This book introduces the American reader to the soldiers that defend our nation. Jimmy Blackmon found that the average American citizen knows little about just what today’s soldiers go through in combat. In his new book, PALE HORSE: Hunting Terrorists and Commanding Heroes with the 101st Airborne Division (St. Martin’s Press, on sale March 8, 2016, $27.99) he takes readers inside the heads and hearts of these servicemen and women. In examining this perspective of the combat soldier the reader sees how they feel, think, and act. Through countless hours of interviews Blackmon did with his soldiers he had them search deep inside themselves. Their powerful narrative discussing their fears, doubts, anxieties and focusing techniques in the face of battle will leave the reader feeling as if they too had been in combat.
The stories told in PALE HORSE show that these soldiers are in so many ways literally the kid next door. Half a million strong, they are the sons and daughters of our nation. Most of those who served under Blackmon voluntarily joined after the terrible attacks of 9/11. As Blackmon says, “They knew they were going to combat, and that they might die. America deserves to know them. America’s longest war will not soon be forgotten, but the men and women who fought it will fade with time to nothing more than a serial number on a roster pressed between pages, if we allow it.”
To a combat veteran like Blackmon, the draw down in Afghanistan is a time of mixed feelings. He and his soldiers gave (and lost) so much there. He certainly doesn’t want to see it become another Iraq. He understands the nefarious intents of not only the Taliban but of al Qaeda, ISIS, and other organizations bent on terror. Can Afghanistan stand on its own as a nation? The battles he discusses here have produced over the years 10 Medal of Honor winners. What was fought for and what is being left behind are current and relevant. PALE HORSE presents this dilemma and examines other issues such as:
• This is the first combat action book written from a helicopter pilot’s perspective since Vietnam
• The gripping narrative will enable readers to feel the emotion of combat up close
• Coming to know exactly what our soldiers experienced in Afghanistan • First-hand experience of the action in battles that produced so many Medal of Honor winners
• In-depth understanding of what it’s like to fly and fight in a helicopter with the famed 101st Airborne Division
• Life and death decisions that are made in the heat of combat
• Experiencing combat with the 101st in the valleys where the attacks on 9/11 were planned and rehearsed
• An account of a year in eastern Afghanistan fighting a seasoned and hardened enemy from the perspective of an aviation task force
• A heroic story of a young boy from humble roots in northern Georgia who went on to command a task force in the storied 101st Airborne Division
• The reader will feel their heart race as if they were strapped themselves into an Apache gunship and experience combat from the cockpit
PALE HORSE demonstrates that this war was fought by everyday Americans, men and women from Anytown, USA. They came from wealthy and poor families alike. Their mothers and fathers were doctors, lawyers, shrimp boat captains and mill workers. They were white, African-American, Latino, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic, Samoan, and many other diverse heritages and backgrounds, and they were all extraordinary.
ABOUT JIMMY BLACKMON
Jimmy Blackmon has served in various command and staff positions throughout the army in the two plus decades since he started out as a second lieutenant in army aviation. He has commanded soldiers at every level from platoon through brigade, including commanding soldiers in combat at the squadron and brigade level in the famed 101st Airborne Division. He has served two tours in the Balkans, two tours in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan. He is married with four children and lives in Virginia.