Level Zero Heroes
Michael Golembesky and John R. Bruning
St. Martin’s Press
Michael Golembesky served eight years in the Marines. He was the Joint Terminal Attack Controller and the only non-Recon Marine in Marine Special Operations Team 8222 stationed in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan.
The Marines in his unit are a little skeptical of Golembesky because they see him as an outsider. Besides bootcamp, Golembesky has not faced the same challenges as the Recon Marines in his platoon. Fortunately for the Marines of 8222, Golembesky is trained to bring the pain to their enemies. Golembesky has the ability to rain destruction on the Taliban.
When faced with an entrenched Taliban, Golembesky can all in A-10s and other close air support to obliterate their enemies. Golembesky's story is a unique one because JTAC's were originally not assigned to special force units and his story validates the reason to include JTACs in future missions.
Golembesky’s actions demonstrated the strategic advantage of unit level JTACs and highlighted the necessity for enlisted Marine air controllers within the ranks of special operations units.
In addition to the battles fought, Golembesky reveals the limitations of ROEs, the failed counterinsurgency concept, and he exposed the tactics used by the Taliban.
This book has some great extras embedded within the book and it is a great look into an MOS that few know anything about and the stress that comes with it.
I give this book 4 knife-hands out of 5.
Comments