Level Zero Heroes: The Story of U.S. Marine Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan

by Michael Golembesky, John R. Bruning

An elite Marine special operations team, a battle to save downed soldiers in Afghanistan, a fight for survival—an incredible true story of war that became a New York Times bestseller.In Level Zero Heroes, Michael Golembesky follows the members of U.S. Marine Special Operations Team 8222 on their assignment to the remote and isolated Taliban stronghold known as Bala Murghab as they conduct special operations in an effort to break the Taliban's grip on the Valley. What started out as a routine mission changed when two 82nd Airborne Paratroopers tragically drowned in the Bala Murghab River while trying to retrieve vital supplies from an air drop that had gone terribly wrong. In this one moment, the focus and purpose of the friendly forces at Forward Operating Base Todd, where Team 8222 was assigned, was forever altered as a massive clearing operation was initiated to break the Taliban's stranglehold on the valley and recover the bodies.From close-quarters firefights in Afghan villages to capturing key-terrain from the Taliban in the unforgiving Afghan winter, this intense and personal story depicts the brave actions and sacrifices of MSOT 8222. Readers will understand the hopelessness of being pinned down under a hail of enemy gunfire and the quake of the earth as a 2000 lb. guided bomb levels a fortified Taliban fighting position. A powerful and moving story of Marine Operators doing what they do best, Level Zero Heroes brings to life the mission of these selected few that fought side-by-side in Afghanistan, in a narrative as action-packed and emotional as anything to emerge from the Special Operations community contribution to the Afghan War.

Genres: Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War, History, Military History, Memoir, Biography

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 2, 2014

About the author

SSgt. Michael Golembesky, Author

Born in 1976, Michael moved from his home town of Levittown, Pennsylvania to Colorado in 1997 to begin a new life. There he worked as a truck driver for a local dairy before enlisting into the Marine Corps shortly after the events of 9/11 to help support the United States in the global war on terrorism.

Upon graduating MCRD San Diego in 2002, he was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines as a field artillery cannoneer, deploying to Okinawa (2003) and Iraq (2005) with Regimental Combat Team 2, where he served as a provisional rifle company squad leader.

Upon returning from Iraq, Sgt. Golembesky made a lateral move in primary MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) to become a Fire Support Man (0861). He served his following two deployments attached to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines as a forward observer and Fire Support Chief as part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (2006) and Task Force 2/2 in Iraq (2008).

While on his second deployment in Iraq, SSgt. Golembesky was selected to become an aircraft controller with the newly formed Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). He reported to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion in January, 2009 and immediately attended the Joint Terminal Attack Controller course in Norfolk, Va. After graduating and obtaining 8002 MOS, he was assigned as a team JTAC with Marine Special Operations Company G, Team 2. His fifth and final deployment was served in Afghanistan (RC-W) with Marine Special Operations Team 8222 from 2009 through 2010 in the Bala Murghab River Valley.

Honorably discharged in Oct. 2010 after eight years of military service, Michael, along with his wife Sabrina and daughter, returned home to Colorado where he works as a defense contractor and writer.

Michael's personal military awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (Valor), two Navy and Marine Corps Combat Action Ribbons and the Afghanistan and Iraq Campaign Medals.

Michael's author page on Facebook > https://www.facebook.com/SSgtMichaelG...

Reviews

[Steven Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Marine Raiders (formerly known as the Marine Special Operations Regiment) are the newest addition to SOCOM. The Marine Corps finally saw the error of their ways in deciding not to join SOCOM at its inception in 1987, and with the success of Marine Corps SOCOM Detachment I, the Force Reconnaissance community was converted into the Raider community.

Michael Golembesky breaks fresh ground in showing the outside world an inside look at the Marine Raiders through LEVEL ZERO HEROES, which discusses a deployment to the deadly Bala Murghab region of Afghanistan, near the Turkmenistan border, where Taliban forces would rest for the winter and acquire new skills to use against Coalition forces.

Golembesky is no stranger to breaking new ground, being one of a new generation of enlisted Marines qualified as a Joint Terminal Attack Controller. This skill comes into play in the narrative quickly, as Golembesky is required to stay up for days on end, monitoring the JTAC frequencies and running air support for the Marines and the 82nd Airborne troops in the AO.

