Hearts and Mines: With the Marines in al Anbar: A Story of Psychological Warfare in Iraq

by Russell Snyder

Overview

“[A] personal and philosophical look at the war . . . clean and descriptive  from a psychological operations specialist and Bronze Star Medal recipient (Great Falls Tribune).
 
This is a true story of war—the story of one man’s transformation as he retraces the mine-strewn roads of a land itself transformed by mankind’s most shockingly inhuman practice. It is the firsthand account of a member of one of the United States Army’s three-man Tactical Psychological Operations Teams, groups of men tasked with winning the hearts and minds of Iraq’s civilian population through leaflets, loudspeakers, conversation, and bribery. Transcribed from and inspired by the author’s personal wartime journal, it is a story of introspection. It relates how the feelings of eagerness and uncertainty in a young man unfamiliar with war were replaced with the dread knowledge that, buried within his soul, beneath a facade of goodwill and morality, lurked the capacity to kill his fellow man.
 
Along with scenes of battle, Hearts and Mines captures the sensory experience of living in a singular environment full of strange plants and animals, friends true and false, and determined enemies, encapsulating the existential fear of mortar and rocket attacks, and the ever-present threat of IEDs, as well as the ridiculousness of military bureaucracy.
 
“A beautiful book . . . paints a powerful picture.” —OpEd News

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612001173
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	01/10/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	942,383
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

In late 2001 Russell Snyder joined the United States Army as a psychological operations specialist. As a member of the 9th PSYOP Battalion, the army’s only active-duty, tactical psychological operations unit he deployed to Iraq, the experience that inspired him to write Hearts and Mines. Subsequently he was deployed twice more to Iraq. He is a recipient of various military awards including the Bronze Star medal. Now a civilian, he lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Author's Note 8

Preface 11

Introduction 13

1 Into the Oven 17

2 A Soft Breath of Terror 33

3 The Road to Al Qa'im 55

4 PowerPoint and Purple Hearts 75

5 Metal Rain 81

6 A Price on Our Heads 93

7 Tortured Steel, Bitter Tears 99

8 A Warning From Karabilah 121

9 Cat Walks By Himself 131

10 Close Calls and Chicken Wings 137

11 Paper Bullets 153

12 Tiny, Bloody Bodies 159

13 A High Price For Vengeance 175

14 Unicorn Bandits 179

15 Quick Strike 183

16 "Good Morning, Husaybah" 201

17 Out of the Oven 207

In Memoriam 216

Editorial Reviews

…a beautiful book… paints a powerful picture…"

OpEd News

…personal and philosophical look at the war, recounting the drudgeries of a soldier’s life, the horrors of traveling mined roads and the suffering inflicted on soldier and citizen… Clean and descriptive."

Great Falls Tribune