Valhalla Boys: Marine Recon Sniper in Iraq [Hardcover]

Winner, The Eugene Sledge Award for Outstanding Memoir, 2025 Marine Corps Heritage AwardsIn 2006, the shock and awe campaign of securing the major cities had ended, and the Iraq War had moved into an alien phase for the operators of Black Flag One. With their motto swift, silent, deadly, the Marine operators of 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion were trained for unconventional warfare but they were tasked with holding and securing swathes of the country, facing Insurgents who were adapting their tactics to kill as many Coalition soldiers as possible using IEDs. It was a terrifying new phase of the war where every disturbed patch of dirt, every piece of rubbish, every civilian acting oddly could mean instant death.Into this cauldron of hate came a young Marine recon sniper. Brennan Morton had been fascinated by war and the military as long as he could remember, and had signed up for the Marines as an enlisted after 9/11. Developed from writing undertaken at the suggestion of his VA therapist, his immersive memoir takes the reader through selection and training and the first patrol sweeping for caches, to endless night watches, and deadly IED attacks.A raw look at the journey of one Marine from the rigors of bootcamp, through the hellish crucible of Special Operations selection to the Iraq war as it moved away from the nimble, nocturnal tactics Recon was known for, to a vicious game of IED cat-and-mouse.Arresting and intimate memoir of life as a Marine sniper in IraqAuthor did two combat tours of IraqReaders across the full spectrum of humanity would benefit from reading this book, as it presents the totality of human experience in a military forum without being understandable only to those who have worn the uniform.His [The author] immersive memoir takes you through his selection and training, including his first patrols. Again, youre invited to be privy, side by side, to his adventures.Valhalla Boys is definitely a different read from what you would expect from a lƒ%