It's also a raw read. Golembesky does not hold back on his opinions on General McChrystal's rules of engagement, or his thoughts on battalion commander Professional 6 electing to schmooze with the enemy rather than wage war effectively. One particular incident near the end of the book is guaranteed to enrage any person who has served downrange and who has been hamstrung by overly restrictive rules of engagement.

If you're looking for what goes into creating a Marine Raider, this is not the book you are looking for, as the Raider Pipeline was not established at the time of writing and Golembesky was directly assigned to the unit due to his JTAC skills (which is a point of contention for the other Raiders, who were all veterans of the Reconnaissance Pipeline).

However, if you are looking for what kind of man it takes to be a Marine Raider, the end result of the training and screening, this is definitely the book for you. Also, if you are looking to see what kind of difficulties our troops encountered in current-generation warfare, this is a must-read.

Level Zero Heroes is gritty, raw, and without frills. It's a book befitting its special operations veteran author. Highly recommended.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 2 days ..I liked that it was a prospectived straight from someone there ..I found it easy to read easy to understand this coming from someone who has never served in our miltary . I enjoyed the book though I found the content disturbing.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving this 3 Stars for a technically excellent explanation of how the modern JTAC and the military employs airpower. The JTAC author also explains how the ROE instituted by Gen McChrystal caused such difficulty in the war. The first quarter of the book, well actually, most of the book makes you wonder what the hell we are doing in Afghanistan. And this was back in 2009-10. This is a simple book about life in the Afghan boonies and how the close-in fight is waged.

[Beth Belcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to know what modern warfare is like? Read this book! Fast paced and thrilling! You owe it to these HEROES to hear their story. This is a story for every American to understand the sacrifices made for us.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focusing on a microcosm of the War in Afghanistan, Level Zero Heroes is a blunt first-hand account of the deployment of a U.S. Marine Special Operations team to the volatile (to say the least) Bala Murghab Valley in northern Afghanistan. Forget theater-level strategy and home-front politicking, this is about the "on-the-ground" reality faced by a handful of highly-trained warriors embedded with forward elements of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division on the vicious front lines.

Author and former MSOT member Michael Golembesky holds nothing back as he recounts the tension, fear, anger and desolation that he and his brothers-in-arms experienced while engaging an enemy that is brutal, conniving, and determined to see Western forces eliminated at any cost. With the aid of co-author and journalist John R. Bruning, Golembesky not only vividly describes life as an American combat soldier deployed beyond the furthest reaches of modern civilization, but sheds an eye-opening light on the politicized hamstringing of our frontline warriors by career-minded field officers and theater commanders - lessons that should have been learned from failures in Vietnam.

Golembesky has not only crafted a page-turning narrative of squad-level combat, but he also offers a thought-provoking examination of the blurred and sometimes morally questionable relationship between American ground forces, Afghan civilian and military leaders, and the Taliban. Given the events described in Zero Level Heroes, the fog of war has likely never been murkier.

A recommended read for those seeking a candid soldier's perspective of the War in Afghanistan, its purpose, and life after combat.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fellow veteran who also fought in the Murghab Valley in and around BMG, I can tell you that this book nailed it on the head. The reality is what it is, and the descriptions of what went on are some of the best I have seen in any war memoir I have read to date. I especially appreciated his honesty and his uncensored opinion of the political experiences surrounding what these men had to endure, as they reflected a very similar situation to what me and my Soldiers were faced with.

This book is the real deal, written by someone who has been there and done that, and is not sugar-coated or embellished. If that appeals to
you, then you should read it.

[Travis Hartsoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A suspenseful and thorough guide through what modern warfare looks like today. Every page is filled with what the modern day soldier goes through on a day to day basis. It illustrates how he builds bonds with his team, and what keeps the team functioning smoothly even in the toughest situations.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed by A Simple Taste for Reading:

I would first like to thank the author, Michael Golembesky for sharing his story with me. Honestly, you cannot put a rating on this book. No rating could ever be enough for what these men in this story and all around the world do for our freedom every single day. Because of them, we can go out at midnight and do cartwheels in the yard if we want. A useless example, but once you read “Level Zero Heroes”, you will want to spend your time doing much, much greater things with your life!

