The Fighting 69th: From Ground Zero to Baghdad

by Sean Michael Flynn

Overview

One of the most celebrated units in the military for more than a century, by 1990, New York City's Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard was scarcely fit for duty. Its equipment was derelict, its discipline nonexistent, many of its leaders inept, and its ranks filled with kids barely out of high school who had little intention of serving their country for any longer than it took to get their paycheck, college credit, or job training. Then came the attacks of September 11 and the invasion of Iraq. In The Fighting 69th, Sean Michael Flynn, himself a member of the unit, chronicles the extraordinary transformation of this band of amateur soldiers into a battle-hardened troop at one of the most lethal sites of war.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143114925
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/30/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	692,077
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Sean Michael Flynn served as the Fighting 69th assistant operations officer during the unit’s service at Ground Zero, commander of Alpha Company during its homeland defense duty at West Point, and commander of Bravo Company during the 69th’s service in Iraq. A captain awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his services in Iraq, Flynn is one of the few Irish-Americans remaining in the once all-Irish 69th and a direct descendent of Civil War veterans of the Regiment. Before joining the Army National Guard as an infantryman, Flynn served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force. Flynn has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

An Infantry Primer xiii

Prologue 1

October 1991

Book I Homeland Defense: March 2001-February 2004

1 Weekend Warriors 11

Saint Patrick's Day 2001

Failure to Launch

Missionaries, Mercenaries, and Misfits

2 Minutemen 32

A New Paradigm

Beirut-on-Hudson

3 The Strategic Reserve 51

Not Ready for Prime Time

The Roughnecks

4 Preemption 69

Parking Lot Heroes

Saint Patrick's Day 2002

The Bridge-and-Tunnel Group

5 The End of the Whip 88

The Storm Before the Hurricane

Saint Patrick's Day 2003

When Pigs Fly

Book II Operation Iraqi Freedom: March 2004-September 2005

6 When the 69th Comes Back 115

Saint Patrick's Day 2004

Checking the Box

The Blacksheep

General Order Number 1

7 Green in the Desert 141

Reconnaissance

Shithouse Poets

Mach Jesus

8 Taji 158

Task and Purpose

Babes in the Woods

Napalm in the Morning

9 The Rouge Bouquet 178

Framework Operations

The First Kill

The Economy of Force

10 The Infantry 200

Counterinsurgency

Charlie 24

The Heart of Darkness

11 Information Operations 215

Hagar the Horrible

The Most Dangerous Road in the World

12 Route Irish 231

Last Man Standing

Checkpoint 541

Vehicle-Borne Death

Saint Patrick's Day 2005

13 Task Force Wolfhound 250

Fresh Legs

The Trial

Revenge of the Assassins

Iraquization

14 Boots Off the Ground 272

69 Minutes

The Enemy at Home

Afterword: The Operational Reserve 284

Saint Patrick's Day 2006

Afterword to the Paperback Edition 289

Acknowledgments 295

Index 297