Master Sergeant Changiz Lahidji served on Special Forces A teams longer than anyone in history, completing over a hundred combat missions in Afghanistan. Changiz is a Special Forces legend. He also happens to be the first Muslim Green Beret.
Changiz served this country starting with Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, when he entered Tehran on a one-man mission to spy on Iranian soldiers guarding the US Embassy where 52 US diplomats were being held hostage. Three years later, he was in Beirut, Lebanon when a suicide car bomb exploded in front of the US Embassy killing 83 people. Weeks after that, he was shot by Hezbollah terrorists on a night mission.
In Operation Iraqi Freedom, he led a convoy that was ambushed on its way to Fallujah. He was clearing houses in Mogadishu, Somalia on October, 1993 when a US Black Hawk helicopter was shot down 50 feet away from him in the incident that inspired Black Hawk Down. In 2002, he dressed as a farmer and snuck into Eastern Afghanistan and located Osama Bin Laden for the CIA.
Along the way, Changiz earned numerous commendations, including the Special Forces Legion of Merit, Purple Hearts, and many others. Last year he was nominated for induction in Military Intelligence Hall of Fame and cited as the finest noncommissioned officer to ever serve in Special Forces.
His story is an amazing tale of perseverance and courage, of combat and one man's love of his adopted country.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Retired Master Sergeant Changiz Lahidji is a highly decorated member of the US Special Forces with over 24 years of active service. He's participated in many top-secret missions in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. He later worked as a Ceasefire Monitor in Darfur, a Tactical Advisor to the US Army in Afghanistan, and Guard Force Commander for the US Embassy in Kabul.
REVIEW:
"Energetically told stories of some very hot spots....Anyone who enjoys an unvarnished, ground-level view of America's military doing its job will find plenty of what they're looking for here. First-person war stories served up by a participant in some of the most dangerous actions of the modern era."
Kirkus Reviews
