The Fighting Eagles: An Account of the IED War in Iraq

by Ed Marion

The Fighting Eagles put their lives on the line every day, carefully patrolling the roads of Mosul, Iraq to find and disable Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs)—roadside bombs concealed in small piles of debris. This Army company of 76 Soldiers cleared 675 IEDs and fought through nearly 200 ambushes in Mosul, Iraq during the Troop Surge of 2007.
In this searing and timely military memoir, Lieutenant Colonel Ed Marion takes us to the front line of the Iraq war and into the battle zone of every soldier’s mind. He shares the details of his path to joining the Army, his tour of duty as a platoon leader, but also his courageous work to face and deal with the post-traumatic stress that he carried home from the war. He pays homage to his fallen comrades and honors them with his own resolve to heal.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 22, 2026

Reviews

[Andy]

An incredible recount of a soldier's experience in Iraq.

[Matthew Wright]

Ed did a fantastic job writing this book. I’ve read a lot of books by service members and normally they aren’t well written. This one was. Ed tells such a tragic story and he tells it well. A must read for junior military officers and those interested in the Iraq or Afghanistan Wars.