
Remember the Ramrods
An Army Brotherhood in War and Peace
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $25.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
David Bellavia
-
By:
-
David Bellavia
About this listen
An extraordinary re-envisioning of the scope and ambitions of the contemporary military memoir: the Iraq War’s only living Medal of Honor recipient examines the bonds and wounds of war across two decades.
After fourteen years apart, forty veterans of brutal close-quarters combat, lost souls to a man, were brought back together when one of them, the author, received the Medal of Honor. Their impromptu reunion in June 2019 helped heal them all—and saved more than a few of them too. This is their story.
In 2004, David Bellavia’s U.S. Army unit, an infantry battalion known as the Ramrods—2nd Battalion 2nd infantry regiment, 1st Infantry Division—fought and helped win the Battle of Fallujah, the bloodiest episode of the Iraq War. On November 10, 2004, Bellavia single-handedly cleared a fortified enemy position that had pinned down a squad from his platoon. Fourteen years later, Bellavia got a call from the president of the United States: he had been awarded a Medal of Honor and would receive America’s highest award for bravery in combat in a ceremony at the White House.
The news was not welcome. Bellavia had put the war behind him, created a quiet life for himself in rural western New York, and lost touch with most of his fellow Ramrods, who were once like brothers to him. The first time they gathered as a unit after the war was at Bellavia’s medal ceremony, for six days in Washington, DC, that may have saved them all. As they revisited what they had seen and done in battle and revealed to each other their journeys back into civilian life, they discovered that the bonds had not been broken by time. A decoration for one became a healing event for all.
This book—beginning in brutal war and ending with this momentous, transformative reunion—covers the journey of Bellavia’s platoon through fifteen years. A quintessential and timeless American tale, it is the story of how forty battle-hardened soldiers became ordinary citizens again, what they did during that time, how November 10, 2004, rattled in them, and how their reunion brought them home at last.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 David Bellavia (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
Razor 03
- A Night Stalker’s Wars
- By: Alan C. Mack
- Narrated by: Alan C. Mack
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The attacks of September 11, 2001, prompted the creation of a robust and deadly special operations force—Task Force Dagger. Alan C. Mack, Callsign Razor 03, led a team of MH-47E helicopters and armed MH-60s. Their two-fold mission–Personnel Recovery (PR) and Unconventional Warfare (UW) involved flying in terrain and weather previously not thought possible. If that wasn’t enough, they pushed the flight envelope of their specially modified Chinooks to the limit and beyond.
-
-
The honesty of the author
- By Daniel on 06-10-24
By: Alan C. Mack
-
Red Platoon
- A True Story of American Valor
- By: Clinton Romesha
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Clinton Romesha
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009 Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after Keating's construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: It was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend.
-
-
Must Read for Comfortable, Non-combatant Americans
- By Rum Runner on 11-21-18
By: Clinton Romesha
-
Dog Company
- A True Story of American Soldiers Abandoned by Their High Command
- By: Roger Hill, Lynn Vincent
- Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The army does not want you to listen to this book. It does not want to advertise its detention system that coddles enemy fighters while putting American soldiers at risk. It does not want to reveal the new lawyered-up Pentagon war ethic that prosecutes US soldiers and marines while setting free spies who kill Americans. This very system ambushed Captain Roger Hill and his men.
-
-
Hard truth.
- By D on 04-17-17
By: Roger Hill, and others
-
The Chosen Few
- A Company of Paratroopers and Its Heroic Struggle to Survive in the Mountains of Afghanistan
- By: Gregg Zoroya, William H. McRaven - foreward
- Narrated by: Gregg Zoroya
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A single company of US paratroopers—calling themselves the "Chosen Few"—arrived in eastern Afghanistan in late 2007 hoping to win the hearts and minds of the remote mountain people and extend the Afghan government's reach into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in a desperate struggle, living under almost continuous attack, forced into a slow and grinding withdrawal, and always outnumbered by Taliban fighters descending on them from all sides.
-
-
Wow! What an amazing group of men!