“Level Zero Heroes” is the first book written about the U.S. Marines Special Operations since it was created in 2006. This book is written from the context of first account views from Team 8222 (MSOT), a 22-member squad of Marines serving in a village called Bala Murghab, Afganistan, an isolated Taliban stronghold.

I have always been passionate about freedom, in the fact that freedom is never free. What you will find in this book will open you up raw as Michael takes an extremely complex situation and compresses it so any reader can easily understand the circumstances that the author and his team endured while in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. I have never read a book quite like this one. The interest came after watching Michael’s film “Infil Exfil”, which brings to light the mental struggle that goes on within all combat veterans. I knew I had to read this book.

“Level Zero Heroes” brings to light the seven months that Golemesky and his men fought, side by side, going from one extremity to the next. I’m not sure I didn’t feel a day went by that there wasn't at least one fire fight while they were stationed there. These men survived through a couple freak accidents, sniper ambush missions in sub-zero temperatures and trials where you couldn’t see the line between who was a friend or who was a foe. I kept saying to myself while reading, “this is about to get sketchy!”, not just from the way Michael writes, but I literally felt it in my gut like I was there with them!

So much is bundled into this book that I feel like I will be reading it more than once. There were some parts I read so fast because I was terrified for the men being written about, I might have missed something! I was reading this book in the evenings before I would go to bed, which was a mistake because I would be awaking thinking about everything I had just ‘witnessed’.

This is so much more than just a deployment to Afghanistan, so much more a person needs to realize about our country. Follow the accounts of valor and brotherhood, let this book open your eyes a little wider and understand the passion driven men and women who fight for your country in the past, present and those who will serve in the future! I feel as though this book will be winning some awards, a highly recommended read. Once again, thank you to all the men and women who serve to grant us freedom in the United States of America!

[Jeremy Anderberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written five years ago, Level Zero Heroes was an immediate bestseller as a combo of battle memoir and exposé of the war in Afghanistan. Golembesky was part of a Marine Corps Special Operations team (like the SEALs, but the Marine version) which was tasked with seizing control of a small valley from the Taliban.

Bombs were a frequent companion in this book; Golembesky's job was as a JTAC, which is the person on the ground who calls in and directs air strikes to help aid the forces on the ground.

Honestly, I haven't read that many books about the war in Afghanistan, but this one is sure to be the standard bearer for any future reading I do. It's written with a depth of honesty that isn't often seen in war memoirs. Yes, there are gripping, crazy battle scenes — including ones that would be hard to believe in novel form. But the real strength of the book is how Golembesky writes about the brotherhood of the soldiers in his team. Even when given inexplicable orders, or hamstrung by well-intentioned but ineffective Rules of Engagement, these men fought for each and for their nation without batting an eye. (Those are aspects he touches on quite a bit actually, which made the book draw comparisons to the classic Catch-22.)

In our modern age, Americans aren't connected to our wars like we were in the middle part of the 20th century. Most missions and battles are carried out by small, highly-trained special ops units like Michael's. This book helps the average reader connect to what's happening — we get a glimpse of what that war is really like. To Michael's credit, he even gets into the paradoxically exciting aspects. He notes how plainly badass it is to direct an American jet to drop a huge bomb on an enemy stronghold and how remarkable it is to see bravery and courage on a level that is hard to replicate outside of a battlefield.

Level Zero Heroes is a great story, and really well written. It's touching, exciting, jaw-dropping, angering — I wasn't expecting it, frankly, but the pages just kept turning themselves.

