Carnivore: A Memoir of a Cavalry Scout at War

by Dillard Johnson, James Tarr

Overview

Amid ferocious fighting that many times nearly took his life, Sergeant Dillard "C. J." Johnson and his crew are recognized by Pentagon reports to have accounted for astonishing enemy KIA totals while battling inside and out of the "Carnivore," the Bradley Fighting Vehicle Johnson commanded during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After miraculously beating stage-three cancer (caused by radiation exposure from firing armor-piercing depleted-uranium rounds during combat), he returned to his platoon in Baghdad for a second tour, often serving as a sniper protecting his fellow troops. Today, Johnson and his men's story is the stuff of legend—earning them a cover story in Soldier of Fortune and a display in the Fort Stewart Museum. But only now is Johnson telling his full story: reviewed and approved for publication by the Department of Defense, Carnivore is the gripping and unflinchingly honest autobiography of a remarkable American warrior.

"The estimated enemy KIAs for Staff Sergeant Johnson’s BIFV [Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle] during this fight [22 March, 2003] was 488. The informal estimate from the troop was that Johnson and his crew killed at least 1,000 Iraqis on 23 March. Later in the move north, Johnson engaged and destroyed 20 trucks and tallied 314 KIAs in the vicinity of An Najaf. At Objective FLOYD, Johnson’s platoon fought yet another bitter fight against what they claim was a thousand paramilitary troops. … Events were corroborated by separate interviews with the remainder of C/3-7 CAV, to include the troop commander." —On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the official study of the 2003 invasion commissioned by the U.S. Army Chief of Staff

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062288400
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	04/16/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	324
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Dillard "C. J." Johnson, U.S. Army (Ret.), earned a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, four Purple Hearts, a Presidential Unit Citation, a Meritorious Service Medal, a Joint Service Commendation Medal, six Army Commendation Medals, seven Army Achievement Medals, and numerous other awards during his twenty years of service. He has appeared on Fox News, Good Morning America, and the cover of Soldier of Fortune magazine. Born and raised in rural Kentucky, he lives in Florida with his wife and family.

James Tarr is a contributing editor for both Handguns and Rifle Shooter magazines. A former police officer and nationally ranked competitive shooter, Tarr worked as a private investigator for seventeen years.

Table of Contents

Map of Iraq ix

Prelude xi

1 Bosnian D-Day 1

2 Junior Jackassery 7

3 No Such Thing as Friendly Fire 12

4 Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head 22

5 Love and Marriage, Army Style 28

6 Eight Ball and the Lipstick Lizards 41

7 Deathtrap 56

8 First Contact 70

9 Carnivore, Camel Toe, and Circus Freaks 81

10 Steel Beast 91

11 Ambush Alley 107

12 Junkyard Dogs 121

13 Line in the Sand 131

14 Every Truck in the Country 141

15 Reop Men 149

16 The Great Baghdad Tank Battle … Sort Of 161

17 Iraqi Bullfighting 172

18 The Mafia Hit 188

19 Stage 3 202

20 Exchanging RPGs for IEDs 215

21 Sniping is as Sniping Does 236

22 The Lion's Mouth 255

23 Syria vs. Kentucky 272

24 Blood, Sweat, and Tears 281

Acknowledgments 295

Editorial Reviews

Johnson led the [Iraq] invasion, taking part in the war’s first engagement, cutting a large and bloody swath through the country. ... An aggressive, unapologetic account of one man’s brutal war. ... Readers will be impressed with Johnson’s undoubted courage and sacrifice.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Combat tales from a tank commander–turned-sniper during the Iraq War. During Sgt. 1st Class Dillard "Crazy Jay" Johnson's distinguished, 21-year Army career--four Purple Hearts and numerous medals for valor, including the Silver Star--he did a tour in Bosnia and Iraq, where he saw only a bit of action in Desert Storm. Despite having a child at home afflicted with cerebral palsy, he volunteered to return to Iraq in 2003. Commanding a Bradley Fighting Vehicle christened "Carnivore," Johnson led the invasion, taking part in the war's first engagement, cutting a large and bloody swath through the country. After contracting radiation cancer from the depleted uranium rounds fired by his tank and after treatment at Walter Reed (where he was given a 1 in 4 chance to live), he returned to Iraq yet again. This time, with the ground war over, Johnson's mission focused on the insurgency and killing the guerrillas placing the deadly IEDs. He was credited with 121 confirmed kills with his sniper rifle. With the aid of Tarr, Johnson fills in a complete picture of combat: the sleeplessness, the sandstorms, the constant fear of attack; the chaos that leads to killing cows and sheep accidentally and the absurd necessity of killing a lion on purpose; the difficulty of extracting a hunting knife from the ribs of a stabbed insurgent; the mundane lesson learned from packing soap too close to the coffee; the delicate protocol between a sniper and his spotter; the heartbreak at a fellow soldier's death; the terror induced by incoming fire and the destruction inflicted by outgoing. Military buffs will appreciate the author's frequent appraisals and comparisons of various tanks, rifles, knives and other accouterments of battle. Most readers will be impressed with Johnson's undoubted courage and sacrifice, even as they are put off by his memoir's tone, which too often uncomfortably erases the line between bluffness and boorishness, pride and braggadocio. An aggressive, unapologetic account of one man's brutal war.

Kirkus Reviews