- By Myla on 06-22-18
By: Gregg Zoroya, and others
-
Outlaw Platoon
- Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
- By: Sean Parnell, John Bruning
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 24 years of age, U.S. Army Ranger Sean Parnell was named commander of a forty-man elite infantry platoon - a unit that came to be known as the Outlaws - and was tasked with rooting out Pakistan-based insurgents from a mountain valley along Afghanistan's eastern frontier. Parnell and his men assumed they would be facing a ragtag bunch of civilians, but in May 2006 what started out as a routine patrol through the lower mountains of the Hindu Kush became a brutal ambush.
-
-
Great book...Everyone should listen to this book!!
- By Chris on 04-09-12
By: Sean Parnell, and others
-
Defend Us in Battle
- The True Story of MA2 Navy SEAL Medal of Honor Recipient Michael A. Monsoor
- By: George Monsoor, Rose M. Rea
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman, John Behrens
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 29, 2006, Michael Monsoor and three SEAL snipers watched vigilantly for enemy activity from their rooftop post in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. When a grenade thrown from insurgents bounced off Michael's chest, he could have escaped. Instead, he threw himself onto the live grenade, shielding his fellow soldiers from the immediate explosion. Michael died thirty minutes later, having made the ultimate sacrifice. As George Monsoor (Michael's father) and Rose Rea show us in Defend Us in Battle, Michael had prepared for this selfless act all his life.
-
-
Inspiring
- By Anonymous User on 11-11-22
By: George Monsoor, and others
-
Razor 03
- A Night Stalker’s Wars
- By: Alan C. Mack
- Narrated by: Alan C. Mack
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The attacks of September 11, 2001, prompted the creation of a robust and deadly special operations force—Task Force Dagger. Alan C. Mack, Callsign Razor 03, led a team of MH-47E helicopters and armed MH-60s. Their two-fold mission–Personnel Recovery (PR) and Unconventional Warfare (UW) involved flying in terrain and weather previously not thought possible. If that wasn’t enough, they pushed the flight envelope of their specially modified Chinooks to the limit and beyond.
-
-
The honesty of the author
- By Daniel on 06-10-24
By: Alan C. Mack
-
Red Platoon
- A True Story of American Valor
- By: Clinton Romesha
- Narrated by: Will Damron, Clinton Romesha
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2009 Clinton Romesha of Red Platoon and the rest of the Black Knight Troop were preparing to shut down Command Outpost Keating, the most remote and inaccessible in a string of bases built by the US military in Nuristan and Kunar in the hope of preventing Taliban insurgents from moving freely back and forth between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Three years after Keating's construction, the army was finally ready to concede what the men on the ground had known immediately: It was simply too isolated and too dangerous to defend.
-
-
Must Read for Comfortable, Non-combatant Americans
- By Rum Runner on 11-21-18
By: Clinton Romesha
-
Dog Company
- A True Story of American Soldiers Abandoned by Their High Command
- By: Roger Hill, Lynn Vincent
- Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The army does not want you to listen to this book. It does not want to advertise its detention system that coddles enemy fighters while putting American soldiers at risk. It does not want to reveal the new lawyered-up Pentagon war ethic that prosecutes US soldiers and marines while setting free spies who kill Americans. This very system ambushed Captain Roger Hill and his men.
-
-
Hard truth.
- By D on 04-17-17
By: Roger Hill, and others
-
The Chosen Few
- A Company of Paratroopers and Its Heroic Struggle to Survive in the Mountains of Afghanistan
- By: Gregg Zoroya, William H. McRaven - foreward
- Narrated by: Gregg Zoroya
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A single company of US paratroopers—calling themselves the "Chosen Few"—arrived in eastern Afghanistan in late 2007 hoping to win the hearts and minds of the remote mountain people and extend the Afghan government's reach into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in a desperate struggle, living under almost continuous attack, forced into a slow and grinding withdrawal, and always outnumbered by Taliban fighters descending on them from all sides.
