
Tough Rugged Bastards
A Memoir of a Life in Marine Special Operations
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Narrated by:
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Tom Beyer
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By:
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John A. Dailey
About this listen
Following the 9/11 attacks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld directed the Marine Corps to establish a unit that would answer to US Special Operations Command. The eighty-six-man "Detachment One" was formed with a two-year charter to train and deploy as a "proof-of-concept" to assess the viability of a larger Marine Special Operations contribution in support of the Global War on Terror.
For such a departure from the norm, a special leader was needed. The Commanding Officer—Colonel Robert J. Coates, a Marine Force Recon legend—was given his pick of personnel. One of the four team leaders he selected was Gunnery Sergeant John A. Dailey.
These men built a unit from nothing, trained for unknown missions in an unknown location, and deployed amid controversy and skepticism. Once in Iraq, they were dubbed "Task Unit Raider" and quickly won over the naysayers who doubted the Marine's ability to operate successfully.
This book tells Dailey's story of the creation, training, and volatile 2004 Iraq deployment of Task Unit Raider that led to the creation of the Marine Forces Special Operations Command. Det-1 served as the bridge between the Raiders of WWII and the Marine Raiders of today.
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Horrible in every way
- By Amazon Customer on 06-23-24
By: William Yeske, and others
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Land with No Sun
- A Year in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne
- By: Command Sergeant Major Ted G. Arthurs
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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A no-holds-barred, straight-in-your-face account of combat in Vietnam. You know it's going to be hot when your brigade is referred to as a Fireball unit. From May 1967 through May 1968, Ted Arthurs was in the thick of it, humping an eighty-pound rucksack through triple canopy jungle, chasing down the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. As sergeant major for a battalion of eight-hundred men, it was his job to see them through this jungle hell and get them back home again.
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Great non fiction Vietnam
- By Amazon Customer on 05-08-25
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Zero Footprint
- The True Story of a Private Military Contractor's Covert Assignments in Syria, Libya, and the World's Most Dangerous Places
- By: Simon Chase, Ralph Pezzullo
- Narrated by: Eric Brooks
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Armored cars, burner phones, top-notch weaponry, and top-secret missions - this is the life of today's private military contractor. Like author Simon Chase, many PMCs were once the world's top military operatives, and since retiring from outfits like US Navy SEAL TEAM Six and the UK's Special Boat Service, they have devoted their lives to executing missions too sensitive for the government to acknowledge. Chase reveals here for the first time the operations too hazardous and politically volatile to be officially sanctioned by his employers.
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Read Amazon reviews, not Audible reviews
- By Andrew M on 02-22-16
By: Simon Chase, and others
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A Few Bad Men
- The True Story of US Marines Ambushed in Afghanistan and Betrayed in America
- By: Major Fred Galvin USMC (Ret.), Sal Manna
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Ambushed in Afghanistan and betrayed by their own leaders, these elite Marines fought for their lives again, back home. A cross between A Few Good Men and American Sniper, this is the true story of an elite Marine special operations unit bombed by an IED and shot at during an Afghanistan ambush. The Marine Commandos were falsely accused of gunning down innocent Afghan civilians following the ambush. The unit’s leader, Major Fred Galvin, was summarily relieved of duty, and his unit was booted from the combat zone.
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Always Faithful - Marine Corp, are you?
- By David on 06-21-22
By: Major Fred Galvin USMC (Ret.), and others
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The Unit
- My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America's Most Secret Military Operatives
- By: Adam Gamal, Kelly Kennedy
- Narrated by: Adam Gamal, Peter Ganim
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Inside our military is a team of operators whose work is so secretive that the name of the unit itself is classified. Highly-trained in warfare, self-defense, infiltration, and deep surveillance, "the Unit," as the Department of Defense has asked us to refer to it, has been responsible for preventing dozens of terrorist attacks in the Western world. Never before has a member of this unit shared their story — until now.
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Meh
- By Anonymous User on 03-06-24
By: Adam Gamal, and others
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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
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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.
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Good Story, but...
