Not a Good Day to Die

By Sean Naylor and Naylor Sean

Book Overview

Award-winning combat journalist Sean Naylor reveals a firsthand account of the largest battle fought by American military forces in Afghanistan in an attempt to destroy al-Qaeda and Taliban forces. At dawn on March 2, 2002, America's first major battle of the 21st century began. Over 200 soldiers of the 101st Airborne and 10th Mountain Division flew into Afghanistan's Shah-i-Kot Valley--and into the mouth of a buzz saw. They were about to pay a bloody price for strategic, high-level miscalculations that underestimated the enemy's strength and willingness to fight. Naylor, an eyewitness to the battle, details the failures of military intelligence and planning, while vividly portraying the astonishing heroism of these young, untested US soldiers. Denied the extra support with which they trained, these troops nevertheless proved their worth in brutal combat and prevented an American military disaster. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0425207870
• ISBN13: 9780425207871
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Dutton Caliber
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Great read!

Well written book that exposes the obstacles and frustrations of US soldiers trying to fight a war where their own government and military leader's selfishness and micro-managing left them fighting with one are tied behind their backs.

Cousin is in it so its not quite fair to judge

The lack of any consideration of why we just had to be there without a formal war declared. We are undermining our own Constitutional process by using the AUMF and War Powers Act without changing our Constitution. Plus, its illegal and a violation of International law.

Best Insight into the current American wars

Not a Good Day to Die is a must read for anyone who wants to understand what we should really be focusing on to change in our current military if we want to stay relevant in a future that will almost certainly be marked by uncertainty. I am a Reserve Officer who just returned from Iraq and I couldn't believe how many of the lessons I had highlighted in Naylor's book, were still relevant on the ground in Iraq. My son sent...

A Good Book to Read

IF you liked the Mark Bowden's military thriller "Black Hawk Down," you'll not be disappointed by Army Times reporter Sean Naylor's "Not a Good Day to Die." The books are not only similar in style - both are superb accounts of heart-racing battlefield actions - but are eerily alike in many of the battles they describe. The 1993 street battles in MogadiShu, Somalia, and the March 2002 assault on hundreds of al Qaeda fighters...

Adhocacy Hell

Not a Good Day to Die is clearly the equal to the likes of Black Hawk Down, We Were Soldiers...Once and Young, and Thunder Run. The book is simply one of the finest accounts of modern combat that has ever been written. With that being said however, it is difficult, in a short narrative, to describe all of the troubling aspects about Operation Anaconda. The book illustrates, only too clearly, the fallacy of the term "unity...