The Devil's Sandbox: With the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry at War in Iraq

by John R. Bruning

Overview

Citizen soldiers have played a unique role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and their extended deployment and role in the wars battles have changed the towns, cities, and states they hail from as well. The Devil's Sandbox - a nickname for Iraq - is the story of the 2nd Battalion of Oregon's 162nd Infantry Regiment (2/162), and provides readers an intimate look at the reality of National Guardsmen at war. Follow the 2/162 from their call-up in the summer of 2003 to their return home in the spring of 2005.

Witness some of the fiercest fighting of the Iraq War and some of the most rewarding and forward-looking civil affairs projects aimed at rebuilding the broken nation of Iraq. Read how the town in Oregon struggles to do without the people - the accountants, lawyers, mechanics, et. al. - who went to serve in the war.

The Devil's Sandbox offers a rare insight into what this war means for the citizen-soldier at home and abroad, and chronicles a battalion that earned the respect of the regular Army soldiers who fought alongside them in some of the toughest battles in the Iraq war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616737542
Publisher:	Zenith Press
Publication date:	10/15/2006
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	31 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

John R. Bruning has been a professional military historian and writer since 1990. He is the author of Crimson Sky: the Air Battle for Korea; Jungle Ace; Elusive Glory; Ship Strike Pacific; Luck of the Draw; and The Devil’s Sandbox: With the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry at War in Iraq. He served as an embedded civilian historian with the 2-162 Infantry during Operation Southern Comfort, the post-Hurricane Katrina relief operation in New Orleans. Bruning also has numerous articles, documentaries, multi-media CD-Rom programs, flight simulators and museum displays to his credit. He lives in Independence, Oregon, the heart of 2-162 country.

Table of Contents

Part I. Bonds

1. July 2003
2. Synergy
3. Manpower Plus Bruns
4. The First Good-byes
5. Texas
6. Light Infantry on Wheels
7. Strains of Command
8. Finishing School
9. One More Last Good-bye

Part II. Road Warriors

1. The Cardboard Coffins
2. Muslim Brownshirts
3. The Elephants
4. The Jed Clampetts Go to War
5. Serial Five
6. Waiting: The Other Agony
7. First Days of Work
8. The 91^st Psalm
9. The Rockets of Taji
10. The Fine Art of Command

Part III. Contact

1. Right Seat into RPGs
2. Dumped in Baghdad
3. A Glimpse of What Could Be
4. Operation Oscar
5. The Edge of Sadr City
6. The First Heroes
7. Sixty Years of Shattered Peace
8. Toby Keith Interlude
9. Justice: Swift and Righteous
10. The Images at Home
11. The One Who Had to Die
12. Aftermath
13. Shaykh Majeid
14. Trolling for Terrorists
15. The Knee-high Sniper
16. Command Decision
17. The Gray-haired Mystery Man
18. The Hell Hounds’ Last Ride

Part IV. The Al Sadr Smackdown

1. Moqtada Reprise
2. The Charge of the Modoc Warrior
3. The Battle for Jamelia Power Station
4. The Fight on the Perimeter
5. Kilometer-long Kill Zone
6. The Face of the Enemy
7. The Private War of Sergeant Hellman
8. Zonr 22 Rodeos
9. Budweiser Bridge

Part V. The Battle of Najaf

1. The Cover of Stars and Stripes
2. Captain Glass’ Finest Hour
3. Kris Haney’s Chunk ofHistory
4. Zero to Crusty in No Time Flat
5. Five Thousand New Martyrs
6. The Day of Donkey Death
7. The Apache Hilton
8. Eldred’s Fist of God
9. The Tuttle Chapter
10. 18^th and Christies
11. Of Bras and Wedding Gowns
12. The Piranha Kittens
13. The Deal

Part VI. The Last Heroes

1. Where Do the Wounded Go?
2. Through Hardships . . . to Things of Honor
3. Mushada Market
4. Fallujah
5. The Woman on the Roof
6. The Ink-stained Finger

Editorial Reviews

Beside the fact that we absolutely love the book’s title, The Devil’s Sandbox strikes us as one of the more powerful unit histories from the Iraq War ... One thing's for sure, no one can ever refer to the men and women of the 2/126 as ‘weekend warriors’again.”
Military Book Club

“With a gritty flair for storytelling and blunt style, this work is not just another story about the Iraq War … More than a war story about an infantry battalion, The Devil’s Sandbox represents an intimate reality for thousands of Army National Guard soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan … Bruning does not neglect the sacrifices and bravery families and friends of the deployed soldiers exhibited during the deployment. He explains the hardships and stress on those that remained at home as their loved ones went to war … John Bruning’s work is the best book written about the Army National Guard since 11 September 2001 … The nation’s citizen-soldiers have been an integral part in the War on Terror, and their sacrifice, as well as their families’, is vividly brought to life in this new work.”
On Point: The Journal of Army History

From the Publisher