I asked the surviving commanders of the four main Cavalry troops profiled in this book—Matt Gooding of 3-71, Joey Hutto of 1-91, Dan Pecha of 6-4, and Stoney Portis of 3-61—to survey their soldiers (and former soldiers) from COP Keating, and the families of those who have been lost, to select a short list of military charities to whom I could give some of the proceeds from this book, and to whom you can give as well, if you are so moved.
They say the following organizations have been of help to their troops and their troops’ families:
Army Emergency Relief
200 Stovall Street
Alexandria, VA 22332
Defenders of Freedom
706 Stratford Lane
Coppell, TX 75019
Fisher House Foundation, Inc.
111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Snowball Express
1333 Corporate Dr., Suite 105
Irving, TX 75038
Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Inc.
1777 F Street NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
Wounded Warrior Project
899 Belfort Road, Suite 300
Jacksonville, Florida 32256
The more than 225 troops, family members, and others listed in the endnotes were above and beyond helpful. Thank you. Thank you not only for your help, but for what you do and how much you sacrifice. I hope this book is worthy of what you’ve been through. Ross Berkoff provided vital advice and assistance, as did former Army translator Javid Nuristani. Berkoff and David Roller, in their own inimitable ways, forced me to make this project more ambitious than my original conception. They wanted to make sure that the story of the Americans in Kamdesh was as comprehensive as possible, honoring the hard work and sacrifice of their brothers in arms, especially those who had been lost.
At Little, Brown and Company this book found strong support from my editor and friend Geoff Shandler and the former executive vice president and publisher of Little, Brown, Michael Pietsch. New Little, Brown publisher Reagan Arthur has been a strong supporter of the paperback edition. I was fortunate to have as my Little, Brown teammates a number of talented and dedicated individuals, including Liese Mayer; Ben Allen, Dorothy Straight, and the whole Boston team; Eric Rayman; Nicole Dewey, Michelle Aielli, and Amanda Brown; and Denise LaCongo and everyone else in New York who helped make the inside of the book look so great. Literary agent Christy Fletcher helped nurse the project from its infancy.
In writing and editing this book, I received incredible help and advice from three journalists: Jeffrey Goldberg, who offered valuable writing suggestions, and Matthew Cole and Greg Jaffe, both of whom spent time with the U.S. troops in Kamdesh and were generous with their time, observations, and reporting. The eminent Nuristan experts David Katz and Richard Strand helped keep me honest, accurate, and less ethnocentric. Military bloggers Mark Seavey and Bill Roggio and Joshua Foust of the American Security Project were encouraging and enthusiastic early readers. My mother and father were diligent proofreaders and, as they’ve been since birth, warm and aggressive cheerleaders for their son.
Many troops and officers reviewed passages as well, offering suggestions and corrections. I’m not listing them because I don’t want any of them erroneously blamed for any mistakes in the book or conclusions with which the Pentagon disagrees. But I could not have done it without them.