-
-
Wow! What an amazing group of men!
- By Myla on 06-22-18
By: Gregg Zoroya, and others
-
Outlaw Platoon
- Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
- By: Sean Parnell, John Bruning
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At 24 years of age, U.S. Army Ranger Sean Parnell was named commander of a forty-man elite infantry platoon - a unit that came to be known as the Outlaws - and was tasked with rooting out Pakistan-based insurgents from a mountain valley along Afghanistan's eastern frontier. Parnell and his men assumed they would be facing a ragtag bunch of civilians, but in May 2006 what started out as a routine patrol through the lower mountains of the Hindu Kush became a brutal ambush.
-
-
Great book...Everyone should listen to this book!!
- By Chris on 04-09-12
By: Sean Parnell, and others
-
Defend Us in Battle
- The True Story of MA2 Navy SEAL Medal of Honor Recipient Michael A. Monsoor
- By: George Monsoor, Rose M. Rea
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman, John Behrens
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On September 29, 2006, Michael Monsoor and three SEAL snipers watched vigilantly for enemy activity from their rooftop post in Ar Ramadi, Iraq. When a grenade thrown from insurgents bounced off Michael's chest, he could have escaped. Instead, he threw himself onto the live grenade, shielding his fellow soldiers from the immediate explosion. Michael died thirty minutes later, having made the ultimate sacrifice. As George Monsoor (Michael's father) and Rose Rea show us in Defend Us in Battle, Michael had prepared for this selfless act all his life.
-
-
Inspiring
- By Anonymous User on 11-11-22
By: George Monsoor, and others
-
New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah
- By: Richard S. Lowry
- Narrated by: Derek Dunbar
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fallujah. Few names conjure up as many images of blood, sacrifice, and valor as does this ancient city in Al Anbar province 40 miles west of Baghdad. This sprawling concrete jungle was the scene of two major US combat operations in 2004. The first was Operation Vigilant Resolve, an aborted effort that April by US Marines intent on punishing the city’s insurgents. The second, Operation Phantom Fury, was launched seven months later. Richard Lowry’s New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah is the first comprehensive history of this fighting.
-
-
DarkHorse "Get Some"
- By Disgruntled on 02-11-25
By: Richard S. Lowry
-
Bravo Company
- An Afghanistan Deployment and Its Aftermath
- By: Ben Kesling
- Narrated by: Ben Kesling
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A decade ago, the soldiers of Bravo Company deployed to Afghanistan for a tour in Kandahar’s notorious Arghandab Valley. By the time they made it home, three soldiers had been killed in action, a dozen more had lost limbs, and an astonishing half of the company had Purple Hearts. In the decade since, two of the soldiers have died by suicide, more than a dozen have tried, and others admit they’ve considered it. Written with an insider’s eye and ear and drawing on extensive interviews and original reporting, Bravo Company follows the men from their initial enlistment on.
-
-
Inspiring and well written
- By Britanny on 03-07-23
By: Ben Kesling
-
Echo in Ramadi
- The Firsthand Story of U.S. Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City
- By: Scott A. Huesing
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the winter of 2006 through the spring of 2007, 250 marines from Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment, fought daily in the dangerous, dense city streets of Ramadi, Iraq, during the Multi-National Forces Surge ordered by President George W. Bush. The marines' mission: to kill or capture anti-Iraqi forces. Their experience: like being in hell. Now Major Scott A. Huesing, the commander who led Echo Company through Ramadi, takes listeners back to the streets of Ramadi in a visceral, gripping portrayal of modern urban combat.
-
-
Combat is Combat
- By Calvin Guthrie on 05-21-18
By: Scott A. Huesing
-
Living with Honor
- A Memoir
- By: Sal Giunta
- Narrated by: Keith Nobbs, Sal Giunta
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sal Giunta was just a regular kid from Iowa when he enlisted in the army to figure out what to do with his life. He never thought that a few tours of duty later, he would be the first living person since the Vietnam War to be awarded the esteemed Medal of Honor.
