Rage Company: A Marine's Baptism By Fire

by Thomas P. Daly

One Marine's gripping story of the bloody battles, the Surge, and the Awakening of Sunni tribes that changed the tide in Iraq's Anbar province Seven minutes into the first patrol a firefight erupts. Quickly, the Marines of Rage Company became acquainted with the nature of counterinsurgency. Every day, more IEDs were planted than the Marines could clear. They avoided taking the same route twice, they never walked out in the open, and they steered clear of roads that hadn't been ""swept"" in the last hour. They were in Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province and one of the deadliest cities in Iraq. In November 2006, then First Lieutenant Thomas Daly arrived as part of the ""surge"" in Ramadi, to take part in Operation Squeeze Play, a division-size effort to remove al Qaeda from Anbar province. In this powerful memoir, he describes the successful clearing of southern Ramadi's Second Officer's district, the Qatana, and the uprising of local citizens against al Qaeda on the eastern edge of the city (the result of an unlikely alliance between Daly's company and Thawar al Anbar). From the first patrol to the last in the spring of 2007, he takes you inside the daily successes and struggles of the operation and the stressful challenge of trying to discern who was a terrorist and who was a civilian. He tells the powerful and very human story of a people who want to free their country, yet have no basis on which to trust the American forces in helping them succeed. Filled with on-the-ground details and insights on military operations and strategy, Rage Company cements the accurate history of the unlikely alliance that redirected the Iraq War and set the course for operations in the future.

Genres: Military Fiction, Military History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published March 9, 2010

Reviews

[Christopher Downing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of day to day tactical info, which might prove tedious to some. But each event proved important in the larger message of the book. I'm grateful for this inside perspective on the turning point of the war.

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A positive story about the surge in Iraq that you won't find in the regular media.

[Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book unique and very gripping and also compelling.The descriptions are very vivid.Tom Daly prvides inside of street level combat.This is a very much read.

[Nathan Trachta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book thru Amazon’s Vine program because I wanted to learn about our troops actions in Iraq during the surge. Rage Company tells the experiences of Captain Thomas Daly and Rage Company in and around Ramadi, Iraq (note: Captain Daly was a Lieutenant when Rage Company was deployed in Ramadi and functioned as Rage Company’s air and naval liaison officer. For many of the engagements, Capt Daly functions as an auxiliary officer for Rage Company.). Capt Daly’s story is direct and to the point; actions are told from his perspective, focusing on the troops he was working with and the encounters they have to deal with. Descriptions are highly detailed, describing the weapons employed, the tactical environment, and the specific troops involved (often Capt Daly was either leading the equivalent of a fireteam or the company’s security section). There are many photographs and maps outlining the Company’s are of operation.

For me this was a hard one; parts were interesting but there’s a lot to wade thru. Capt Daly’s details become rather long and drawn out with many acronyms (some weren’t defined and there’s no appendix in the back to remind you of them, this makes for a big negative given how prolific Capt Daly was with his use of acronyms). Because of how long some sections are and the use heavy use of acronyms, my interest was a little weaker than it normally might have been. I admire Capt Daly’s ability to document his experience with the level of details that he does, but it does it without the heart that I usually look for in personal accounts. Because of this, this is a three star book for me but believe that any one of the chapters (or more) would make a good study for a unit deploying into a similar environment.

[Monica Davila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the wife of "dirty beans" and it was a great read. Interesting to read about what they won't talk about <3 Tom Daly did a great job