Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

I had read “Outpost” earlier and found it difficult to read and finish. This was a story of real people not an imaginary war tale. The recounting of the men at COP Keating and the battle they faced in a terrible kill tank, the courage and determination to survive is a must read. To see the battle from the point of view of those who fought and bled and gave their lives for their brothers in arms. we owe them our thanks for their sacrifices. Read this book.

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.

This is a very well written book of a unbelievable battle in a horribly placed base. Let’s hope that placement is never utilized again.I have not experienced combat myself but felt it written in these pages. One of the best written military books I’ve ever read.

Wow, I loved this book. Ok so I might be a tad biased. My husband was deployed his first time just north of this COP at the same time as Red Platoon. And thankfully I've never been told any combat stories from my husband.This book (regardless of the author stating he was not a good student) was very well written. Ok as a homeschool mother I did make note of some of the grammatical errors....I couldn't help it. But to be totally honest this is a story about this man's personal experience. It is written in first person and while he used some incorrect grammar, this is how he speaks. Heck it's how most of us speak and I'm not much better myself. So, it truly didn't bother me at all.This is the story of the Battle for COP Keating where we Americans lost 8 US heroes during a particularly rough time in the war in Afghanistan. Mr. Romesha does an exceptional job of describing in total detail every moment of this day long battle the best he can. He certainly did his homework. I asked my husband a million questions while reading this. And Mr. Romesha adds details he'd not have known during the battle. It is remarkably clear that he spent a long time interviewing others involved before writing his story. He speaks of this afterward. And it certainly shows. It's amazing the magnitude of cooperation it takes for all branches to ensure the lives of our military. Yes, they weren't always successful in saving lives. But I can only imagine all would have been lost had the cooperation not be so well managed. And you don't need to know anything about the military to understand what is going on. Mr. Romesha explains it all.During my husband's last deployment he was a Captain. I now have a different understanding of the burden placed upon him during two deployments and I now understand why he just can't share his pain with me. I'm glad that Mr. Romesha has found an outlet to voice his story, though it's clear that will never take away the horror he and his men endured. Many were barely men at all. So very young.I highly recommend this read. You won't be disappointed. It's well done. And yes, you'll even find yourself laughing at times. But you may well also find yourself in tears. I'm a big crying so of course I was in tears at the end.I will continue throughout my life to pray for the troops in harms way but also for them after they return home. They are a well-oiled highly trained machine on the battlefield. But it's not so easy to live with once home.

It is nice to see that people in this country could actually get true stories of what our soldiers go through during war. Unfortunately, the liberal media does not allow this kind of information to become known to the majority of Americans. God Bless our military.

I’m lucky. I’ve never been to war. This book brings it home to the reader what it may be like. It’s all action from start to finish and it’s a wonder that anyone survived. I’ve just finished a similar account regarding nearly identical circumstances involving British forces defending a similar outpost in Afghanistan….a poorly positioned desert post which is about to be abandoned when the Taliban attack in force. And both novels bring the same question. Why? These were brave men. No doubt about it. It’s what soldiers are trained to be and do. But why bother having such outpost in a sand pit where nobody welcomes you? With all their fire power, air dominance, and technology the coalition forces eventually conceded defeat and pulled out of the country leaving it to the Taliban. I don’t blame the brave troops on the ground. But those higher up the chain of command must have a lot to answer for…..

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.

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.