Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds
By Major Rusty Bradley and Kevin Maurer
You may or may not know that my husband, Mike, was enlisted in the Army until last year and he had 3 deployments in Afghanistan. When I saw Lions of Kandahar on Amazon Vine, I immediately requested it. It wasn’t until received it that I told Mike about the book. He looked at the author and told me that they were actually in the same unit.
Of course, Mike snatched the book and finished it before I even had a chance to think about reading it. Just so you know, I can’t watch military movies with him because he criticizes anything that isn’t accurate. When he finished the book, I asked him if he liked the book and he said “yeah, because it was just the facts and no fluff.” I can’t think of a better recommendation from him, and after reading it, I have to agree.
Lions of Kandahar follows Major Bradley and his men as they embark on an extremely dangerous mission. It shows how the military work with the Afghan National Army and the importance of their relationship. It takes you to the heart of a battle without holding back any of the pain and trauma.
I really appreciated how the story was laid out with facts and it wasn’t until the very end that Bradley got a bit preachy about the military…but it was brief and didn’t annoy me too much. The fact is that this is a real story, not something made for Hollywood. It’s not meant to make you angry about the war or rally you to enlist. Bradley has his opinions, and they should be pretty obvious being that he enlisted, but he writes just the facts. His emotions come through to bring the story to life and show what someone in those situations thinks about. This is a book that can be appreciated by anyone who wants to get a better idea of what is happening no matter their opinions.
**Source: Amazon Vine
If you are interested in more, I recommend checking out a documentary by National Geographic called Inside the Green Berets.
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