-
-
Wonderfully powerful and humble story
- By Joshua on 02-07-13
By: Sal Giunta
-
Lions of Kandahar
- The Story of a Fight Against All Odds
- By: Major Rusty Bradley, Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Eric G. Dove
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Southern Afghanistan was slipping away. That was clear to then-Captain Rusty Bradley as he began his third tour of duty there in 2006. The Taliban and their allies were infiltrating everywhere, poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, their strategically vital onetime capital. To stop them, the NATO coalition launched Operation Medusa, the largest offensive in its history. The battlefield was the Panjwayi Valley, a densely packed warren of walled compounds that doubled neatly as enemy bunkers.
-
-
'Merica!
- By NKeene on 03-07-15
By: Major Rusty Bradley, and others
-
They Called Us ""Lucky""
- The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War's Hardest Hit Unit
- By: Ruben Gallego, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Ruben Gallego, Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, they were “Lucky Lima”. Infantryman Ruben Gallego and his brothers in Lima Company—3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, young men drawn from blue-collar towns, immigrant households, Navajo reservations—returned unscathed on patrol after patrol through the increasingly violent al Anbar region of Iraq, looking for weapons caches and insurgents trying to destabilize the nascent Iraqi government. After two months in Iraq, Lima didn't have a casualty, not a single Purple Heart, no injury worse than a blister. Lucky Lima.
-
-
My perspective as a 3/25 insider...
- By R-N on 06-25-22
By: Ruben Gallego, and others
-
Scars and Stripes
- An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself
- By: Tim Kennedy, Nick Palmisciano
- Narrated by: Tim Kennedy
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tim Kennedy has a problem; he only feels alive right before he’s about to die. Kennedy, a Green Beret, decorated Army sniper, and UFC headliner, has tackled a bull with his bare hands, jumped out of airplanes, dove to the depths of the ocean, and traveled the world hunting poachers, human traffickers, and the Taliban. But he’s also the same man who got kicked out of the police department, fire department, and as an EMT, before getting two women pregnant four days apart, and finally, been beaten up by his Special Forces colleagues.
-
-
First review!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 06-07-22
By: Tim Kennedy, and others
-
We March at Midnight
- A War Memoir
- By: Ray McPadden
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We March at Midnight is award-winning author Ray McPadden’s chronicle of his experience as a highly decorated Ranger officer leading some of the most dangerous missions during the height of the Iraq and Afghan wars. In 2005, Ray joined the army in search of what he calls “the moment” - a chance to prove to himself and his brothers in arms that he is a true leader. His job is to establish the first outpost in the Korengal, Afghanistan’s deadliest valley, and his decisions and mistakes will have a permanent impact on the men he commands.
-
-
The honesty of it all
- By Wendy Rose on 04-14-22
By: Ray McPadden
-
Lone Survivor
- The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
- By: Marcus Luttrell, Patrick Robinson
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four US Navy SEALS departed one clear night in early July 2005 for the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border for a reconnaissance mission. Their task was to document the activity of an al Qaeda leader rumored to have a small army in a Taliban stronghold. Five days later, only one of those Navy SEALS made it out alive. This is the story of the only survivor of Operation Redwing, SEAL team leader Marcus Luttrell, and the extraordinary firefight that led to the largest loss of life in American Navy SEAL history.
-
-
Enthralling and authentic story of valor in combat
- By Michael J Canning on 01-25-14
By: Marcus Luttrell, and others
-
The Operator
- Firing the Shots That Killed Osama Bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
- By: Robert O'Neill
- Narrated by: Robert O'Neill
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stirringly evocative, thought provoking, and often jaw dropping, The Operator ranges across SEAL Team Operator Robert O'Neill's awe-inspiring 400-mission career that included his involvement in attempts to rescue "Lone Survivor" Marcus Luttrell and abducted-by-Somali-pirates Captain Richard Phillips and culminated in those famous three shots that dispatched the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
-
-
One of the best
- By Tim on 04-28-17
By: Robert O'Neill
-
Thank You for My Service
- By: Mat Best, Ross Patterson, Nils Parker
- Narrated by: Mat Best
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Members of the military’s special operations branches share a closely guarded secret: They love their jobs. They relish the opportunity to fight. They are thankful for it, even, and hopeful that maybe they’ll get to kill a bunch of bad guys while they’re at it. You don’t necessarily need to thank them for their service - the pleasure is all theirs. In this hilarious and personal memoir, listeners ride shotgun alongside former Army Ranger and private military contractor and current social media phenomenon Mat Best, into the action and its aftermath, both abroad and at home.
