The Fighting 69th: One Remarkable National Guard Unit's Journey from Ground Zero to Baghdad [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Sean Michael Flynn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 27, 2007

One of the most celebrated units in the military for more than a century, by 1990, New York City's Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard was scarcely fit for duty. Its equipment was derelict, its discipline nonexistent, many of its leaders inept, and its ranks filled with kids barely out of high school who had little intention of serving their country for any longer than it took to get their paycheck, college credit, or job training. Then came the attacks of September 11 and the invasion of Iraq. In The Fighting 69th, Sean Michael Flynn, himself a member of the unit, chronicles the extraordinary transformation of this band of amateur soldiers into a battle-hardened troop at one of the most lethal sites of war.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Flynn (Land of Radioactive Midnight) draws on his experience as a company commander with the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment of the New York National Guard—the Fighting 69th of Civil War, WWI and WWII fame—for this riveting account of the unit's service following 9/11. Considered the worst unit in the National Guard, at the turn of the 21st century, according to Flynn, the 69th was under-trained, under-resourced, and under-led. Activated on 9/11, its soldiers were the first to arrive at ground zero, and then guarded New York City's bridges and tunnels and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 2004, after retraining, the unit was flagged Task Force Wolfhound and certified for overseas deployment, but was barely functional in the field. In Iraq, the 69th provided route security along a six-mile stretch known as 'The Most Dangerous Road in the World,' the main highway between the airport and downtown Baghdad. Learning on the job, the 69th effectively neutralized the roadside bomb threat that has caused a high percentage of the war's casualties, but paid a heavy price in its own killed and injured. Drawing on combat journals, operations orders and interviews with survivors, Flynn fashions a tale equal to the making of the new, contemporary heroes of the Fighting 69th who, against all odds, restored a previously distinguished unit to its former glory. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Sean Michael Flynn served as a company commander during the Fighting 69th's service from Ground Zero to Iraq, and prior was in the U.S. Air Force. He has a BA in journalism from the University of Maryland at College Park. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (December 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616802863
• ISBN-13: 978-1616802868
• ASIN: B001550ACM
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #747,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Fighting 69th, December 30, 2007

By 

Roger Young - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fighting 69th: One Remarkable National Guard Unit's Journey from Ground Zero to Baghdad (Hardcover)

Excellent book on a Famous Unit. The 69th's struggle from a Down & Out Unit pre 9-11 to Successful Combat Soldiers in Iraq makes for a good read. The Central Characters Journey from Ground Zero to Iraq is an Odyssey the reader will remember.

Author pulls no punches about Infantry Combat in Baghdad & Taji

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Retired Reservist, April 24, 2008

By 

ralph (sacramento,ca) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fighting 69th: One Remarkable National Guard Unit's Journey from Ground Zero to Baghdad (Hardcover)

I heard the author being interviewed and was interested as a retired reservist. Great story. I could relate to problems with 'old guard'. I was in NY on 9/11 and had that tie. My best to the 69th.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be read by people interested in Iraq War, August 18, 2009

By 

Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fighting 69th: From Ground Zero to Baghdad (Paperback)

This book, as its subtitle indicates, is about "one Remarkable National Guard Unit's Journey from Ground Zero to Baghdad." It is a well-written and interesting remarkable tale of human and group growth. It is the story of one of the nation's worst military units with soldiers who could not give a damn about virtually anything, who became patriots who fought for our nation, many of whom sacrificed their lives.
Although unstated by its author, the phrase "Ground Zero" has two meanings. The first is the unit's soul-piercing experiences in New York at Ground Zero on September 11, 2001. The second meaning is a description of the unit's low level of morale and military preparedness for several decades until that date.
The Fighting 69th is an army battalion. A battalion is composed of 500 to 700 soldiers led by a lieutenant colonel. The 69th was founded in New York in 1851 and was originally made up of Irish Americans. It had a remarkable heroic history. In fact a movie, The Fighting 69th staring James Cagney, was made about the battalion. However the unit deteriorated in the mid twentieth century.
Hardly any of the 69th's members were now of Irish descent. Most of its soldiers had joined the unit for selfish unpatriotic reasons, for money and to get away from their wives, to spend time drinking alcohol. The unit became a bad joke.
National Guard units are generally used only in the US to respond to hurricanes, ice storms and other natural disasters. They are low priority units outside the US, and used outside the US only in near emergency situation, and are funded, trained, equipped and manned accordingly, very poorly. As bad as most National Guard units are, the 69th had deteriorated to be at the very bottom rung.
However, when Ground Zero was attacked on 9-11-2001, the battalion's commander called his soldiers to the site to help the survivors and to secure the area. The soldiers found that they were the first National Guard unit to respond and they felt proud of the help they could give. The experience sparked a sense of patriotism among the 69th. This experience began their slow climb back to respectability.
President Bush declared that the US was now at war. Various units of the National Guard were mobilized to active duty. After helping at ground zero, the 69th was called to active duty for a year-long security mission to help secure West Point Academy. This was the unit's first wartime mobilization since World War II.
Then, to the utter surprise of this "homeland defense force," the 69th was mobilized again to go to Iraq. Thus the unit that had been at the very bottom of the pile in the military served in Iraq until September 2005.
The unit's first mission was to suppress enemy fire against Camp Cooke, twenty miles from Baghdad. When the 69th hit the streets, the mortar fire that had devastated the US troops for many months, ceased. The other soldiers at Camp Cooke lauded the wok of the 69th. Now they felt safe. They did not have to wear the heavy body armor any more at the base. Then the 69th fought at Taji where they captured more than a hundred insurgents in just a few months.
Among many other events, Sean Michael Flynn tells the story of how and why a member of the 69th accidentally killed an important senior officer in the Italian military intelligence and security service who had been kidnapped by Iraqi insurgent forces and had just been ransomed for five million dollars. This event was widely publicized in newspapers and TV. Flynn describes the event and shows why the 69th was not to blame.
The 69th left Iraq on September 10, 2005, exactly four years after 9/11, the day that America was viciously attacked, the day that the 69th came back to life. But rather than bask in their glory, many members of the 69th rushed down to New Orleans to help the beleaguered city that had been struck and almost destroyed by a hurricane.
The unit acted heroically in Iraq, but they suffered greatly. Nineteen members of the 69th were killed in Iraq and eighty-six others were wounded. The nineteen soldiers who were killed left behind sixteen children.
People who want to learn something about the inner workings of the military and what was happening in Iraq, will want to read this book.