Dogwood: A National Guard unit's war in Iraq
Dogwood: A National Guard unit's war in Iraq
English | 2025 | ASIN: B0DJBK6YL8 | 300 pages | True EPUB | 8.43 MB
Andrew Wiest, author of the bestselling Boys of '67, traces the experience of the 150th Combat Engineers of the Mississippi National Guard in their 2005 tour of duty in Iraq, centered on the forward operating base Dogwood. Comprising youth hoping to attain a way out of grinding poverty, women seeking to break barriers, and patriots answering their nation's call after 9/11, the 150th represented nearly all of what America had to offer in 2005.
Amid the transformation of the US military in the 21st century, no longer were they destined to be weekend warriors tasked mainly with local disaster relief. The new Guard was a sharp weapon of war. Soldiers grew up in the same communities, played sports and served together. As Dogwood reveals, this provides a singular advantage, but also intensifies loss. Defying poor equipment, lack of specialist training and heart-breaking losses, the 150th endured combat. They also implemented their own homespun counterinsurgency policy that turned an insurgency hotbed into a thriving community – one of the war's few success stories. But all was forgotten.