-
-
If Deadpool was a ranger...with less cancer
- By Rick Valkyrie on 08-21-19
By: Mat Best, and others
-
Unafraid
- Staring Down Terror as a Navy SEAL and Single Dad
- By: Eddie Penney, Keith Wood
- Narrated by: Eddie Penney
- Length: 7 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a special operator in the US Navy’s most elite unit and actively engaged in the global war on terrorism, Eddie Penney had achieved his childhood dream. He was the tip of the nation’s spear, prepared for anything—except for becoming a single parent of three young children. Eddie learned powerful lessons from the roles of warrior and father. In Unafraid, he shares his story, insight gained, and the truths exposed when you reflect, regroup, and commit to personal growth.
-
-
Truly Awful
- By Shawn K. Updegrove on 05-16-23
By: Eddie Penney, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Chosen Few
- A Company of Paratroopers and Its Heroic Struggle to Survive in the Mountains of Afghanistan
- By: Gregg Zoroya, William H. McRaven - foreward
- Narrated by: Gregg Zoroya
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A single company of US paratroopers—calling themselves the "Chosen Few"—arrived in eastern Afghanistan in late 2007 hoping to win the hearts and minds of the remote mountain people and extend the Afghan government's reach into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in a desperate struggle, living under almost continuous attack, forced into a slow and grinding withdrawal, and always outnumbered by Taliban fighters descending on them from all sides.
-
-
Wow! What an amazing group of men!
- By Myla on 06-22-18
By: Gregg Zoroya, and others
-
They Called Us ""Lucky""
- The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War's Hardest Hit Unit
- By: Ruben Gallego, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Ruben Gallego, Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, they were “Lucky Lima”. Infantryman Ruben Gallego and his brothers in Lima Company—3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, young men drawn from blue-collar towns, immigrant households, Navajo reservations—returned unscathed on patrol after patrol through the increasingly violent al Anbar region of Iraq, looking for weapons caches and insurgents trying to destabilize the nascent Iraqi government. After two months in Iraq, Lima didn't have a casualty, not a single Purple Heart, no injury worse than a blister. Lucky Lima.
-
-
My perspective as a 3/25 insider...
- By R-N on 06-25-22
By: Ruben Gallego, and others
-
Every Man a Hero
- A Memoir of D-Day, the First Wave at Omaha Beach, and a World at War
- By: Ray Lambert, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now, Ray Lambert, 98 years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs of our time, a tour de force of remembrance evoking his role as a decorated World War II medic who risked his life to save the heroes of D-Day.
-
-
A must read for fans of you are there WWII war memoirs
- By Mary A. on 09-18-19
By: Ray Lambert, and others
-
House to House
- An Epic Memoir of War
- By: Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, John Bruning
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the most compelling combat narratives ever written, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, an Army infantry platoon leader in Iraq, gives a teeth-rattling, first-hand account of 11 straight days of heavy house-to-house fighting during the climactic second battle of Fallujah. His actions in the firefight, which included killing five insurgents in hand-to-hand combat, earned Bellavia the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and New York state's highest military honor, the Conspicuous Service Cross.
-
-
As raw as it gets
- By Robert on 09-24-07
By: Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, and others
-
First Friends
- The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents
- By: Gary Ginsberg
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the best-selling tradition of The Presidents Club and Presidential Courage, White House history as told through the stories of the best friends and closest confidants of American presidents.
-
-
An intuitive romp through history.