[Red Underwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read from the perspective of understand the role of MARSOC as well as the issues with Afghanistan and its remote areas.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a thought-provoking book, as it primarily covers a period of time ranging from the end of October 2009 until the end of December 2009. There are three "major events" focused on during this time [although it reads as if they happened one after the other]. The units of Marines, 82nd Airborne, and members of the Afghanistan National Army were put in a difficult position, as they were sent into what was considered a "friendly valley" to interdict Taliban movement(s) in the area. They would discover that this valley was not nearly as friendly as previous allied forces [Spaniards] had indicated, as the Spaniards had an 'agreement' with the Taliban forces in the area. In his intro, the author promises to not hold back and to tell the truth, regardless of how ugly or painful the truth might be. He wants the American public to know and understand what he and his fellow soldiers [be they Marines, US Army, or Afghanistan] experienced during their time in this Afghanistan valley.

The book starts out with a brief intro to the primary "team" the book focuses on before moving to Afghanistan. From there, it describes how an effort to find the bodies of two members of the 82nd Airborne turned into a major operation involving units from various services and countries in an effort to find the two men so their bodies could be brought back home and their families have closure over their sons' deaths. The operation involved Air Force pararescue jumpers, Navy SEALs, a British dive team, Italians, the Marines, Air Force aircraft overhead, members of the 82nd Airborne, and the Marine Special Ops unit working with the 82nd Airborne units. The "next major event" involved a mixed team of US Army special forces units and Afghanistan special forces units going into a village to sweep it. They were subsequently ambushed and suffered various wounded and killed. During the firefight, an A-10 was cleared to perform a "gun run" and ended up shooting up some Afghani and American soldiers. In the end, in order to get the wounded out of danger, a Chinook had to land in a nearby open field so that the wounded could be rushed onboard. It was a risky maneuver and a miracle the helicopter was not destroyed, as a Taliban soldier fired an RPG into the cockpit, and the ordinance failed to explode. The "final event" involved two new outposts being inserted into the valley to bisect it in half and to prevent the Taliban from continued easy access to the entire valley. It resulted in three-to-five days of intense firefights before the back of the Taliban forces in the valley was broken and the American and Afghanistan forces were victorious. From there, the author jumps ahead to when he left the Marines after briefly talking about the rest of the mission during the final few months they were in the valley.

The author does not hold back as he shares the stupidity of certain choices in terms of the "Rules of Engagement" made by upper-level officers. These rules no doubt made political sense, but they are presented as needlessly endangering the lives of the men in combat who were limited in their ability to defend themselves and to fight back. As I was not there, I can only speak from what I have read versus what others actually experienced, but it does seem that the safety and ability of the soldiers is needlessly sacrificed in the name of political expediency. Not only that, but the ROEs were not uniform across the board for all nations who sent troops into Afghanistan. There were Italian forces in the valley as well, but their national ROEs forbade them firing at any Taliban unless they were clearly being fired upon first.

For example, the author describes how a white pickup with a tarp was sent into a bombed-out compound the next day after a bomb strike. As it comes back, it is stopped by the Marines and inspected. They find four men under the tarp in the back who clearly were survivors of the previous day's firefight and bombing run. In addition, they have two female bodies in the back who the Afghani's claim were killed in the bomb run. After their bodies were further inspected, it was discovered both females [a young girl and her mom] had been executed with shots to the back of their skulls. One of the men from the bed of the truck even admitted his guilt, that he was a Taliban soldier and had executed the females in order to escape. He expected the American guilt over the accidental loss of civilian life would allow him and his comrades to escape. He had been told by the local Afghanistan political leadership [located in the American command center] that the American commander had promised them safe passage. So, these six men were allowed to murder two women in order to gain their freedom, and it worked. One of the men was the husband/father of the two murdered females. All six of them were allowed to escape. It was ridiculous.

The author of this book was a Joint Terminal Attack Controller [meaning he gave the directions to the aircraft on where to either drop their bombs or fire their guns]. He described the ridiculous situations in which he found himself where he was having to wait fifteen-to-twenty minutes to get clearance from the 82nd Airborne commander who was 'in charge' of the valley to be able to drop bombs. The American forces were in danger of being overrun a few times because of the length of time it took to get clearance; it was intensely ridiculous, on one hand, as it was all in the name of politics. He also described how the American commander allowed Afghanistan personnel to see information that appeared to further compromise and endanger the American forces, as the author and other officers suspected the two Afghanistan leaders of spying on behalf of the Taliban. The author does describe several suspicious moments where the Taliban seemed to be warned off from imminent bomb runs, and the only way that could have happened is if one of these Afghanistan leaders in the American command center were providing information to the Taliban fighters just before the bomb drop occurred. The American commander seemed pretty inept with his leadership and ability to command. It was pretty sad.

