Ronin
In this raw and provocative book, available for the first time in paperback, readers wear desert camouflage, climb to rooftops, and get behind the rifle with a platoon of elite Marine snipers and scouts in Iraq. Author Mike Tucker embedded with the unit for its entire combat tour in 2005–06 to tell this exclusive from-the-frontlines story. Ronin captures true-grit Marines at war as they reconnoiter Iraqi villages, track terrorist targets, grapple with unrealistic rules of engagement, and get the kill. It also contains the only firsthand accounts of such previously unreported actions as an Al Qaeda attack on a police station and the "winter of the sniper" when terrorist gunmen plagued Coalition forces in Fallujah. This first-ever oral history of a Marine scout-sniper platoon includes evidence of how Al Qaeda penetrated the Fallujah police department and never-before-seen photos of suicide bombings in Fallujah.
Mike Tucker is a Marine infantry veteran who has reported on guerrilla warfare and terrorism from hot spots around the globe, including Thailand, Burma, Spain, and Iraq. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from James Madison University, where he was a visiting scholar on counterterrorism in 2006. Tucker is also the author of The Long Patrol (978-9-7483-03796-), Hell Is Over (978-1-5922-8885-4), and Among Warriors in Iraq (978-1-5922-8732-1).