- By Douglas on 07-12-21
By: Gary Ginsberg
-
The Cold War's Killing Fields
- Rethinking the Long Peace
- By: Paul Thomas Chamberlin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a part of a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than 14 million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history.
-
-
Interesting but Biased
- By Jonathan W Schneider on 08-13-18
-
The Chosen Few
- A Company of Paratroopers and Its Heroic Struggle to Survive in the Mountains of Afghanistan
- By: Gregg Zoroya, William H. McRaven - foreward
- Narrated by: Gregg Zoroya
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A single company of US paratroopers—calling themselves the "Chosen Few"—arrived in eastern Afghanistan in late 2007 hoping to win the hearts and minds of the remote mountain people and extend the Afghan government's reach into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in a desperate struggle, living under almost continuous attack, forced into a slow and grinding withdrawal, and always outnumbered by Taliban fighters descending on them from all sides.
-
-
Wow! What an amazing group of men!
- By Myla on 06-22-18
By: Gregg Zoroya, and others
-
They Called Us ""Lucky""
- The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War's Hardest Hit Unit
- By: Ruben Gallego, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Ruben Gallego, Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At first, they were “Lucky Lima”. Infantryman Ruben Gallego and his brothers in Lima Company—3rd Battalion, 25th Marines, young men drawn from blue-collar towns, immigrant households, Navajo reservations—returned unscathed on patrol after patrol through the increasingly violent al Anbar region of Iraq, looking for weapons caches and insurgents trying to destabilize the nascent Iraqi government. After two months in Iraq, Lima didn't have a casualty, not a single Purple Heart, no injury worse than a blister. Lucky Lima.
-
-
My perspective as a 3/25 insider...
- By R-N on 06-25-22
By: Ruben Gallego, and others
-
Every Man a Hero
- A Memoir of D-Day, the First Wave at Omaha Beach, and a World at War
- By: Ray Lambert, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 7 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seventy-five years ago, he hit Omaha Beach with the first wave. Now, Ray Lambert, 98 years old, delivers one of the most remarkable memoirs of our time, a tour de force of remembrance evoking his role as a decorated World War II medic who risked his life to save the heroes of D-Day.
-
-
A must read for fans of you are there WWII war memoirs
- By Mary A. on 09-18-19
By: Ray Lambert, and others
-
House to House
- An Epic Memoir of War
- By: Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, John Bruning
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the most compelling combat narratives ever written, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, an Army infantry platoon leader in Iraq, gives a teeth-rattling, first-hand account of 11 straight days of heavy house-to-house fighting during the climactic second battle of Fallujah. His actions in the firefight, which included killing five insurgents in hand-to-hand combat, earned Bellavia the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and New York state's highest military honor, the Conspicuous Service Cross.
-
-
As raw as it gets
- By Robert on 09-24-07
By: Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, and others
-
First Friends
- The Powerful, Unsung (and Unelected) People Who Shaped Our Presidents
- By: Gary Ginsberg
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the best-selling tradition of The Presidents Club and Presidential Courage, White House history as told through the stories of the best friends and closest confidants of American presidents.
-
-
An intuitive romp through history.
- By Douglas on 07-12-21
By: Gary Ginsberg
-
The Cold War's Killing Fields
- Rethinking the Long Peace
- By: Paul Thomas Chamberlin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this sweeping, deeply researched book, Paul Thomas Chamberlin boldly argues that the Cold War, long viewed as a mostly peaceful, if tense, diplomatic standoff between democracy and communism, was actually a part of a vast, deadly conflict that killed millions on battlegrounds across the postcolonial world. For half a century, as an uneasy peace hung over Europe, ferocious proxy wars raged in the Cold War’s killing fields, resulting in more than 14 million dead - victims who remain largely forgotten and all but lost to history.
