{"product_id":"sons-of-the-arghandab-top-guns-in-the-devils-playground","title":"Sons of the Arghandab: Top guns in the Devil's Playground","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"The skill, adaptability, initiative, courage, and sheer determination of the Top Guns enabled them to prevail in the densely vegetated, enemy-infested Arghandab, to hold the terrain once it had been cleared, and to return to the United States as one of the most decorated units in the history of the war in Afghanistan. It was a true privilege to observe (and decorate) them then and it is truly inspirational to read about them now 15 years after they commenced their extraordinary operations. Sons of the Arghandab is a great read!\" ? General David Petraeus, US Army, (Ret.),\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSons of the Arghandab tells the story of the 1-320th Field Artillery \"Top Guns\" Battalion, 101st Airborne, in the Arghandab Valley, 2010-2011.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Arghandab River Valley is known for its lush vegetation from its grape furrows and its pomegranate orchards. It’s also known as the birthplace of several Taliban leaders such as Mullah Omar and Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and was a major crossing route for weapons coming from Pakistan into Kandahar. This hostile environment had already claimed the lives of many seasoned Infantrymen. But the Top Guns weren't infantrymen, they were artillerymen, deployed without their usual weapons and with minimal last-minute training, redesignated as \"provisional infantrymen.\" Painstakingly researched by one of the Top Guns and told through the perspectives of the men who survived that terrible year, this is the harrowing story of Alpha, HHB, and Bravo Batteries as they undertook the challenges of an Artillery unit charged with an Infantry mission in the most hostile killing fields in Afghanistan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCh. 1: The Death of Innocence\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 2: The RIP\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 3: Into the Devil's Playground\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 4: The Alamo (COP Nolen)\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 5: Luck Always runs out.\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 6: Battle for Bakersfield (COP Stout)\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 7: The Boys of Babur\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 8: The Longest Day\u003cbr\u003e\nCh. 9: Hard Right Over the Easy Wrong\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.10: Ant trails to the Man at the first Canal\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.11: Cigarette Ambers, MICLICs and Tarok Kolache\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.12: Watching the Tides change.\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.13: The Men Hidden Beneath the Rocks.\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.14: Strong Point Stansbery\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.15: Tarok Kolache \/ Strong Point Weaver\u003cbr\u003e\nCh.16: Infrared Chemlights and IEDs\u003cbr\u003e\nCH.17: Living in the Grape Furrows\u003cbr\u003e\nCH.18: As the Leaves Turn\u003cbr\u003e\nCH.19: Graveyards filled with broken dreams\u003cbr\u003e\nEpilogue: Eulogies, Uniforms, and Sad Stories\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Byrrd Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48537729499319,"sku":"CM-SONS-OF-ARGHANADAB","price":31.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0657\/4692\/7799\/files\/759968091819-Sons-of-Arghanadab.jpg?v=1781039735","url":"https:\/\/www.byrrdbooks.com\/products\/sons-of-the-arghandab-top-guns-in-the-devils-playground","provider":"Byrrd Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}