There were some humorous moments in the book. For example, he describes how at one point he was in charge of two F-15 fighter-bombers. The officers flying them were each Lt.-Col.'s and in charge of their respective wings. The leader of one wing was working with his replacement and giving instructions when the call came forward for needed air support. So, here was a Sergeant in the Marines giving orders to two Lieutenant-Colonels in the U.S. Air Force. It was pretty funny. The F-15s reached the point where they needed to refuel, so one of them left to get fuel and the other stayed onstation to provide support. The one that remained wanted to do something useful, so he flew like a missile at a compound that clearly had Taliban soldiers in it [but could not be bombed in case there were civilians inside the actual buildings of the compound]. The pilot abruptly aimed his jet skyward so that his engines were pointing toward the compound, and then he engaged his afterburners. The force of the afterburners knocked the men in the open willy-nilly across the compound, along with anything that was not nailed down, as the aircraft rocketed skyward. The moment was described as using a multi-million dollar attack jet as an expensive airborne flash grenade. I am not doing the moment justice, but it was pretty hilarious.

It is a serious book describing some serious moments in the lives of these American soldiers and how they learned how to "cope" with the danger and how to handle the situation in which they found themselves. I think most people would agree they would like their deaths to mean something as opposed to seeming to be purposeless; the author describes the frustration felt by himself and his fellow soldiers over some of the deaths described in the book. It was a fascinating book to read; it was a hard book to read. The author does not hold back on his judgments of the stupidity and lack of foresight by the military leaders [and political leaders] who create ROEs that severely limit and restrict the ability of American [Allied] soldiers to fight back against an enemy who has no restraints and is willing to use any weaknesses he can to kill either those opposing the Taliban or any innocents who get in the way.

I enjoyed the "personal moments" in the book, where the author described the "intimate" moments between the Marines. He described how he was the newest guy on the team and had yet to prove himself to his teammates. Being an 'unknown' is never an easy thing when others have to depend upon you with their lives. Over the course of his time with his unit, they did come to accept him as one of their own. It started when he decided to stay awake all night to continue coordinating with the aircraft overhead who were supporting the mission to find the missing 82nd Airborne soldiers. Two of the men in his unit stayed out all night with him, refusing to let him be "alone" [in the midst of the other allied soldiers] during this mission of mercy [as it were]. This was where the door began to open to his team accepting him as 'one of them' and it continued to swing wide open for him over the course of the mission. There were more personal moments scattered amongst the book that allow the reader to get to know the Marines a little better. They were like crumbs scattered throughout the book, and they definitely added to the overall tempo and narrative of the author's story.

Overall, I felt it was an excellent book. Obviously, it was a fast read and I had a hard time putting it down. It was well-written, it held my attention all the way through, and the author did an excellent job describing those harrowing events in the book.

[Jack Hayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad story of how Afghanistan became another Vietnam. Interesting to see how a JTAC SNCO can significantly affect the modern-day battlefield. Also, I appreciated how vivid the battlefield was, along with the tactics.

I did appreciate his understanding of what drove Afghanis to make some of their choices—but not letting it be an excuse, as there is never an excuse to do evil. Furthermore, I feel pain and disappointment about PRO 6, an officer.

I, too, saw, not on the battlefield, disgusting, self-centered leadership, on the enlisted to a One-Star general, who is still in. She covered up an officer, a Captain, threatening to kill his mistress with a loaded weapon pointed at her face. Meanwhile, down the hall, a Corporal was being railroaded for adultery. There is a rot in the officer core that, hopefully, before our next war is expunged. Rules for thee, not for me. That being said, I couldn’t imagine facing death with an officer twiddling their thumbs, trying to turn your worst day into some candy on their chest.

Always remember someone is awake thinking about your safety. Some where is a Lance Corporal staying up all night.

