I have been involved in these wars ever since 2005. My first overseas contract was in Iraq. I started working for Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) November 5, 2005 in Balad, Iraq. I started out as lead mechanic and soon moved up to a supervisor. We worked on a lot of M915 that the army had, and KBR had Mercedes and Volvos that were not up armor. Many drivers had been killed in these trucks with no protection. After putting up KBR three years, I got a chance to jump on board with Dyncorp. Navistar had just come out with MRAP vehicle that was supposed to take the place of the Humvee. After going through their training in West Point, Mississippi, and Red River-u in New Boston, Texas, I was sent to Mosul, Iraq, and taught the opnet class on the MRAP vehicle. Mosul was considered one of the hot spots in northern Iraq, and of all the places I have been in Iraq, Mosul was the best. After spending a year in Mosul, I took off eighteen months and started working for Navistar/Defense. I was sent to Afghanistan as an FRS, assigned to the Jordanian army. I was told that I would have interpreters and transportation when I got in country. Afghanistan was nothing like Iraq. The leadership wasn’t there, and there was no help for the FSRs that were on ground in Shank, no interpreters and no transportation.

The most comprehensive account to date of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and aftermath, this volume includes unprecedented details on the impact on the Pentagon building and personnel and the scope of the rescue, recovery, and caregiving effort. It features 32 pages of photographs and more than a dozen diagrams and illustrations not previously available.

This book provides a multifaceted array of answers to the question, In the ten years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, how has America responded? In a series of essays, RAND authors lend a farsighted perspective to the national dialogue on 9/11's legacy. The essays assess the military, political, fiscal, social, cultural, psychological, and even moral implications of U.S. policymaking since 9/11. Part One of the book addresses the lessons learned from America's accomplishments and mistakes in its responses to the 9/11 attacks and the ongoing terrorist threat. Part Two explores reactions to the extreme ideologies of the terrorists and to the fears they have generated. Part Three presents the dilemmas of asymmetrical warfare and suggests ways to resolve them. Part Four cautions against sacrificing a long-term strategy by imposing short-term solutions, particularly with respect to air passenger security and counterterrorism intelligence. Finally, Part Five looks at the effects of the terrorist attacks on the U.S. public health system, at the potential role of compensation policy for losses incurred by terrorism, and at the possible long-term effects of terrorism and counterterrorism on American values, laws, and society.--Publisher description.

This text aims to provide military leaders, civil servants, diplomats, and students with the intellectual basis that they need to begin to prepare for further study of or an assignment in Afghanistan.

"Raw, direct, and powerful...This work is vitally important."—Ken Stern, former CEO of National Public Radio As a captain in the Army National Guard, Benjamin Tupper spent a year in Afghanistan. Separated from most of his unit, Ben, along with his partner Corporal Radoslaw “Ski” Polanski, served in an Embedded Training Team, teaching, training, and leading into combat the green Afghan troops. But what they experienced went well beyond the assigned mission, and the war proved to be a mix of drudgery, absurdity, and ever-present dangers. Writing and recording from a remote outpost, Tupper began to share his stories with Americans back home. His boots-on-the-ground dispatches were broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition and published on Slate.com’s military blog, The Sandbox. In Greetings from Afghanistan: Send More Ammo, Benjamin Tupper’s chronicling of life under fire pulls the reader into the realities of war with poignancy, humor, and vivid reality, offering a unique and compelling firsthand view of the Afghan people, their culture, and a battle for survival that began long before the Americans arrived.

Just as U. S. soldiers and diplomats pulled out of Afghanistan, supposedly concluding their role and responsibility in the two-decade conflict, the country fell to the Taliban. In The Long War, award-winning BBC foreign correspondent David Loyn uncovers the political and military strategies—and failures—that prolonged America’s longest war. Three American presidents tried to defeat the Taliban—sending 150,000 international troops at the war’s peak with a trillion-dollar price tag. But early policy mistakes that allowed Osama bin Laden to escape made the task far more difficult. Deceived by easy victories, they backed ruthless corrupt local allies and misspent aid. The story of The Long War is told by the generals who led it through the hardest years of combat as surges of international troops tried to turn the tide. Generals, which include David Petraeus, Stanley McChrystal, Joe Dunford and John Allen, were tested in battle as never before. With the reputation of a “warrior monk,” McChrystal was considered one of the most gifted military leaders of his generation. He was one of two generals to be fired in this most public of commands. Holding together the coalition of countries who joined America’s fight in Afghanistan was just one part of the multi-dimensional puzzle faced by the generals, as they fought an elusive and determined enemy while responsible for thousands of young American and allied lives. The Long War goes behind the scenes of their command and of the Afghan government. The fourth president to take on the war, Joe Biden ordered troops to withdraw in 2021, twenty years after 9/11, just as the Taliban achieved victory, leaving behind an unstable nation and an unforeseeable future.

Venturing into the ever-shifting panorama of airborne terrorism, this book immerses the reader in a vivid retelling of pivotal incidents from recent history, while delving into the terrorists' favored methods of attack. These include hijackings, in-flight bombings, and precision missile strikes, as well as the rising peril of cyberattacks aimed at airports and commercial airliners mid-flight. Readers will encounter the controversial TWA Flight 800 disaster and the baffling vanishing act of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. These events ignited enduring discussions about terrorism and governmental transparency. The book ventures into the unsettling world of the September 11th attacks, where jetliners were transformed into guided missiles. Also witnessed are the chilling tales of "Black Widows"--Chechen female suicide bombers leaving their indelible mark on Russian soil. Also explored are Libyan culpability in the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and UTA Flight 772 over the Sahara Desert. The evolution of security measures in air travel is chronicled and an examination is given of emerging biometric technologies along with security protocols relevant to the post-Covid era.