12 Strong

The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers

By: Doug Stanton

Narrated by: Jack Garrett

The inspiration for the major motion picture 12 Strong from Jerry Bruckheimer, starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon.

From the New York Times bestselling author of In Harm’s Way comes a true-life story of US Army Special Forces soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory in the Afghanistan War.

Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following September 11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty-to-one, they pursued the enemy army across the mountainous Afghanistan terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential to defeat their opponent throughout the country.

The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators as they rode into the city, and the streets thronged with Afghans overjoyed that the Taliban regime had been overthrown.

Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed by the would-be POWs. Dangerously overpowered, they fought for their lives in the city’s immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the entire effort to outmaneuver the Taliban was likely doomed.

Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton’s account of the Americans’ quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The soldiers on horses combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople proved a valuable lesson for America’s ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.

About the narration and the story

Narration - yes, I read all the reviews about how this book was terribly narrated and I was concerned. There is an abridged version by a different narrator but for books like this I prefer the full version. I listened to the free 5 minute audio clip to get an idea of what the narrator’s voice and style were like. I suggest everyone does this. I was not impressed but also not turned off. I could hear why there were negative reviews of his narration and I didn’t want to get into a 20 hour book and halfway through give it up because I couldn’t stand the narrator. However, I thought I could try to speed up his voice and get through it that way. As it turns out, it wasn’t that bad at all. I got used to his narration within a couple of hours and listened to only this book until I was done with it. In the end I would say the narration didn’t really affect the story. The narration was indeed mediocre but for me it didn’t take away from nor add to the story so no harm done.

Story: the story itself is wonderful and amazing and at many times can also be completely gut wrenching and heartbreaking. It can be a bit jumbled at times with all the jumping around and some stories seem incomplete or at the least seem to be misconnected to other stories in an understandable way. Regardless, I liked the book and enjoyed the content. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about those first couple of months directly after 9/11 and how the US responded almost immediately by linking up with the Northern Alliance and battling with the Taliban.

Left in awe!!

This story was another example of the continued sacrifice and heroism displayed by our military. I was amazed at the details they share about the continuous onslaught of pain, hunger, fear and loss of the most basic comforts that we take for granted.
Our military deserve our full respect, love and support! God bless them all!

Albie

Fantastic book. Performance was superb. Thank you. A great read for anyone who has never heard of this heroic group of men.

exciting read

finished this book then I went to see the movie, people say the book is always better and it was. the book was more detailed with each person, where they came from and their families. Great action through this read and good narrating throughout. If you like action enriched reads, this book is for you.

Phenomenal book!

Well written, well documented and superbly performed, this book is a fascinating venture into recent history, enabling the reader to understand the complexities of the Afghan war. I literally went for drives so that I could finish the book.