Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

I’ve taught History at USMA (West Point), served 24 years on active duty, and published a book myself. I’ve read military history for nigh on 50 years now, with a very heavy emphasis on memoirs. How many, I couldn’t say for sure, but probably 1000+.And I have never read a memoir as powerful, gripping, and vivid as this one.The narrative of the fight for Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan is structured with a personal depth, fluidity, and originality of presentation such as I have never encountered. Nothing else is even close to this book in getting the reader into the minds and personalities of the soldiers involved, and touching them in a human way that equals or exceeds the best character development I’ve ever encountered in the most moving literature in any genre.This is also superbly-researched history, as the author does an excellent job of weaving a tale that places COP Keating within the larger scheme of things in Afghanistan, and presents aspects of the battle that the author pulled together from participants and documents long after the battle. Logistics, air support, Quick Reaction Force (QRF) employment, are related to the facts on the ground, in the fight, for which this Staff Sergeant served in multiple roles as a platoon sergeant and squad leader, team leader and assistant base defense commander.He clearly focuses in Red Platoon’s role in the fight—his platoon—and the actions of Blue and White platoons on Keating and nearby outpost Kitsche are sketched out insofar as their actions bore on Red Platoon’s part of the fight. That is perfectly in keeping with the author’s intent to portray the battle fought by him and his platoon, and it also serves as a continual reminder to readers that SSG Romesha’s vision was limited dramatically by the fog of war. Indeed, the book’s narrative portion and primary focus is on his continual confrontation with the fog of war and his relentless attempts to see through it and take action.Clinton Romesha doesn’t fall into a common narrative difficulty faced by memoirists, which is to treat every comrade as a flawless hero and cover everyone’s faults. Yet, precisely by examining and critiquing those faults, mistakes, miscommunications, and mishaps, he accomplishes two things that separate his work from anything else I’ve read: (1) he weaves a far more complete, human, and intimately accurate narrative of the fight, and (2) in pointing out flaws, he also highlights the strengths each soldier, each human being, each buddy, truly deserves credit for, and thereby honors them more highly, sincerely, and grippingly than in any memoir or battle history I’ve ever seen. These are young American soldiers, not fictional superheroes. But even with their mistakes and human flaws made plain, their grit, determination, comradeship, and professionalism shine through with brilliant and touching clarity.This microhistory of a one-day battle on a remote outpost necessarily reads differently than most first-person memoirs. It also reads differently than a historian’s microhistorical recreation of a day’s fighting by a small unit in an utterly desperate situation. Because the microhistory here is provided by an active participant, who observed, recalled, and recreated this battle with an immediacy that even the best historians can’t attain, and which even the most gallant participants can never recall and articulate—and wrestle with—so fully, effectively, and touchingly.I am at a loss right now to praise this book adequately, and am not sure I could ever do so in any case. This is a one-of-a-kind tale that takes the reader into the innermost workings of a dismounted cavalry troop of the 4th Infantry Division, fighting a battle against all odds, and eventually prevailing. It is impossible for a reader to walk away from this experience without a sense of awe for the training, dedication, commitment, courage, tenacity, and skill of the very human young American soldiers who held Keating against all odds.Clinton Romesha obviously used this book to come to grips with what he saw and did at COP Keating, and to pay homage to men he loved closer than brothers after passing with them through this crucible. Although his book differs in so many important ways from other books that have moved me deeply about American soldiers and Marines at war, I will close by placing his book on my personal top shelf, along with “Company Commander” by Charles McDonald, “With the Old Breed at Pelelieu and Okinawa” by E.B. Sledge, “Visions from a Foxhole: A Rifleman in Patton’s Ghost Corps” by William A. Foley. I hate to omit other deeply moving accounts deserving of mention, but I am so impressed with Romesha’s book; the fighting man he proved himself to be; and the fighting men he led, followed, served with, and boldly risked his life for and helped lead to victory; that I feel it appropriate to simply call it, The Best I’ve Ever Seen.There are many questions left unanswered by his narrative, which I would like to talk to Romesha about someday, or research elsewhere. But no book can cover everything, from every angle, at every operational level, with the gripping power Romesha achieves in his narrative of Red Platoon. So I’ll simply repeat my bottom line and close with it: The Best I’ve Ever Seen.

I believe EVERYONE needs to watch Taking Chance, Ken Burns' The Vietnam War, Saving Private Ryan . . . . and read Matterhorn and Red Platoon. No war or Police Action is understood well except those who have been there. My father's war was centered around a submarine on combat patrols in the Pacific. He remains a charter member of Brokaw's Greatest Generation, and he came home to bands, parades and kisses in Central Park. My war was the unsavory, unpopular, smelly, manipulative, cluster%$#@& of a domino chain in Vietnam. Clinton Romesha was thrust in to an epic battle with a unit that came together when they needed to in order to survive. What separates this work from others is that Mr Romesha does not focus on his Medal of Honor awarded to him for this action, rather the acts of many . . . . and the ultimate sacrifice of 8 comrades in arms played out in an unbelievably vicious and hard fought engagement.I came upon this book as as a result of watching a NETFLIX documentary on several recipients of the Medal of Honor over the last century. Romesha was one of the men highlighted in the film, and he talked about his need for Catharsis which he realized could only come about by removing much of the burden he carried, and placing it on our shoulders too. He knew at his core, as you the reader/listener will also discover, that the medal belonged to the unit both those who lived and those who died. As I mentioned in my header, non-combatants should read this . . . not because I judge you or think of you in a negative way, rather because it is such a rare window to the absolute truth of what up close and personal combat is. Well, at least insofar as mere words can convey.In this exceptional true story, you will meet all kinds of people. Clint takes much time and deliberation in character development, for which I am appreciative. Please take a few hours to get to know some of our finest who continue to man a post for you and me.