- By Donovan Russian on 10-10-16
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New Dawn: The Battles for Fallujah
- By: Richard S. Lowry
- Narrated by: Derek Dunbar
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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DarkHorse "Get Some"
- By Disgruntled on 02-11-25
By: Richard S. Lowry
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Marine Raiders
- The True Story of the Legendary WWII Battalions
- By: Carole Engle Avriett
- Narrated by: Qarie Marshall
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The United States' first Special Forces unit in World War II was known as the Marine Raiders. As one Raider explained, Raiders learned a deadly proficiency with the bayonet, they learned to use knives in hand-to-hand combat, and they learned to throw them with the infallible accuracy of vaudeville experts. Marine Raiders gives a gripping account of what it took to become a member of the elite battalions known as Raiders and how they survived their desperate fight in the South Pacific.
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Unreal heroes!
- By Stacey Clark on 12-31-21
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Hammerhead Six
- How Green Berets Waged an Unconventional War Against the Taliban to Win in Afghanistan's Deadly Pech Valley
- By: Ronald Fry, Tad Tuleja - contributor
- Narrated by: Ronald Fry
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2003, the Special Forces soldiers entered an area later called "the most dangerous place in Afghanistan". Here, where the line between civilians and armed zealots was indistinct, they illustrated the Afghan proverb "I destroy my enemy by making him my friend." Fry recounts how they were seen as welcome guests rather than invaders. Soon after their deployment ended, the Pech Valley reverted to turmoil. Their success was never replicated.
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A compelling read from start to finish
- By Gregory on 03-05-16
By: Ronald Fry, and others
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I Am a SEAL Team Six Warrior
- Memoirs of an American Soldier
- By: Howard E. Wasdin, Stephen Templin
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Navy sends their elite, they send the SEALs. When the SEALs send their elite, they send SEAL Team Six—a secret unit made up of the finest soldiers in the country, if not the world. I Am a SEAL Team Six Warrior is the dramatic tale of how Howard Wasdin overcame a tough childhood to live his dream and enter the exciting and dangerous world of US Navy SEALs and Special Forces snipers. This is Howard Wasdin's story of overcoming abuse and beating the odds to become an elite American warrior.
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gripping
- By Chuck on 05-26-22
By: Howard E. Wasdin, and others
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SEAL Team Six
- Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper
- By: Howard E. Wasdin, Stephen Templin
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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When the Navy sends their elite, they send the SEALs. When the SEALs send their elite, they send SEAL Team Six—a secret unit tasked with counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and counterinsurgency. In this dramatic, behind-the-scenes chronicle, Howard Wasdin takes listeners deep inside the world of Navy SEALs and Special Forces snipers, beginning with the grueling selection process of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL - the toughest and longest military training in the world.
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A Woman's Review Perspective
- By Foodiewife on 05-30-11
By: Howard E. Wasdin, and others
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Fearless
- The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
- By: Eric Blehm
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he would die that night in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan—but he was ready. In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the worst happened, he wrote, “I’m not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my spirit from me.”
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Best Book I’ve Read This Year!
- By The Sun on 09-26-24
By: Eric Blehm
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All It Takes
- Become A Recon Marine
- By: Staff Sergeant Travis K. Nardi
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 2 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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There have been too many reconnaissance candidates that show up to the course clueless on what Recon is all about. They show up to the Basic Reconnaissance Course and say that they didn’t know they had to swim or didn’t know it would be so physically difficult. This is Marine Recon! There are a lot of resources, including this one, that will give someone at least a taste of what this life is all about. None are as thorough or informational as a book written by a prior Recon Instructor. The Basic Reconnaissance Course is one of the most difficult schools the United States Military has to...
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Very Informative, AI sucks
- By lisadesign314 on 07-22-24
Enough details
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Interesting and historical
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Great historical account of the precursor to today’s MARSOC
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Memory lane
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John is a great guy and has created something special.
Almost too familiar
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An incredible memoir detailing the author’s journey through war and the establishment of Marine Special Operations Command
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Mental toughness
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5/5 Stars.
I highly recommend this book.
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Humble honest work
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Excellent “new” Marine Corps history.
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