The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
The basis of the film starring Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood, The Outpost is the heartbreaking and inspiring story of one of America's deadliest battles during the war in Afghanistan, acclaimed by critics everywhere as a classic.

At 5:58 AM on October 3rd, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 Americans there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war for the U.S. that year. Four months after the battle, a Pentagon review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place.
In The Outpost, Jake Tapper gives us the powerful saga of COP Keating, from its establishment to eventual destruction, introducing us to an unforgettable cast of soldiers and their families, and to a place and war that has remained profoundly distant to most Americans. A runaway bestseller, it makes a savage war real, and American courage manifest.

"The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book." -- Jon Krakauer
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The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
The basis of the film starring Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood, The Outpost is the heartbreaking and inspiring story of one of America's deadliest battles during the war in Afghanistan, acclaimed by critics everywhere as a classic.

At 5:58 AM on October 3rd, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 Americans there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war for the U.S. that year. Four months after the battle, a Pentagon review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place.
In The Outpost, Jake Tapper gives us the powerful saga of COP Keating, from its establishment to eventual destruction, introducing us to an unforgettable cast of soldiers and their families, and to a place and war that has remained profoundly distant to most Americans. A runaway bestseller, it makes a savage war real, and American courage manifest.

"The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book." -- Jon Krakauer
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The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

by Jake Tapper
The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor

by Jake Tapper

eBook

$11.99 

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Overview

The basis of the film starring Orlando Bloom and Scott Eastwood, The Outpost is the heartbreaking and inspiring story of one of America's deadliest battles during the war in Afghanistan, acclaimed by critics everywhere as a classic.

At 5:58 AM on October 3rd, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating, located in frighteningly vulnerable terrain in Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistani border, was viciously attacked. Though the 53 Americans there prevailed against nearly 400 Taliban fighters, their casualties made it the deadliest fight of the war for the U.S. that year. Four months after the battle, a Pentagon review revealed that there was no reason for the troops at Keating to have been there in the first place.
In The Outpost, Jake Tapper gives us the powerful saga of COP Keating, from its establishment to eventual destruction, introducing us to an unforgettable cast of soldiers and their families, and to a place and war that has remained profoundly distant to most Americans. A runaway bestseller, it makes a savage war real, and American courage manifest.

"The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book." -- Jon Krakauer

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780316215855
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication date: 11/13/2012
Sold by: Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format: eBook
Sales rank: 96,749
File size: 17 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

CNN anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent Jake Tapper joined the network in January 2013. The Lead with Jake Tapper, his one-hour weekday program, debuted in March 2013. Tapper was named host of the network's Sunday morning show, State of the Union, in June 2015. Tapper has been a widely respected reporter in the nation's capital for more nearly 20 years. He is also the author of the bestseller The Outpost and the novel The Hellfire Club.

Read an Excerpt

A. S. Byatt’s works of fiction include Possession, winner of the 1990 Booker Prize; the sequence The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, and Babel Tower; and The Biographer’s Tale. She is also the author of several important critical works and a collection of essays, Passions of the Mind.

Table of Contents

Map xii

Author's Note xv

Prologue: Focus 3

Book 1 "With Your Shield or on It"

Roll Call: 3-71 Cav and Others 15

1 Every Man an Alexander 19

2 "Major Joe Fenty, Hard Worker" 30

3 Like Just Another Day on the Range 39

4 War, Fate, and Wind 52

5 "This Whole Thing Is a Bad Idea" 67

6 Maybe That's Just the Wind Blowing the Door 83

7 Monuments to an Empire's Hubris 90

8 Hill 2610 104

9 "This Will Happen to You" 122

10 The Abstract Threat of Terror 136

11 The Enemy Gets a Vote 149

12 Matthias the Macedonian and the LMTV 173

13 The 7-31 192

14 Buddy 207

15 "Don't Go Down That Way" 219

Book 2 Two in the Chest, One in the Head

Roll Call: 1-91 Cav and Others 233

Roll Call: 6-4 Cav and Others 234

16 "There's Not Going to Be Any Ice Cream" 237

17 "Bulldog-Six, Where Are You?" 263

18 Balloons 287

19 If You're the Enemy, Please Stand Up 312

20 "We Will Go to Kamdesh Next" 337

21 Chess with No Rules 357

22 After He Finished Washing the Blood Off 373

23 What Was Wrong with Kaine Meshkin 395

24 The Puppies 409

25 Pericles in Kamdesh 423

Book 3 Enemy in the Wire: The End of Combat Outpost Keating

Roll Call: 3-61 Cav 429

26 The General's Competing Considerations 431

27 The Deer Hunters 457

28 Send Me 485

29 Elevator Ride 499

30 "Wish Me Luck" 505

31 GET SOMETHING UP! 513

32 "They've Got an RPG Pointed Right at Me" 531

33 Taking This Bitch Back 540

34 The Apaches 548

35 The Fundamentals 557

36 Blood and Embers 565

37 The Long Walk Down 575

38 Saint Christopher 585

39 Two Purple Hearts and Just One Scar 593

Epilogue 603

Glossary and Military Terms 625

Notes and Sourcing 633

An Important Note and Some Thanks 659

Index 663

What People are Saying About This

Bob Woodward

Brilliant, dedicated reporting by a journalist who goes to ground to get the truth. A sad, real tale about this war, America and the brave warriors who live -- and die -- at the point of the spear.
—Bob Woodward

John Krakauer

A carefully researched history of America's involvement in the most violent corner of one of the world's most violent nations, The Outpost is a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book.
—Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air

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