Valhalla Boys: Marine Recon Sniper in Iraq

“Valhalla Boys is definitely a different read from what you would expect from a soldier’s tale of fighting in Iraq. You really get inside the mind of the author. It’s more about what it means to be a fighter than about Iraq… writing also makes it feel like a novel sometimes rather than an autobiography. It makes for a very distinctive tale.” -Musings on IraqIn 2006, the shock and awe campaign of securing the major cities had ended, and the Iraq War had moved into an alien phase for the operators of Black Flag One. With their motto “swift, silent, deadly,” the Marine operators of 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion were trained for unconventional warfare but they were tasked with holding and securing swathes of the country, facing Insurgents who were adapting their tactics to kill as many Coalition soldiers as possible using IEDs. It was a terrifying new phase of the war where every disturbed patch of dirt, every piece of rubbish, every civilian acting oddly could mean instant death.Into this cauldron of hate came a young Marine recon sniper. Brennan Morton had been fascinated by war and the military as long as he could remember, and had signed up for the Marines as an enlisted after 9/11. Developed from writing undertaken at the suggestion of his VA therapist, his immersive memoir takes the reader through selection and training and the first patrol sweeping for caches, to endless night watches, and deadly IED attacks.Table of Contents1. Distance and Therapy 2. A Joker Born to Kill3. Melted Down and Remolded 4. Whipping Boy 5. Tin Soldier 6. Bloodsport 7. The Giggle Game 8. Mason 9. Scarface 10. Apples and Oranges.. and Pears11. The Road to Hell is Paved Through Attrition12. Holding Tank 13. Pen or the Sword14. The Schoolhouse15. Rain, Rain, Go Away16. Gas, Gas, Gas17. Trail of Tears18. Tall Tales and Taller Hills19. One Sandal Country20. Beggars Can Be Choosers21. Know Your Frenemy22. Close Encounters of the Fourth kind23. Military Jeanyus24. The Night Written a Hundred Times25. No Rest for the Wicked26. Dinner and a Show27. One Square Kilometer28. Allah, Pele, and Coca-Cola29. Red, White, and Blue on Blue30. Checkmate31. The Cave: the Constant Daydream32. The Cave: Rebirth33. Dying With a Brother34. The Return Trip Down Guilt Way35. Blue Falcons36. Tent in the middle of Nowhere37. Blowing the door of Opportunity38. Black hawk Downer39. No Going Home40. The One-Square-Mile City41. Pink Mist42. Finale43. The Longest Flight44. It’s the Little Things In Life Read more