“THERE I WAS” BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Ghosts of Baghdad
Col Eric "Ferris" Buer, USMC (Ret)
Climb in the cockpit and join a Marine attack helicopter pilot in this authentic and compelling firsthand account of the opening days and nights of the Iraq War.
Experience the sights, smells, and sounds of the Cobra, hanging on tight as you’re hurled into the chaos of night combat operations. Step through an otherwise closed door and explore the emotions, physical danger, and successes that would shape a generation of aviators.
Author Eric Buer lived to fly the Cobra, delivering incredible firepower and devastating America’s enemies in the aircraft that would become both his home and office. Wherever Marines fought and whenever their commanders needed support, he and his fellow Cobra aircrew were there. In Ghosts of Baghdad, you can be there too. Feel these pilots’ frustrations, experience their exhaustion, and lament alongside them in the face of tragedy. Ultimately, you will come to understand how a sense of duty, service, and shared sacrifice develops into an unbreakable trust and bond.
Strap in–this true story will take you inside the Cobra for a heart-pounding, fist-pumping, adrenaline-rush-filled thrill ride!
Battle Scars
Chip Reid
The most eye-opening, and terrifying, story in Chip Reid’s career as a journalist was the six weeks he spent with 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as a correspondent for NBC News. Traveling shoulder-to-shoulder with the young Marines, he had unparalleled access, witnessing them in combat, and interviewing as many as he could persuade his bosses to put on air, allowing them to tell their war stories in their own words.
It took only 22 days for the Marines of 3/5 to fight their way to Baghdad, but the effects on those who fought have lasted a lifetime. They lost a number of their own in battle, and others suffered life-threatening injuries. Of those who returned – even if they avoided physical scars – many have had to find their own way through survivor’s guilt and the nightmare of post-traumatic stress.
Chip sat down with the Marines of 3/5 twenty years later. They told him inspiring stories of heroism in battle, of camaraderie and comrades lost, of patriotism and belief in mission, of recovery and success in both military and civilian life, and of the new appreciation for life that results from post-traumatic growth. Visceral and searingly honest, this book is a tribute to the Marines for their service, and for the many sacrifices they made then, and that many still make today.
