iraq war, 2003-2011

In Every Day Is a Gift, Tammy Duckworth takes readers through the amazing?and amazingly true?stories from her incomparable life. In November of 2004, an Iraqi RPG blew through the cockpit of Tammy Duckworth's U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The explosion, which destroyed her legs and mangled her right arm, was a turning point in her life. But as Duckworth shows in Every Day Is a Gift, that moment was just one in a lifetime of extraordinary turns. The biracial daughter of an American father and a Thai-Chinese mother, Duckworth faced discrimination, poverty, and the horrors of war?all before the age of 16. As a child, she dodged bullets as her family fled war-torn Phnom Penh. As a teenager, she sold roses by the side of the road to save her family from hunger and homelessness in Hawaii. Through these experiences, she developed a fierce resilience that would prove invaluable in the years to come. Duckworth joined the Army, becoming one of a handful of female helicopter pilots at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She served eight months in Iraq before an insurgent's RPG shot down her helicopter, an attack that took her legs?and nearly took her life. She then spent thirteen months recovering at Walter Reed, learning to walk again on prosthetic legs and planning her return to the cockpit. But Duckworth found a new mission after meeting her state's senators, Barack Obama and Dick Durbin. After winning two terms as a U.S. Representative, she won election to the U.S. Senate in 2016. And she and her husband Bryan fulfilled another dream when she gave birth to two daughters, becoming the first sitting senator to give birth. From childhood to motherhood and beyond, Every Day Is a Gift is the remarkable story of one of America's most dedicated public servants.

For nearly a decade, Brett Velicovich was at the center of America's new warfare: using unmanned aerial vehicles -- drones -- to take down the world's deadliest terrorists across the globe. One of an elite handful in the entire military with the authority to select targets and issue death orders, he worked in concert with the full human and technological network of American intelligence -- assets, analysts, spies, informants -- and the military's elite operatives, to stalk, capture, and eliminate high value targets in al-Qaeda and ISIS.

Presents the story of Alia, a librarian who lives and works in Basra, and her desperate attempt to save the books in the Basra Central Library at the start of the Iraqi War in 2003.

"When Billy Summers was twelve years old, He shot and killed his mother's boyfriend after he kicked Billy's sister to death. At 17, he enlisted in the army. At 18, he was a sniper in Iraq and involved in the deadly battle to recapture Fallujah. For nearly twenty years, he's worked as a paid assassin. He's a good guy in a bad job, and he wants out. He takes on a very complicated, very lucrative job that he hopes will be his last. He's got a perfect new identity lined up and a scrupulously orchestrated, flawless escape plan. And then something happens that changes everything for Billy. A stranger needs rescuing, and Billy sacrifices the safety of his own perfectly devised new life to offer her protection. And then the two of them-the most compelling and surprising duo in King fiction-set out on one last mission, to rectify the injustices of one extraordinarily evil man"--Provided by publisher.

A historical account of Operation Iraqi Freedom, including the events leading up to the 2002 conflict, the people involved, the political instability and insurgency that arose, and the lingering aftermath.

"Examining the story of how Private Lynch was rescued in Iraq"--.

This volume traces the entire conflict from Saddam Hussein's rise to power, decades before the war started, to the war's lingering effects today.

The author presents a candid appraisal of his life as a National Guardsman serving in Iraq, and offers a realistic look at the missions and raids in which he participated.

"Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, three brothers by blood became brothers in arms when each volunteered to defend their country. No military family has sacrificed more during the ensuing war, which has become the longest ever fought by America's armed forces. While serving in Afghanistan, US Navy SEAL veteran and CIA contractor Jeremy Wise was killed in an al Qaeda suicide bombing that devastated the US intelligence community. Less than three years later, US Army Green Beret sniper Ben Wise was fatally wounded after volunteering for a dangerous assignment during a firefight with the Taliban. Ben was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, while Jeremy received the Intelligence Star--one of the rarest awards bestowed by the U.S. government--and also a star on the CIA's Memorial Wall. United States Marine Corps combat veteran Beau Wise is the only known American service member to be pulled from the battlefield after losing two brothers in Afghanistan. Told in Beau's voice, [this book] is an American family's historic true story of service and sacrifice"--Provided by publisher.

Explores the recruitment strategies of the United States Armed Forces and provides resources for developing war resistance and counter-recruitment movements.