86% Operation Good Morning

[George Siehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very engaging account of a Marine Special Operations fighter in northern Afghanistan late in 2009. His unit was deployed with paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne along with members of the Afghan Army and police units. Greatly outnumbered by Taliban fighters, only by calling on aviation support were these allies able to survive and greatly damage the enemy militarily and also financially by curtailing the flow of opium out of the country. Sale of the drug was a key funding source for the Taliban.

Author Golembesky's military job was to call in aircraft and direct their gunfire and bombs on the Taliban forces. He describes how General McChrystal's rules of engagement greatly complicated the use of those aviation resources. This difficulty was compounded by the overall management of the commanding colonel at Forward Operating Base Todd, site of the battle action reported here. The colonel tried to establish a coalition effort with local Afghan government and military officials. These officials were as likely to be friendly with the Taliban forces as with the American troops. He shared detailed information on U.S. plans and operations. The troops who were to carry out these plans worried that their enemy might have knowledge of what they were about to attempt.

The description of terrain and his fellow fighters is a strength of Golembesky's book. He makes clear the high levels of stress involved, and the continuing difficulty this caused for the troops when they later returned home and to civilian life.

Graphic, and frequently intense, this book lays out the war experience of this Marine and his unit, Dagger 22. His report will be of interest to followers of military history at the small unit level. Also, those interested in the risks to troops created by well-intentioned but ultimately limiting
political management of combat operations will find the book informing. Highly recommended.

[Jens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ground-perspective of the absurd, one-hand-tied-behind-the-back battle in Afghanistan. Working together with the local authorities meant risking operational security and often tipping the Taliban off. On the same battleground as the Mujahideen decades before, the JTAC tries to be a force multiplier within the ROE's. In the end, the futility of the local war effort shines through and his time in the military comes to an end, along with the tour.

[Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended by my sister’s bf who is in MARSOC. Pretty good read, been really enjoying the books on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan lately, aside from personal opinions on the subject, really interesting to see how we operated and what happened over there.

[Zac · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fucking story.

[Jcoug25 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was equal parts entertaining, infuriating, instructive, and illuminating about the psyche and spirit of MARSOC marines and their role in the fighting around MGB in Afghanistan. Wow.

[Floyd Livingston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read quite a few books written by former special forces operators and they are usually pretty cool to read about what SEALs or Green Berets guys do, but the authors are usually the same. Super alpha and bad ass. Which is cool, but a lot of those books read as if they are written by the same person.

This book is different. It's a about a US Marine JTAC guy, which is a Marine who is trained and qualified to call in airstrikes. They usually don't stick to one team, instead they are embedded with various teams. It starts of with "Ski" who is the outsider of his new Marine Special Ops team. He works on getting their trust and get in their brotherhood. I liked how he admits that he's not some adrenaline war thirsty warrior which is a major difference from other books I read.

Instead, he's a guy who will not hesitate to pull his trigger to fight for his brothers at arms, but he recognizes that there are a few in his team who were built for war. He's not one of them. Don't let that read as if he's some sort of punk - he's not.

The description of multiple battles and their big operation which resulted into a 5-day battle on a hill kept my eyes glued to the book. There was also some corruption from his commander who was working with the Taliban that also made you feel as pissed off and frustrated as the author.

I highly recommend this book. The connection with him and his team grows and the jokes and ribbing showed how they coped with war. He details how the smallest things in war can lift the morale of any situation.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a Marine friend who went up to Bala Murghab a year or so after the events described in this book. I think it was his way of sharing his experiences with me because he said "We deployed after them. Similar missions. Same bullshit."

There are parts that are frankly hilarious. This in regards to the banter between everybody. But a lot of it is infuriating. I recall one event where they were under heavy fire, and the author (a JTAC trained to direct air support to drop explosives) was told he had to call in three warning shots before he was allowed to call in a strike on the actual Taliban fighters who were shooting at them.

It's laudable to try and minimize the impact of war on civilians. But, the Taliban understood this, and used it to their advantage. Keeping civilians close so our guys wouldn't attack them. At one point the author describes how the Taliban executed a mother and her young daughter to use as an attempt to escape the valley. Then later claimed they were killed by US personnel and tried to get monetary compensation for them from the military.

