The first eyewitness account of the fraught evacuation of Kabul.As a Royal Marine Commando, H. Collins served in Afghanistan in 2001 on combat operations. He took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and returned for a second tour the following year. In 2005, now a private security contractor, he spent five years in Ramadi and Fallujah, Iraq's so-called 'triangle of death'.In 2014, H was back in Afghanistan, providing security for the Japanese Embassy in Kabul. In 2021, when the chaotic evacuation of the Afghan capital began, it was a tough call for the Japanese government to leave behind their significant investment in Afghanistan's future. When H finally got the go-ahead to extract the embassy's diplomats and staff, he was leading the only security team remaining in a city rapidly filling with Taliban fighters.This is an eyewitness account of the final, fraught six days that H and his team spent in Kabul. Their first attempt to reach the airport ran into a firefight between Afghan government forces and the Taliban and had to be aborted to ensure the safety of their Japanese clients.H decided on a late-night extraction under cover of darkness, following which his small team of twelve men were forced to speed through Taliban-controlled checkpoints in order to get back to their HQ compound, where the remaining ops staff and seventy-two unarmed Ghurka waited.A live feed from a special forces drone revealed that they had been tailed back from the airport and Taliban fighters were now surrounding the compound. Special forces had also let them know that three of the Taliban who had demanded a meeting in the compound had been wearing suicide vests.Surrounded by the Taliban, for six days, H and his men manned their defensive positions day and night. H knew that no help would come and the Taliban's intentions were far from clear. If they could not make it through the increasingly chaotic city to the now completely surrounded airport, they would inevitably be overrun, and could expect the same fate as so many before them. Or they could try to punch their way out of the encircled capital and head to the border, or a Northern Alliance stronghold.H's ability to keep his team calm and focused would be key to their survival. If they made it, they would be the last team out of Kabul.
Weapon of Choice: The Operations of U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan : Awakening the Giant, Toppling the Taliban, The Fist Campaigns, Development of the War
United States Department of Defense, Combat Studies Institute
bookThe Last Punisher: A SEAL Team THREE Sniper's True Account of the Battle of Ramadi
Kevin Lacz, Ethan E. Rocke, Lindsey Lacz
bookOutlaw Platoon : Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan
Sean Parnell, John Bruning
audiobookOtto Skorzeny : Hitlers favoriete commando
Stuart Smith
bookMengele : Unmasking the "Angel of Death"
David G. Marwell
audiobookScars and Stripes : An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself
Tim Kennedy, Nick Palmisciano
audiobookbookOfficier in Afghanistan : achter de schermen van onze militaire missie
Esmeralda Kleinreesink
bookDood door eigen vuur : De persoonlijke verhalen van de Nederlandse commando’s en rode baretten bij het defensiedrama
Charles Sanders
bookThe Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior
Robert O'Neill
audiobookbookDe laatste Punisher : het ware verhaal van een scherpschutter van SEAL Team Three in de Slag om Ramadi
Kevin Lacz
bookFrits de zwerver : twaalf jaar strijd tegen de nazi-terreur
Jan Hof
bookColditz : Het waargebeurde verhaal over het streng beveiligde nazi-fort en de vele spectaculaire ontsnappingen
Ben Macintyre
audiobook