-
-
Interesting but Biased
- By Jonathan W Schneider on 08-13-18
-
The Mosquito Bowl
- A Game of Life and Death in World War II
- By: Buzz Bissinger
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, college football was at the height of its popularity. As the nation geared up for total war, one branch of the service dominated the aspirations of college football stars: the United States Marine Corps. Which is why, on Christmas Eve of 1944, when the 4th and 29th Marine regiments found themselves in the middle of the Pacific Ocean training for what would be the bloodiest battle of the war – the invasion of Okinawa—their ranks included one of the greatest pools of football talent ever assembled.
-
-
War Story Interrupted Briefly by a Football Game
- By William G. Stuart on 10-14-22
By: Buzz Bissinger
-
Cracking the Nazi Code
- The Untold Story of Agent A12 and the Solving of the Holocaust Code
- By: Jason Bell
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As an MI6 spy—known as secret agent A12—in Berlin in 1919, he evaded gunfire and shook off pursuers to break open the emerging Nazi conspiracy. His reports, the first warning of the Nazi plot for World War II, went directly to the man known as C, the mysterious founder of MI6, as well as to various prime ministers. But a powerful fascist politician quietly worked to suppress his alerts. Nevertheless, Dr. Bell’s intelligence sabotaged the Nazis in ways only now revealed in Cracking the Nazi Code.
-
-
World war 1 never ended.
- By Kurt Carlson on 05-20-24
By: Jason Bell
-
The Bastard Brigade
- The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb
- By: Sam Kean
- Narrated by: Ben Sullivan
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During World War II, in the middle of building an atomic bomb, the leaders of the Manhattan Project were alarmed to learn that Nazi Germany was far outpacing the Allies in nuclear weapons research; Hitler, with just a few pounds of uranium, would have the capability to reverse the entire D-Day operation and conquer Europe. So they assembled a rough and motley crew of geniuses—dubbed the Alsos Mission—and sent them careening into Axis territory to spy on, sabotage, and even assassinate members of Nazi Germany's feared Uranium Club.
-
-
Awesome
- By Solar red on 07-12-19
By: Sam Kean
-
Echo in Ramadi
- The Firsthand Story of U.S. Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City
- By: Scott A. Huesing
- Narrated by: David Marantz
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the winter of 2006 through the spring of 2007, 250 marines from Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment, fought daily in the dangerous, dense city streets of Ramadi, Iraq, during the Multi-National Forces Surge ordered by President George W. Bush. The marines' mission: to kill or capture anti-Iraqi forces. Their experience: like being in hell. Now Major Scott A. Huesing, the commander who led Echo Company through Ramadi, takes listeners back to the streets of Ramadi in a visceral, gripping portrayal of modern urban combat.
-
-
Combat is Combat
- By Calvin Guthrie on 05-21-18
By: Scott A. Huesing
-
Dagger 22
- U.S. Marine Corps Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan
- By: Michael Golembesky
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unforgiving Afghan winter settled upon the 22 men of Marine Special Operations Team 8222, call sign Dagger 22, in the remote and hostile river valley of Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. The Taliban fighters in the region would have liked nothing more than to once again go dormant and rest until the new spring fighting season began. No chance of that - this winter would be different.
-
-
Good Story, but...
- By Donovan Russian on 10-10-16
-
Highways and Heartaches
- How Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, and Children of the New South Saved the Soul of Country Music
- By: Michael Streissguth
- Narrated by: Jaime Lincoln Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a dim clearing off a county road in Kentucky sits a sagging outdoor stage buried in moss and dead leaves. It used to be the centerpiece of carnival-like Sunday afternoons where local guitarists, fiddlers and mandolin players hammered out old mountain ballads and legends from the dawn of country music performed their classic hits. Most of the musicians who showed up have long since passed, but Nashville stars Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart survive. Highways and Heartaches takes listeners on the rural circuit Skaggs and Stuart traveled.
-
-
Country Music history
- By Martin on 09-01-23
-
New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah
- By: Richard S. Lowry
- Narrated by: Derek Dunbar
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fallujah. Few names conjure up as many images of blood, sacrifice, and valor as does this ancient city in Al Anbar province 40 miles west of Baghdad. This sprawling concrete jungle was the scene of two major US combat operations in 2004. The first was Operation Vigilant Resolve, an aborted effort that April by US Marines intent on punishing the city’s insurgents. The second, Operation Phantom Fury, was launched seven months later. Richard Lowry’s New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah is the first comprehensive history of this fighting.