I've said it before. War isn't pretty, and the more you try to make it less horrible, the longer it draws out, and the worse it seems to get.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book lands in my top 10 of military books in the Afghanistan theater I have read thus far. It is the first book of two from the author that describes Marine Special Operations Team 8222 (Marine Raiders) in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. The book talks about the first push by Team 8222, or Dagger 22, in conjuction with a group from the 82nd Airborne and other NATO troops to secure a foothold in the valley and extend their influence from FOB Todd. The book was a very quick read, well written, with a flow that kept my attention and made it a page turner. John Bruning is the co-Author of the book, and I didn’t realize the heavy influence he has had in the books I have read and enjoyed or have on my “to read” list, titles such as “House to House” and “Outlaw Platoon”. There are also online bonus features associated with the book. In the final pages, they provide a website address that has additional photos, video and other information about the unit, other units serving at the same FOB, maps of the valley, etc. Some of the bonus video requires a scavenger hunt through the pages, with clues given of where to find passwords to the video.

[Ronnie Friedman · Rating 5 out of 5]

When commanding officers become politicians and begin watching out for themselves rather than for the men they command, victory is impossible. It was like this in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afganistan. The "war" then becomes a series of skirmishes, filled with frustration, pain and lost brothers. This recurring theme in many US combat biographies is yet again apparent in this very well written account of the Bala Murghab events in October-December 2009: PRO6, commands from a protected bunker, uses plasma screens, meticulously updates Afgan officials (some known to be Taliban sympathizers), delays life-saving bomb strikes and more. He only ventures out when the danger has passed. I've experienced these guys and their damage from close up more than once, and it is to this particular angle in the book I find my self identifying with the most.

There is much more of course: Total dedication to brothers in arms, the outstanding professionalism of the marines in the special operation unit, the sensitivity to civilian casualties. These are true and sensitive warriors and I would have been proud to step in their footsteps.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book giving account of modern warfare in Afghanistan. The author has a passionate story to tell that needs to be heard. First, we need to be aware of the continued sacrifices made by our soldiers for our country. Second, the difficulties faced by our soldiers of "rules of engagement" that place their lives in jeopardy. Third, the lack of common sense by inexperienced field commanders that the military seems to never fix. The author also deals with a very human side of warfare...fighting for each other...covering each other in your unit with your life. I particularly found the modern weapon technology fascinating and appreciate the issues pointed out by the author of using that power. Collateral damage can happen to your own people as well as civilians. The awesome power of our weapons places a large burden on our men in the field and pilots to place the distructive power in the right places. Well done story.

[Robert D. Mullins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, get-wrenching read for this miliary-supporting,grateful Americsn.. Thank you to the men an women to step into harm's way for a confusing, mindless way to risk American lives to try an appease an ageless culture of bsrbarianism. America, either let out men FIGHT TO WIN our don't send them in! Thank you,Dagger 22. Romans 15:13l


Very informative, but-wrenching read for this military-loving-supportive-prayerful, grateful American civilian. THANK YOU to the men and women who voluntarily step into harm's way for a mindless way to risk American lives in an attempt to appease an ancient culture of barbarianism. America, either let out men and women FIGHT TO WIN it don't send them in. Special thanks to Dagger 22 and their families back home. Live at ease and in peace back home. Thank you for ensuring mine and my grandchildren. Romans 15:13

[Dave Glorioso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic story. Very tense. Ski orders “warheads on their foreheads”. Yet, PC rules and regulation put his fellow marines at risk time and time again.
Narcotics, Afghan traitors are a constant threat as is the literal and figurative Afghanistan grime.
The US marine is still elite. Air support is the knockout punch. This is a great revealing of warfare, tactical and strategic, in Afghanistan. I would have rated it a solid 5 but acronyms are abundant and despite the glossary it is burdensome. Probably unavoidable. The other flaw is it is hard to remember who is who but that doesn’t lessen the tense concern the reader feels for each combatant.
4.5/5

[Miles Keane · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Level Zero Heroes” is an amazing story of a MARSOC team in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan from the eyes of an attached JTAC. The terrain and relationships between Coalition forces and the local populace are as complex as the ROEs that they have to follow. Michael Golembesky writes a detailed first-person account of his struggle as HALO 14 (JTAC Callsign) to navigate higher authorities Rules of Engagement in order to save the lives of those around him. On multiple occasions, higher’s decisions limit the effectiveness of the MARSOC team, a decision that put others lives in danger. The struggle with this complicated issue is highlighted expertly and emotionally by Golembesky.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one of the well written, easy for a civilian to understand books.

