Rage Company: A Marine's Baptism by Fire - Hardcover

by Thomas P. Daly (Author)

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.

• ""So vivid are Daly's descriptions that the reader can sense the tipping point and can anticipate that al Qaeda in Iraq will strike back savagely. What a tale Daly tells! You won't read this in textbook theories about counterinsurgency.""
  --Bing West, author and retired Marine general, from his foreword to Rage Company
• ""Rage Company will stand apart from the many Iraq memoirs and histories already published.""
  --Nathaniel Fick, author of the New York Times bestseller, One Bullet Away
• ""Tom Daly captures the uncertainty, chaos, fog and friction inherent in all combat. . . . In particular, he provides an inside, street-level look at the emergence of the Anbar Awakening. . . . Definitely belongs on the bookshelves of professionals.""
  --T. X. Hammes, Colonel, USMC (Ret) author of The Sling and the Stone
• A Marine's personal story of fighting an insurgency and overcoming a siege mentality to work with Iraqis to rout a common enemy, Al Qaeda
• Captain Daly's unique perception of the battlefield has been shaped while operating with units of the United States Army, Navy SEALs, ANGLICO (Air, Naval Gunfire Liaison Company), Iraqi Army and Police Units, and anti-Al Qaeda guerrillas

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.

Front Jacket

In many ways, it could be any residentialurban area in America--if you patched up the bullet-riddled concrete walls and replaced the towering minarets with church steeples. For the Marines of Rage Company on their first patrol as part of Operation Squeeze Play, every step down the quiet, narrow streets of Ramadi brings them one step closer to apotential death trap.

As the first scene in Rage Company explodes into frantic and harrowing action, it is clear that Captain Thomas Daly's memoir of the first six months of the Surge in Iraq is a taut, crisply written chronicle of bitter and ferociousmilitary action, yet it is also much more than that. In their effort to help clear al Qaeda from Anbar Province, Daly and his fellow Marines would learn that counterinsurgency required them to stretch beyond their training as efficient and deadly warriors. They would have to become diplomats, goodwill ambassadors, toughnegotiators, and shrewd judges of character. All this while remaining constantly vigilant and ready to spring into action on a moment's notice. These skills were in great demand at the outset of what became known as the Sunni Awakening, the uprising of local citizens against al Qaeda. Daly describes the tensemoment when, leading a small convoy to make contact with unarmed former Iraqi soldiers, he discovers that the group iswell armed, primed for a fight, and led by a general who expects to be treated with full military courtesy.

During the Surge, Rage Company operated in conjunction with units of the United States Army, Navy SEALs, ANGLICO (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company), Iraqi Army and Police Units, and anti-Al Qaeda guerrillas. This multilayered experience gives Captain Daly a unique perspective from which to tell a story in which it is sometimes more difficult to wring cooperation from other American military units than from former enemies who want to free their country but have no basis on which to trust the American forces to help them succeed.

Filled with on-the-ground details and insightson military operations and strategy, Rage Company provides a powerful, street-level view of one of the great surprises of the Surge, an unlikely alliance that redirected the Iraq War and set the course for operations in the future.

Back Jacket

Boots and sandals

"Rage Company" tells the unique, gripping, and compelling story of how U.S. Marines transcended their role as fearless warriors to form an unlikelyalliance with Sunni Arabs, former Iraqi soldiers, and guerrilla groups. Itwas this alliance that drove al Qaeda from Anbar Province and turnedthe tide in Iraq.

"So vivid are Daly's descriptions that the reader can sense the tippingpoint and can anticipate that al Qaeda in Iraq will strike back savagely.What a tale Daly tells! You won't read this in textbook theories aboutcounterinsurgency."
--Bing West, author of "No True Glory and The March Up" (from the Foreword)

""Rage Company" will stand apart from the many Iraq memoirs and histories already published."
--Nathaniel Fick, author of the "New York Times" bestseller, "One Bullet Away"

"Tom Daly captures the uncertainty, chaos, fog, and friction inherent in all combat. . . . He provides an inside, street-level look at the emergence of the Anbar Awakening. . . . Definitely belongs on the bookshelves of professionals."
--Col. T. X. Hammes, USMC (Ret.), and author of "The Sling and the Stone"

Author Biography

CAPT. THOMAS P. DALY III joined the Marines after graduating from the University of Rochester in 2004. During his career as anartillery officer, he has held a multitude of billets ranging from forward observer to intelligence cell leader. His unique perception of the battlefield has been shaped while operating with units of the United States Army, Navy SEALs, ANGLICO (Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company), Iraqi Army and Police Units, and anti-Al Qaeda guerrillas. He is now a project manager for ITT Corporation and lives with his wife and daughter in New York.