-
-
DarkHorse "Get Some"
- By Disgruntled on 02-11-25
By: Richard S. Lowry
-
Operation Vengeance
- The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War II
- By: Dan Hampton
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1943, the United States military began to plan one of the most dramatic secret missions of World War II. Its code name was Operation Vengeance. Naval Intelligence had intercepted the itinerary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander in chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, whose stealth attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated America’s entry into the war. Harvard-educated, Yamamoto was a close confidant of Emperor Hirohito and a brilliant tactician who epitomized Japanese military might.
-
-
I want 1/2 my money back
- By DPM on 08-11-20
By: Dan Hampton
-
Scarface and the Untouchable
- Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago
- By: Max Allan Collins, A. Brad Schwartz
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Max Allan Collins, A. Brad Schwartz
- Length: 18 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A Mystery Writers of America “Grand Master” - author of the gangster classic Road to Perdition, longtime Dick Tracy writer, and multiple Shamus Award winner - teams with an acclaimed rising young historian in this riveting, myth-shattering dual portrait of Al Capone, America’s most notorious gangster, and Eliot Ness, the legendary Prohibition agent whose extraordinary investigative work crippled his organization.
-
-
HERE ISTHE REAL STORY OF NESS AND CAPONE!!
- By Sandra J Sanders on 08-18-21
By: Max Allan Collins, and others
-
Indestructible
- One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times best-selling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family - imprisoned by the Japanese - and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way. From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur.
-
-
You will love Pappy's story
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: John R. Bruning
-
1453
- The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West
- By: Roger Crowley
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's listenable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.
-
-
A well written narrative with bizarre and biased commentary
- By Patrick D. Flynn on 08-17-17
By: Roger Crowley
-
Queens of a Fallen World
- The Lost Women of Augustine's Confessions
- By: Kate Cooper
- Narrated by: Georgina Sutton
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Queens of a Fallen World tells a story of betrayal, love, and ambition in the ancient world as seen through a woman's eyes. Historian Kate Cooper introduces us to four women whose hopes and plans collided in Augustine's early adulthood: his mother, Monnica of Thagaste; his lover; his fiancée; and Justina, the troubled empress of ancient Rome. Drawing upon their depictions in the Confessions, Cooper skilfully reconstructs their lives against the backdrop of their fourth-century society. Though they came from different walks of life, each found her own way of prevailing in a world ruled by men.
-
-
Superb
- By William McConville on 12-02-23
By: Kate Cooper
Excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Amazing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Selflessness, Ramrods first.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I don't think there's another book like this one, and for anyone who loved H2H this is an absolute must read.
This book is definitely much more personal, reflective, mature and moving. Nobody tells a story like David Bellavia.
Of course - nothing beats the hard cover, but I love listening to the audio version too. The H2H audio book was voiced by some famous voice guy - and it was really good - but I don't like it as much as this new Ramember the Ramrods audiobook. David Bellavia did the audio himself on this one. I *really* like it. In addition to being an author, he's a professional speaker through Duty 1st and has his own daily radio show on WBEN/Audacy, so he's a polished orator and a master story teller. Jocko Willink did a great long-firm podcast with David Bellavia about this book on Jocko Podcast #357 - on YouTube and duty1st.com.
This is an extremely well written book in my opinion - and, for me, the audio version let's me listen when I'm driving, working or just sitting with my phone and earbuds. Plus, it flows and adds inflection with some emotional gut-punch too. It's like sitting with a friend and listening to him tell me a great story.
GREAT BOOK - LOVE the audiobook version
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
MOH Book!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Tremendous
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thank you Sergeant
Life Changing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent excellent excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Authentic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Fantastic and amazing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.