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Through a deadly last showdown beside Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, Marine Corps veteran Christopher Izant illustrates the impossible conditions and strategic blunders that disillusioned a generation of American warriors and all but guaranteed defeat.They were stepping into a world of hidden minefields, cultural clashes, green-on-blue insider attacks, and a patient, relentless enemy. But Christopher Izant and the Marines on his team volunteered to train and fight alongside the Afghan National Security Forces despite the risks and a seemingly futile mission they would term advise and abandon made by policymakers a world away.
Final Engagement embeds readers with then-Lieutenant Izant and his team of combat advisors at Combat Outpost Taghaz during one of Operation Enduring Freedom's most crucial and challenging campaigns. It was 2012, southern Helmand Province, and with fixed base-closure and withdrawal timelines, the Marines had only six months to sustain the hard-won victories of the infantry units and prepare the Afghan Border Police to stand on their own. But before Border Advisory Team 1 lay down arms, there would be one last deadly battle with a devastating aftermath.
Izant relives a fight in the Afghan borderlands that forebode the fall of Kabul nearly a decade later and confronts the violence and anguish that transformed a generation of American and Afghan warriors from idealist volunteers for a just war to disillusioned veterans of a lost cause.
About the author
Christopher L. Izant served as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2010 to 2014 and deployed to Helmand Province as an advisor to the Afghan Border Police. Chris attended Boston College for undergraduate studies prior to his military service and afterward completed a joint degree program at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. Chris is a Special Agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He lives in Maryland with his family.
Summary
Through a deadly last showdown beside Afghan forces fighting the Taliban, Marine Corps veteran Christopher Izant illustrates the impossible conditions and strategic blunders that disillusioned a generation of American warriors and all but guaranteed defeat.
They were stepping into a world of hidden minefields, cultural clashes, "green-on-blue" insider attacks, and a patient, relentless enemy. But Christopher Izant and the Marines on his team volunteered to train and fight alongside the Afghan National Security Forces despite the risks and a seemingly futile mission they would term "advise and abandon" made by policymakers a world away.
Final Engagement embeds readers with then-Lieutenant Izant and his team of combat advisors at Combat Outpost Taghaz during one of Operation Enduring Freedom's most crucial and challenging campaigns. It was 2012, southern Helmand Province, and with fixed base-closure and withdrawal timelines, the Marines had only six months to sustain the hard-won victories of the infantry units and prepare the Afghan Border Police to stand on their own. But before Border Advisory Team 1 lay down arms, there would be one last deadly battle with a devastating aftermath.
Izant relives a fight in the Afghan borderlands that forebode the fall of Kabul nearly a decade later and confronts the violence and anguish that transformed a generation of American and Afghan warriors from idealist volunteers for a just war to disillusioned veterans of a lost cause.
Foreword
—Targeted outreach to political and military organizations and publications, websites, and publications.
—Social media marketing on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads giveaways.
—PR campaign with print, radio, and digital interview targets.
—Utilize author’s connections and contacts in military and veteran communities such as Harvard Veterans Alumni Organization, Boston College Veterans Alumni Network, New England Veterans group; Owen West, former Undersecretary of Defense for Special Operations / Marine Corps combat advisor; James LaPorta and contacts; author Elliot Ackerman)
