The Fighters: Americans In Combat

by C. J. Chivers

Overview

The harrowing account of US soldiers caught in America’s forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that The New York Times calls “relentless...a classic of war reporting,” by Pulitzer Prize winner and former Marine C.J. Chivers.

More than 2.7 million Americans have served in Afghanistan or Iraq since September 11, 2001, and C.J. Chivers reported on both wars from their beginnings. The Fighters vividly conveys the physical and emotional experience of war as lived by six combatants: a fighter pilot, a corpsman, a scout helicopter pilot, a grunt, an infantry officer, and a Special Forces sergeant.

Chivers captures their courage, commitment, sense of purpose, and ultimately their suffering, frustration, and moral confusion as new enemies arise and invasions give way to counterinsurgency duties for which American forces were often not prepared.

The Fighters is a “gripping, unforgettable” (The Boston Globe) portrait of modern warfare. Told with the empathy and understanding of an author who is himself an infantry veteran, The Fighters is “a masterful work of atmospheric reporting, and it’s a book that will have every reader asking—with varying degrees of urgency or anger or despair—the final question Chivers himself asks: ‘How many lives had these wars wrecked?’” (Christian Science Monitor).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451676679
Publisher:	Simon & Schuster
Publication date:	08/14/2018
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	762,293
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

C.J. Chivers is a correspondent for The New York Times and a writer-at-large for the New York Times Magazine. His magazine story “The Fighter” won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. In 2009 he was part of a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for coverage from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Chivers served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps in the Persian Gulf War and on peacekeeping duty during the Los Angeles riots. He is the author of The Gun and The Fighters. 

Read an Excerpt

The Fighters

After ousting the Taliban from power in Kabul and chasing much of al Qaeda’s leadership into Pakistan, the Pentagon began preparing in earnest for the invasion of Iraq. As Afghanistan’s interim government tried to consolidate its post-Taliban position, the administration of President George W. Bush asserted that as punishment for developing weapons of mass destruction, giving refuge to terrorists, and defying international obligations, Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, should be forcibly deposed. By early 2003, political dialogue had run its course. Preparations for invasion were nearly complete. American forces were arrayed near Iraq’s borders, readying for attack. Their number dwarfed the size of the force in Afghanistan, which had grown to about 10,000 troops. Afghanistan was no longer the priority. A second war was soon to start.

Table of Contents

Guide to Maps xiii

Preface xv

Part I Storm

1 Into Afghanistan 3

G-Monster-Lieutenant Layne McDowell's Quick Air War

2 Into the Kill Zone 26

Sergeant First Class Leo Kryszewski and the Gauntlet at al-Kaed Bridge

Part II Bad Hand

3 The One You Hear Already Missed 54

Sergeant First Class Leo Kryszewski and the Rocket Attacks

4 "In the Navy He'll be Safe" 69

Hospital Corpsman Dustin E. Kirby and a Family at War

5 Down Safe 88

Chief Warrant Officer Michael Slebodnik and the Air Cavalry War in Iraq

6 G-Monster 114

Lieutenant Commander Layne McDowell's Dream

Part III Counterinsurgency

7 On Al Qaeda's Turf 126

Dustin Kirby and the Route Chicago Shooting Gallery

8 "I'll Fly Away" 157

Chief Warrant Officer Mike Slebodnik and the Air Cavalry in the Eastern Afghan Valleys