I had previously read the Outpost which laid out the story of COP Keeting. While reading this I discovered that I had a connection to one of the units assigned to this COP, when they were on their way home and got caught up in the Surge and had to go back, before they got home. Red Platoon made this first hand accounting very real to me. As a retired officer I laughed, as only a Soldier would know what was funny, and I cried also as only a Soldier would understand. Thank God for these very brave Soldiers who were willing to sacrifice all for for each other.Also, this was a great accounting of the dedication of the supporting cast, Army pilots willing to fly repeatedly into harms way for their fellow Soldiers. The unyielding dedication of medical personal to stop at no lengths to preserve life. The USAF fighter jocks willing to do whatever it took to support their fellow Warriors. And finally to the Warrior Ethos of the Soldiers who ensures that everyone returned home to their loved ones. This story needed to be told.

Whatever you think of war, whichever country it is in, there is always one predictable outcome, people will die! With this in mind when you look at a battle from a soldiers point of view things take on a different perspective, it is a fight or die situation! Red Platoon is seen through the eyes of Clinton Romesha who received the Medal of Honour for doing what it takes to keep himself and his men alive, war is mostly decided by those who have no idea what it's like to be in a kill or be killed situation.Clinton and his men found themselves in a situation that they shouldn't have been in, but due to a very bad location (possibly decided on by someone behind a desk looking at a map) the troops at Command Outpost Keating were the proverbial fish in a barrel.Clinton Romesha paints the reader an excellent portrayal of what it was like for the soldier on the ground, this is definitely one of those books you don't want to put down, I'm not a fast reader but I was grabbing every opportunity I could to find out what happened at Outpost Keating. When people say minutes felt like hours it's the only time a book has made me feel this way, it's a good job that breathing is a reactional thing because at times I forgot I had to!Agree with it or not, if you want an accurate picture of what the heat of battle can do to a person without experiencing it first hand, trust in Red Platoon for it's one of the best accounts of a soldiers experience I have ever read (McNab included).

Detailed and blow by blow narrative of the battle, for their very lives, they got dragged into. The person who decided to construct their camp (outpost) in the bottom of a valley, surrounded by steep mountains, should be tied to a rock and left there for a week. At 76 years old... I've read a few books by now... but this one does rank in the top tier. If gives you a superb insight in their thinking, the horrific decisions they were faced with and above all the unbreakable bond between soldiers., who would sacrifice their own lives to save that of a buddy.Just want to say this: GET THIS book. You will not regret it.You will see the battle thru their own eyes, feel the fear, camaraderie and what they went thru. This book should be in your collection.Albert

I was so pleased I had bought this book - the author's powers of description are excellent. For anyone, regardless of age or background, who wants a clear idea what the US Forces faced out in Afghanistan, this is a first-rate, honest account, written by an NCO. In parts, it is upsetting but has brought home even to me, a middle-aged man in UK, how incredibly brave these young Americans were. I salute them all. This book has become now my motivation to seek out a similar account written perhaps by UK Army personnel in that theater of war. The mistakes made by top ranking military staff were astounding, tactically or strategically. The author pulls no punches in criticising the Afghan allies, many of whom were complacent, and lazy or unreliable even in their own defences.

Outstanding account of small-unit combat. Other reviewers - far better writers than I - have left comprehensive, glowing reviews. I won't try to do so here, firstly because to do so would be to reinvent the wheel, but mainly because I do not have the words. Clinton has done a remarkable job of writing not just about the bitch that is combat, but the individuals involved, who they were as people, how he saw them as soldiers. This brings home the reality of combat; death and injury is random, and makes no difference between the laziest soldier and the 'lean mean fighting machine' - war might be hell, but combat is a bitch. The bullet to be afraid of is not the one with your name on, but the one addressed to "whom it may concern".Cracking read, even to a jaded Brit squaddie.

This is the only book about modern warfare that I've ever read, but it won't be the last.Upon downloading the sample, I anticipated a deluge of alienating military jargon, but instead found a beautifully rendered scene of the calm sublime before the firestorm: the soldier in his gun turret looking up at the sun rising over snowy mountain tops into a 'hard cobalt sky', eagerly anticipating his one and only cooked breakfast of the week.Another surprise for me was the intense love the 'badass' guys of Red Platoon had for each other. Again and again, they risk their lives - not just to save other lives, but to rescue the bodies of their comrades and ensure their corpses are not desecrated and youtubed by the enemy.Eight men were killed during the battle for Camp Keating and all of them are memorialized in this wonderful book. I hope the author decides to write more. He has completely altered my view of military books.