Doug Stanton - 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers

Praise for Doug Stantons 12 Strong

Stanton packs a huge amount of research into a thrilling action ride of a book. Rousing, uplifting... for those who like their military history told through the eyes of heroic grunt, sergeants, and captains. Think of Stephen E. Ambrosess Band of Brothers ... deserves a hallowed place in American military history.

Bruce Barcott, cover of The New York Times Book Review

Truth is stranger than fiction. And in the hands of... Doug Stanton, its mesmerizing.... 12 Strong is a riveting piece of literary journalism.

Detroit Fress Press

Meticulous and thorough... difficult to put down. You find yourself riding along with the soldiers.

Northern Express

12 Strong tells the important story of the Special Forces soldiers who first put American boots on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001. Fighting alongside the Northern Allicance, the troops, often riding on horseback, achieved important victories against the Taliban

Small Wars Journal

Spellbinding... the book reads more like a novel than a military history.... Stanton delivers page after page of harrowing descriptions.... The book has unforgettable characters.... The Horse Soldiers secret mission remains the U.S. militarys finest moment in what has since arguably been a muddled war.

USA Today

A great read with amazing detail. I would recommend it to any reader, but particularly those interested in understanding a different aspect of warthe one fought by the U.S. Special Forces... [and] the campaign that is considered the most successful in all of Americas engagement in Afghanistan.

The Christian Sciene Monitor

12 Strong reads like a cross between an old-fashioned Western and a modern spy thriller.

Parade magazine

[An] absolutely riveting account, full of horror and raw courage... A seminal battle and, in Stantons prose, a considerable epic.

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A fascinating account... This is not just a battle storyits also about the home front. An important book.

The Today Show

A great story and great reporting... Incredible. It takes you deep inside what the Special Forces do.

Morning Joe , MSNBC

Superbly crafted.

Booklist

A lively and exciting battle chronicle that will be popular.

Library Journal

Stanton is a masterful storyteller.

Military Officer magazine

Stanton has done excellent work. [He] provides great insight and understanding [and] gives the reader a feeling... of how these Horse Soldiers succeeded.... [Gives] family, friends, and anyone interested in Special Forces a glimpse of the world of the SF operator living and fighting behind enemy lines.

J.R. Seeger, Studies in Intelligence: Journal of the American Intelligence Professional

Buy and read 12 Strong . Stanton tells this story so well that I would find myself nearly 160 pages along before I needed a coffee refill.

Mansfield News Journal

An amazing story. The pacing is like [that of] Stantons In Harms Way . We give it the highest recommendation.

Ward Carroll, Military.com

Stanton has captured the inner workings of... Special Forces operations. A thorough recounting of the events told from the soldiers point of view.

Veritas: Journal of Army Special Operations History

12 Strong is a great reada riveting story of the brave and resourceful American warriors who rode into Afghanistan after 9/11 and waged war against Al Qaeda. Were hearing many of these stories for the first timeand from those who waged a war worthy of Rudyard Kipling, James Bond, and Davey Crockett.

Tom Brokaw

In the spirit of Black Hawk Down and Flags of Our Fathers , Doug Stanton plunges into the heart of a single mission and returns with a stark understanding not only of what happened but what was truly at stake. Through precise reportage and hauntingly rendered battle scenes, Stanton shows that we may ignore this forgotten theater only at our own peril.

Hampton Sides, author of Ghost Soldiers and Blood and Thunder

Doug Stantons 12 Strong is as gripping as the most intricately plotted thriller. It is a masterwork of thrilling military action, brilliant in-depth journalism, and powerful storytelling. Finally Americans can know how just a few dozen courageous U.S. soldiers beat the Taliban under the most extreme and dangerous conditions imaginable. I could not put this book down.

Vince Flynn

Not just an epic war story, 12 Strong is a beautifully written, intimate portrait of the men and women who lived the battle on the fields of fireand at home, too. Their secret mission against the Taliban was intelligent, brave, and undertaken with great care for the good people of Afghanistan. Doug Stantons superb account is an invaluable insight for policy makers and the public for years to come.

Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea

Doug Stantons 12 Strong is the story of the first large American unconventional warfare operation since World War II. My Green Berets were launched deep into enemy territory to befriend, recruit, equip, advise, and lead their Afghan counterparts to attack the Taliban. The Horse Soldiers succeeded brilliantly with a highly decentralized campaign, reinforced with modern airpowers precision weapons, forcing the Taliban governments collapse in a few months. Doug Stanton captures the gritty realities of the campaign as no other can.

Geoffrey C. Lambert, major general (retired), U.S. Army, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), 2001-2003

Also by the Author

The Odyssey of Echo Company:
The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War

In Harms Way:

The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors

This edition first published in the United States by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Inc., 2017
This edition first published in the Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2017
A CBS COMPANY

Copyright 2009 by Reed City Productions, LLC
Previously published as Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of U.S. Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan

This book is copyright under the Berne Convertion. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved.

The right of Doug Stanton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act, 1988.

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Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney
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The author and publishers have made all reasonable efforts to contact copyright-holders for permission, and apologise for any omissions or errors in the form of credits given. Corrections may be made to future printings.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-4711-7082-9
eBook ISBN: 978-1-4711-7335-6

Certain names and identifying characteristics have been changed.

Insert photographs are courtesy of FOB-53 (Forward Operating Base 53) unless otherwise noted.

This book is dedicated to the men and women
of Fifth Special Forces Group and their families.

And to my family,
Anne, John, Kate, and Will;
and my parents,
Bonnie and Derald Stanton;
and Deb, Tony, Genessa, and Wylie Demin.