In January 2013 I began an exciting new job as anchor of The Lead and chief Washington correspondent for CNN. I’d like to thank Phil Kent, Jeff Zucker, Ken Jautz, Amy Entelis, Sam Feist, Eric Sherling, and Virginia Moseley for their confidence in me. I am so excited about all the brilliant people on my staff: Federico Quadrani, Katie Hinman, Suzanne Nelson, Melanie Buck, Alexis Weiss, Elizabeth Chmurak, Dan Donahue, Rick Saleeby, Jess Metzger, Shaneika Dabney, Ed Meagher, Cassie Spodak, Dana Davidsen, Jason Seher, Tyler Sloan, Arielle Hawkins, Kim Berryman, Sherisse Pham, Rachel Giberman, Kathleen Skinski, Adia Jacobs, Michael Brevner, Michelle Poley, Reza Baktar, Jose Nunez, Christopher Walter, Gerard Sisnette, Dewana Williams, Ruby Gutierrez, Paul Miller, Clayton Green, Christopher Garrett, Gary Krakower, Joe Brownlee, Michael McMullan, Kara Day, Christie Corologos-Medina, David M Robinson, Brett Tyler, Sonya Dowhaluk, Rahmin Atarod, Marco Arreaga, Insley Fowler, Dave Bacheler, Chris Bortner, Brian Burch, Patricia Carroll, Warren Channell, Adilson Kiyasu, Edwin Lora, Douglas McKinley, Chris Parks, Brendan Polmer, Ashley Powell, David Ridgeway, Jean Renaud, Allison Gollust, Edie Emery, Megan Grant, Erin McPike, Steve Dolce, Sarah Baker, Nancy Baker, and Jennifer Scoggins. Almost immediately after starting at CNN, I went to North Dakota for what would quickly end up being a prime-time hour about Clint Romesha. Thank you to all who worked on that show, including Jennifer Rizzo, Adam Levine, Bud Bultman, Mike Mount, Jessica Metzger, Ken Shiffman, Jen Hyde, Courtney Yager, Tim Lister, Max Newfield, Dave Herrod, April Hock, Blake Luce, Mike Chedwick, Karen Nolan, Meg Pearlstein, Jeremy Moorhead, Jeremy Harlan, Jim Spellman, Josh Braun, Pallavi Reddy, Patrick Ford, Jonathan Kemp, John Cowan, Christina Roberts, John Cooke, Matt Scheibner, and Gary Wilkinson. In August, we did it again for Ty Carter; among those who worked so hard on the Carter documentary were many from the previous doc, as well as Eric Marrapodi, Andy Segal, James Evans, Brandi Harrison, Steve Keller, John Torigoe, Ken Tillis, Khalik Abdallah, David Catrett, John Bena, and Trino Escobedo. I’m proud to work for a news organization that would devote so much time and expense to honoring the troops by telling their stories at a time that so many elected officials and so many in the public have tuned the war out.
I owe a thank you to ABC News for the opportunities and adventures of the last nine years, with special appreciation to Bob Iger, Anne Sweeney, Ben Sherwood, David Westin, Diane Sawyer, Ted Koppel, Peter Jennings (R.I.P.), Charlie Gibson, George Stephanopoulos, Robin Roberts, James Goldston, Shelley Ross, Jon Banner, Tom Cibrowski, Jim Murphy, Tom Bettag, Leroy Sievers (R.I.P.), Rick Kaplan, Michael Corn, Jeanmarie Condon, Robin Sproul, Virginia Moseley, and Amy Entelis, as well as all the hundreds of talented producers, correspondents, editors, camera people, soundmen and -women, and others with whom I’ve had the pleasure to work—all of whom I’m not listing here only because I don’t want to forget anyone. Special thanks to my friends and colleagues with the ABC News White House team (Mary Bruce, Stephanie Smith, Sunlen Miller, Ann Compton, Devin Dwyer, Jon Garcia, and Barry Freeman) and those with whom I worked on the campaign trail, in Afghanistan (Ely Brown), in Iraq (Zoe Magee and Ray Homer), and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the ensuing failure of the levee system (Sarah Rosenberg).
R.I.P. to a crew I worked with in Iraq: cameraman Alaa Uldeen Aziz, 33, and soundman Saif Laith Yousuf, 26, killed in 2007.
I am generally not a war reporter, and I want to take a personal moment to praise and thank those who are, those who live in the muck and mire for months—if not years—on end, away from their loved ones. In particular, I want to single out those who have risked so much to report for ABC News, including Martha Raddatz, Bob Woodruff, Mike Boettcher, Carlos Boettcher, Matt McGarry, Nick Schifrin, Doug Vogt, and Miguel Marquez. At CNN I’ve already benefitted from the courage and excellence of Nick Paton Walsh, Nick Robertson, and Arwa Damon, to name a few. To all of you, and the many others who toil similarly for other media organizations, you and your work humble me.
To my family—Mom, Dad, Shelly, Stone, Aaron, Laurie, Isaiah, Delilah, Lisi, Becky, Hanan, Talia, Ellie, Debby, Andy, Sam, Nathan, Linda, Tom, and Bob—I love you. Thank you for being my family.
And lastly—but most importantly—this book could not have been written without the patience, support, and love of my amazing wife, Jennifer, and the hugs, kisses, and laughter of my beloved children.