[Shawn Fahy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read “Level Zero Heroes” by Michael Golembesky (2014) this week. It’s about the experiences of a JTAC attached to a MARSOC unit in a very remote part of Afghanistan near the Tajikistan border in 2009. There are some very intense depictions of battle but the overall impression I took away from the book was how stupid and wasteful the whole conflict was. Everything from local Afghan drivers who would drive their trucks off of cliffs because they were high on opium to a local Army commander who would share intelligence with a Taliban tribal leader in the name of “trust” and “inclusivity” to other JTACs getting sent off to war without proper gear or training, the whole thing left me thinking that history will judge this war as being one of the least justifiable and sensible we’ve ever waged.

The title is a sarcastic reference to a system for assigning priority to a ground unit for air support, with Level Zero being the lowest priority. Golembesky’s unit frequently was deemed to be Level Zero priority before getting into some hellacious firefights lasting for days at a time. The phrase “Level Zero my a**!” gets muttered by various people more than once in the book.

There was plenty of humor in the book, some of it grim but some of it that quite literally made me burst out laughing. The author had the word “peace” tattooed on his arm in Hindi before joining the Marines and when he first got into MARSOC he didn’t want to be labeled as a hippy so he told his teammates that it was Hindi for “kill whitey” (the author is Caucasian). There’s another part where a Blackhawk pilot says that a Chinook “looks like two palm trees f***ing a dumpster” and I’ll probably never be able to look at one of those choppers again without thinking of that quote. At one point he casually refers to a battle as a “bullet exchange”, which cracked me up harder than it probably should have.

I thought it was a good read and it didn’t take long to get through either.

[Eric Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I was never in the Marines or even MARSOC (I was US Army regular forces), the fact that the author was a JTAC is pretty cool. As a JFO-qualified FSNCO, I saw my share of coordinating stuff for the light infantry company that I was assigned to. I still have long memories of what happened during my tour, and the author's experience was a bit more exciting than mine, so I'm a little jealous. Anyway, the book is easy to understand and his fears of civilian casualties also reminded me of my concerns during my own deployment. Like him, I didn't kill any civilians, and the Taliban ruse in the book harkens back to another point in my own deployment when we were accused of civilian casualties that didn't happen at all. However, it does deliver the craziness of Afghanistan and how the miiltary operates, and what BS that you go through just to get the job done. Some of it I went through myself.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredibly eye-opening book. I've read countless books about the War on Terror, all of them have action, heroism, and patriotism. But this book finally (for me at least) got at the heart of why Afghanistan is the way it is.

"Afghanistan has no winner sand losers, just those who survive and those who die. The Afghans, more than anyone else, know this truth, and it has been the fundamental current within their culture for centuries."

The story is compelling, the acts of bravery are stunning, and the emotion is raw and as real as it gets.

[Thanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 ~ 4.0

Đọc cuốn này là cả chuyến thuyền ra Côn Đảo năm nào mình đi: sóng dập dềnh lên lên xuống xuống ôm tim mà lo lắng hồi hộp.

Căn bản cuốn này là nonficiton, nên không thể nhận xét gì về nhân vật. Song phải nói mình thích đọc những cuốn như vầy; nó nói về tình cảm giữa đồng đội với nhau, vừa không đến mức chín mùi, nhưng cũng không quá nhạt nhòa.

Một số người hành xử trong cuốn này làm mình chỉ muốn bay vỗ đầu bôm bốp mấy cái.

Đừng tưởng chỉ toàn hành động, cuốn này có những giây phút, đoạn khiến mình ôm tim thút thít khóc đó.