Roberts Ridge

A True Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan

By: Malcolm MacPherson

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

For the U.S. Navy's elite team of SEALs, the mission seemed straightforward enough: to take control of a towering, 10,240-foot mountain peak called Takur Ghar, a key post in their plan to smash Taliban al Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan. But the enemy was waiting, and when the Special Forces chopper was shredded by enemy fire, a red-haired SEAL named Neil Roberts was thrown from the aircraft. Roberts's fellow SEALs were determined to bring him out - no matter what the cost.

This harrowing true account based on stunning eyewitness testimony and painstaking research captures in dramatic detail the 17-hour battle fought by a few dozen warriors against near impossible odds to save one of their own.

©2005 Malcolm MacPherson (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Well told and frightening as well as true, this is a book that bridges the breach between the increasingly professional American military and a civilian culture possessing little knowledge or experience of the military." ( Booklist)

FOG OF WAR

This book, with a brilliant combination of writing and reading, conveyed (to me at least) the fog of war and confusion of battle more vividly than I've ever experienced before. So compelling, I listened to the whole thing in 2 days (a long plane and car journey helped) not bad for a 24 hour book. I ended up proud of our guys, our military capability, and out determination to leave no one behind. But also hoping we can figure out better communication devices in the near future. A great read (listen) that I heartily recommend to anyone with the stomach for it.

Readers performance was disappointing

Horrible and offensive southern accents for soldiers. Can't pronounce bases or acronyms correctly either. Just buy the book and read it yourself to avoid the frustrations

Amazing

This isn't in an amazing recount of what happened!

The narrator needs to learn proper pronunciation of military acronyms, abbreviations, and city names. it's very irritating hearing everything pronounced incorrectly. Especially when I was there.

Powerful story from various on the ground perspectives

The events were well described and easy to visualize. While the story’s events were well recounted, my personal opinion (take it for what it’s worth) is that the readers voice and “accents” didn’t work with this particular topic.

A new fact every listen

Where does Roberts Ridge rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Over a year after purchase....I still come back to this book. A very powerful and unnerving account of what it means to be on the front line and a member of the elite in war. A very fast paced account of just what can go wrong at the highest levels when needing support when you are an elite unit sent out to do what you see as your duty. For the members involved and their families, this is a very human story. A story of guys that wanted to be the best , achieved that , sometimes at great personal cost, at other times at soaring personal achievement and then found when it came to "brass tacks" that they are let down. Flaws in the technology that they depend on to work and personal hubris of command, ultimately lead to an absolute disaster that should never have been. For men that don't comprehend the meaning of "give up" or "leave them behind" , this was their ultimate challenge. One they chose to respond to with what they had at hand. On a small mountain top in the middle of nowhere. They made their mark at great cost.

What does Joe Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The human touch of this is jarring