real guy's and what happens when it hits the fan. Real heroes are the guys who do when there is no expectation of survival and none of these guys expected to walk away.

I’ve taught History at USMA (West Point), served 24 years on active duty, and published a book myself. I’ve read military history for nigh on 50 years now, with a very heavy emphasis on memoirs. How many, I couldn’t say for sure, but probably 1000+.And I have never read a memoir as powerful, gripping, and vivid as this one.The narrative of the fight for Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan is structured with a personal depth, fluidity, and originality of presentation such as I have never encountered. Nothing else is even close to this book in getting the reader into the minds and personalities of the soldiers involved, and touching them in a human way that equals or exceeds the best character development I’ve ever encountered in the most moving literature in any genre.This is also superbly-researched history, as the author does an excellent job of weaving a tale that places COP Keating within the larger scheme of things in Afghanistan, and presents aspects of the battle that the author pulled together from participants and documents long after the battle. Logistics, air support, Quick Reaction Force (QRF) employment, are related to the facts on the ground, in the fight, for which this Staff Sergeant served in multiple roles as a platoon sergeant and squad leader, team leader and assistant base defense commander.He clearly focuses in Red Platoon’s role in the fight—his platoon—and the actions of Blue and White platoons on Keating and nearby outpost Kitsche are sketched out insofar as their actions bore on Red Platoon’s part of the fight. That is perfectly in keeping with the author’s intent to portray the battle fought by him and his platoon, and it also serves as a continual reminder to readers that SSG Romesha’s vision was limited dramatically by the fog of war. Indeed, the book’s narrative portion and primary focus is on his continual confrontation with the fog of war and his relentless attempts to see through it and take action.Clinton Romesha doesn’t fall into a common narrative difficulty faced by memoirists, which is to treat every comrade as a flawless hero and cover everyone’s faults. Yet, precisely by examining and critiquing those faults, mistakes, miscommunications, and mishaps, he accomplishes two things that separate his work from anything else I’ve read: (1) he weaves a far more complete, human, and intimately accurate narrative of the fight, and (2) in pointing out flaws, he also highlights the strengths each soldier, each human being, each buddy, truly deserves credit for, and thereby honors them more highly, sincerely, and grippingly than in any memoir or battle history I’ve ever seen. These are young American soldiers, not fictional superheroes. But even with their mistakes and human flaws made plain, their grit, determination, comradeship, and professionalism shine through with brilliant and touching clarity.This microhistory of a one-day battle on a remote outpost necessarily reads differently than most first-person memoirs. It also reads differently than a historian’s microhistorical recreation of a day’s fighting by a small unit in an utterly desperate situation. Because the microhistory here is provided by an active participant, who observed, recalled, and recreated this battle with an immediacy that even the best historians can’t attain, and which even the most gallant participants can never recall and articulate—and wrestle with—so fully, effectively, and touchingly.I am at a loss right now to praise this book adequately, and am not sure I could ever do so in any case. This is a one-of-a-kind tale that takes the reader into the innermost workings of a dismounted cavalry troop of the 4th Infantry Division, fighting a battle against all odds, and eventually prevailing. It is impossible for a reader to walk away from this experience without a sense of awe for the training, dedication, commitment, courage, tenacity, and skill of the very human young American soldiers who held Keating against all odds.Clinton Romesha obviously used this book to come to grips with what he saw and did at COP Keating, and to pay homage to men he loved closer than brothers after passing with them through this crucible. Although his book differs in so many important ways from other books that have moved me deeply about American soldiers and Marines at war, I will close by placing his book on my personal top shelf, along with “Company Commander” by Charles McDonald, “With the Old Breed at Pelelieu and Okinawa” by E.B. Sledge, “Visions from a Foxhole: A Rifleman in Patton’s Ghost Corps” by William A. Foley. I hate to omit other deeply moving accounts deserving of mention, but I am so impressed with Romesha’s book; the fighting man he proved himself to be; and the fighting men he led, followed, served with, and boldly risked his life for and helped lead to victory; that I feel it appropriate to simply call it, The Best I’ve Ever Seen.There are many questions left unanswered by his narrative, which I would like to talk to Romesha about someday, or research elsewhere. But no book can cover everything, from every angle, at every operational level, with the gripping power Romesha achieves in his narrative of Red Platoon. So I’ll simply repeat my bottom line and close with it: The Best I’ve Ever Seen.

A great read