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Level Zero Heroes: The Story Of U.S. Marine Special Operations In Bala Murghab, Afghanistan (2014)

by Michael Golembesky(Favorite Author)

4.43 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1250030404 (ISBN13: 9781250030405)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

St. Martin's Press

review 1: America’s longest armed conflict, the thirteen years our nation’s military spent in Afghanistan, was not your grandfather’s World War II. Co-authors Michael Golembesky and John Bruning prove that on almost every page of this war diary. As the subtitle indicates, former Staff Sergeant Golembesky and his “ghost writer” Bruning have left us “the story of U.S. Marine special operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan.”In his preface, Golembesky, (known by his fellow Marines as “Ski”), claims “this book has no political agenda on failed foreign policies or the handling of the war.” But that didn’t stop Ski, at every opportunity, from blasting America’s ROEs or “rules of engagement” in Afghanistan under General Stanley McChrystal. Ski writes, “In... more my opinion, McChrystal’s feel-good tactical directives had clipped the wings of our aggressiveness and ability to effectively kill the enemy in a timely manner . . . most of the limitations he’d placed on American troops struck right at the heart of what Special Operations units do best.”In addition to the upside down ROEs our American combat troops were forced to fight under, their so-called partners in the conflict with the Taliban, the Afghan National Police “in general were a despicable lot. Cruel, corrupt, officious, they ran rackets and extorted local leaders. They took part in the drug trade and had absolutely no stomach for a fight.”To add insult to injury, Ski’s Marine Special Operators Team 8222 had to rub shoulders with the so-called Entourage, a group of untrustworthy Afghan local governmental and tribal officials and military. As Ski notes, “Counterinsurgency will always be a slippery slope. To make it work, good men have to get into bed with some seriously unsavory local characters.”Most of this 281-page journal contains Ski’s involvement with enormously mislabeled level zero patrols in Bala Murghab. As the authors explain, level zero missions indicate “a low possible threat of encountering the enemy . . . the most basic, and considered the most safe, operation we could conduct in theater.” But, as Ski and his fellow Marines discovered, time and time again, they were forced to wait for a green light from higher-ups before engaging the Taliban. “Therein lies the catch-22 of being a forward air controller: unmatched firepower at our fingertips, but rules of engagement that hamstring our every move even in the thick of a firefight.”The frustrating absurdity of the Afghan conflict reaches its peak during MSOT 8222’s battle for Pathfinder Hill. It’s hard to believe the cruel tricks, (including execution style murder), surviving militants used to “Get Out of Jail Free” and “Get Out of Battle Free.” Equally frustrating were the cases where Afghanistan National Army personnel are used by the Taliban as weapons. The authors note one instance where an ANA soldier’s family is threatened with torture and death if he didn’t attack and kill Americans on post. In this case, a medic, who volunteered to come to Forward Operating Base Todd to help out, was the shooting victim of this enemy within.A couple of things make this a tough read. First, the language. Ski and Bruning include every single four-letter word, every single profanity you’ll hear out of every drill instructor’s mouth in any military training facility anywhere. In addition to the F-bombs inserted between every word in casual conversation, the reader has to deal with endless military acronyms. For example: “We filed out of the TOC and walked to our waiting rigs. We’d go out with two GMVs and two MRAPs if the ODA called up QRF.” Apparently soldiers under fire don’t have time to mention filing out of the Tactical Operation Center to go out with two Ground Mobility Vehicles and two Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles if the Operational Detachment Alpha called up the Quick Reaction Force. Fortunately, Ski and Bruning included a four page glossary of terms. You’ll refer to those 113 acronyms often.If there’s a point to all this, I think it would be Ski’s own questions on page 186. “Has there ever been a war where American lives were so wantonly risked when there were so many ways to limit losses and remove threats? Where else but in Afghanistan have we ever faced an enemy who played without a rulebook at the same time as our own ceded almost every advantage to the foe?” Like I said, it was not your grandfather’s World War II.
review 2: Reviewed by A Simple Taste for Reading:I would first like to thank the author, Michael Golembesky for sharing his story with me. Honestly, you cannot put a rating on this book. No rating could ever be enough for what these men in this story and all around the world do for our freedom every single day. Because of them, we can go out at midnight and do cartwheels in the yard if we want. A useless example, but once you read “Level Zero Heroes”, you will want to spend your time doing much, much greater things with your life!“Level Zero Heroes” is the first book written about the U.S. Marines Special Operations since it was created in 2006. This book is written from the context of first account views from Team 8222 (MSOT), a 22-member squad of Marines serving in a village called Bala Murghab, Afganistan, an isolated Taliban stronghold.I have always been passionate about freedom, in the fact that freedom is never free. What you will find in this book will open you up raw as Michael takes an extremely complex situation and compresses it so any reader can easily understand the circumstances that the author and his team endured while in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. I have never read a book quite like this one. The interest came after watching Michael’s film “Infil Exfil”, which brings to light the mental struggle that goes on within all combat veterans. I knew I had to read this book.“Level Zero Heroes” brings to light the seven months that Golemesky and his men fought, side by side, going from one extremity to the next. I’m not sure I didn’t feel a day went by that there wasn't at least one fire fight while they were stationed there. These men survived through a couple freak accidents, sniper ambush missions in sub-zero temperatures and trials where you couldn’t see the line between who was a friend or who was a foe. I kept saying to myself while reading, “this is about to get sketchy!”, not just from the way Michael writes, but I literally felt it in my gut like I was there with them!So much is bundled into this book that I feel like I will be reading it more than once. There were some parts I read so fast because I was terrified for the men being written about, I might have missed something! I was reading this book in the evenings before I would go to bed, which was a mistake because I would be awaking thinking about everything I had just ‘witnessed’.This is so much more than just a deployment to Afghanistan, so much more a person needs to realize about our country. Follow the accounts of valor and brotherhood, let this book open your eyes a little wider and understand the passion driven men and women who fight for your country in the past, present and those who will serve in the future! I feel as though this book will be winning some awards, a highly recommended read. Once again, thank you to all the men and women who serve to grant us freedom in the United States of America! less

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