9 "We're Here Because We're Here" 187

Specialist Robert Soto and the Ghosts of Korengal Valley

10 The Push 237

Lieutenant Jarrod Neff and a Battle to Turn the Tide of the War

Part IV Reckoning

11 G-Monster 294

The Satisfaction of Restraint

12 The Fighter 305

Gail Kirby's Demand

Epilogue 331

Author's Note Regarding the Cover 351

Author's Note on Sources 353

Acknowledgments 357

Index 363

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/01/2018
Chivers (The Gun), a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Marine Corps officer in the Persian Gulf War, presents a memorable, gritty account of six servicemen who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, following the September 11 attacks and through 2017. These men shared both patriotism and anger over the tragedy, which motivated them to enlist and reenlist, questioning the wars' objectives because of poor military brass leadership and experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder that made their tours enduring if not endless. The author includes many interviews with the combatants and their families along with their fellow servicemen and -women and Iraqis and Afghans, some of whom saved Chiver's life on more than one occasion. Included among the six are Layne McDowell, a pilot who questioned the bombing and killing of citizens; Dustin Kirby, who rescued men under extreme conditions and himself suffered a horrific wound; and Michael Slebodnik, whose heroism cost him his life. Although the subjects are men, Chivers describes women who also served heroically, concluding that neither war achieved its goals as anti-American sentiment remains high in the region and ISIS continues to expand. VERDICT This important battlefield narrative will find wide audiences among readers of military history, wartime exploits, and hopefully military and political policymakers.—Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

Library Journal

★ 05/21/2018
Chivers, a Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times journalist and a Gulf War veteran in the Marines, presents in evocative detail the Iraq and Afghanistan war experiences of a handful of American fighters to tell the bigger story of how those conflicts with al-Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, and ISIS devolved into “wars that ran far past the pursuit of justice and ultimately did not succeed.” Chivers focuses on six combatants—an F-14 pilot, a Green Beret sergeant, a Navy corpsman, a helicopter pilot, an Army infantryman, and a Marine lieutenant. He briefly relates why each one joined the military and what happened to them after coming home, but the heart of the book is in-depth, intense reporting of their in-the-trenches tours of duty. Chivers spent countless hours on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2001 to 2013. His reporting rings chillingly true, especially his accounts of the worst that war metes out to those doing the fighting and civilians caught in the crosshairs, for example the agony that corpsman Dustin Kirby went through after being shot in the face. The five-page account of a 2013 meeting between George W. Bush and the severely wounded Kirby and his family is a brilliantly told jolt of postwar reality. This fast-paced, action-heavy work of long-form war journalism has bestseller written all over it. Agent: Amelia Atlas, ICM Partners. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

A classic of war reporting . . . There is no down time in this relentless book . . . It is real and in the moment . . . Chivers’s achievement has been to make his subjects mythic as well as human . . . The author’s stories give heart-rending meaning to the lives and deaths of these men and women, even if policymakers generally have not.”—The New York Times

"A masterpiece."—Providence Journal

“Remarkable. . . . a memorial in pages.”—The Washington Post

“Gripping, unforgettable.”—The Boston Globe

“A masterful work of atmospheric reporting, and it’s a book that will have every reader asking – with varying degrees of urgency or anger or despair – the final question Chivers himself asks: ‘How many lives had these wars wrecked?’”—Christian Science Monitor

“C.J. Chivers, an artist among war correspondents, fashions a vast mosaic of bravery and miscalculation from the lives of American combatants in Iraq and Afghanistan.”—The Wall Street Journal

“[Chivers] draws on the grit, sweat, and raw emotion of war to tell a story as few can, with a reality so unflinchingly rich and powerful that it can be overwhelming for the uninitiated reader....The Fighters cements his reputation as the foremost combat journalist of his generation.”—Modern War Institute at West Point

“A bitter dose of truth about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. . . . The Fighters is about as accurate a depiction of combat in the Sandbox as we are going to see in our lifetimes.”—Field & Stream

“A chilling account of failed American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq through the searing experiences of six fighters.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“A Must-Read Book...The Fighters will stand as an essential record of Americans in combat in the years following September 11.”—Men's Journal

“The narrative he weaves is not only compelling but may change what you think you know about the American military experience in these two countries.”—Christian Science Monitor

“Gripping and thought-provoking.”—USA Today

“The Fighters spares no one. . . . These are not easy hero stories with smooth edges, but in their lack of cohesion and conclusion down in the gray areas where they dwell, they shine back at us, forcing us to look at what we’ve done as a nation, forcing us to look at ourselves.”—Popular Mechanics

“A necessary, immersive narrative of what it’s like for a soldier in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting without a clear end.”—Chicago Tribune

“Evocative . . . This fast-paced, action-heavy work of long-form war journalism has bestseller written all over it.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Wonderfully engaging. Readers will empathize with the trials each faced in combat and beyond in a book that will enlighten all who read it, no matter their feelings about the wars.”—Booklist, starred review

“The Fighters is a rare book that thrusts the reader straight into the sweaty, filthy, exhausted reality of war while also revealing the broad sweep and scope of our nation’s struggles. It joins the best war literature this country has ever produced.”—Sebastian Junger, New York Times bestselling author of Tribe and War

“Courageous in its reporting and shining in its humanity, The Fighters is a defining document of what war truly is.”—David Finkel, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thank You For Your Service and The Good Soldiers

“A riveting, heart-rending, and chastening account of the Americans who are waging wars that the rest of us have already chosen to forget. It is a gift to the nation, both deeply moving and profound in its implications.”—Andrew J. Bacevich, New York Times bestselling author of America's War for the Greater Middle East

From the Publisher

The Fighters is a master epic. C. J. Chivers brings to life the full scope of the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by his painstaking portrayal of six Americans using 21st Century skills and technology to fight treacherous, almost medieval wars. The soldiers are sent to battle with little chance of victory by American political leaders who will never suffer the wounds, the deaths or the despair as they do.

Elizabeth Becker

As one of America's greatest war correspondents, C.J. Chivers knows that the closest thing to truth in war comes from the people at the far end of policy, those who have done the fighting, are fighting now, and will be fighting forever. This book is that truth, brilliantly told. Courageous in its reporting and shining in its humanity, The Fighters is a defining document of what war truly is.

David Finkel

A riveting, heart-rending, and chastening account of the Americans who are waging wars that the rest of us have already chosen to forget. It is a gift to the nation, both deeply moving and profound in its implications.

Andrew J. Bacevich

Wonderfully engaging. Readers will empathize with the trials each faced in combat and beyond in a book that will enlighten all who read it, no matter their feelings about the wars. . . .The Fighters will take its place among other great books about horrible wars and should be front and center for displays during patriotic holidays and any occasion that we honor our veterans.”

starred review Booklist

Unflinching, insightful, and humane. I can think of no other book that takes as its charge so ambitious a goal: to take the full measure of America’s wars in this new century. A landmark work.

Doug Stanton

A powerful and unsettling portrait of Americans at war risking their lives for feckless leaders who don’t deserve their bravery.

Richard Rhodes

A classic of war reporting . . . There is no down time in this relentless book . . . It is real and in the moment . . . Chivers’s achievement has been to make his subjects mythic as well as human . . . The author’s stories give heart-rending meaning to the lives and deaths of these men and women, even if policymakers generally have not.

The New York Times

The Fighters is a rare book that thrusts the reader straight into the sweaty, filthy, exhausted reality of war while also revealing the broad sweep and scope of our nation’s struggles. It joins the best war literature this country has ever produced.

Sebastian Junger

★ 2018-04-11
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist and former Marine Corps infantry officer Chivers (The Gun, 2010, etc.) offers a chilling account of failed American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq through the searing experiences of six fighters.After 9/11, the author risked his personal safety to experience combat up close as a journalist in Afghanistan and Iraq, making excellent use of the observational powers he honed as a Marine during the earlier Persian Gulf War. Chivers ably relates the details of the U.S. military incursions into those two countries based on the thinking of the six combatants featured in the narrative. Each of the men is at the center of at least two chapters out of 13, including the epilogue. By returning to individual sagas throughout the book, the author captures not only isolated moments, but also evolving thoughts as U.S. military and civilian commanders make countless mistakes in their goals and their tactics. One of the six main characters is dead; the other five suffered physical and/or psychological injuries during their service. Now no longer in combat, the protagonists were candid with Chivers about the worth of their military missions. Sometimes bitterness emerged, but more often puzzlement, as the combatants tried to work through why they and their fellow troops were fighting elusive enemies for no clear purpose. At the beginning of each chapter, the author, who shatters much conventional wisdom about the conflicts, provides a transitional summary of shifting U.S. priorities between fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan or sometimes both at once. A central dilemma for noncombatant policymakers has been deciding whether to withdraw, thus creating geographical regions for the terrorists to consolidate, or remain, thus encouraging new terrorist recruits to enlist against the hated Americans.Given his background, Chivers certainly did not set out to write a book emphasizing the foolishness of American actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. But that is the story that emerged from his painstaking, courageous reporting, and readers will be thankful for his work.

Kirkus Reviews