Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton

What happens when you insert a group of Special Forces soldiers into a foreign country, put them on horseback, send them out against the Taliban? 

Horse Soldiers is about just such an operation.  It takes place in Afghanistan, shortly after 9/11.  These men, many who had barely ridden and some not at all, formed teams and rode out with members of the Northern Alliance to fight the Taliban.  Days would go by with little or no food, drinking water from ditches when it could be found.  The soldiers of the Northern Alliance were running out of bullets but never lacked in spirit when it came to fighting from horseback or on foot.  The Americans shocked the Taliban with their high-tech weapons, calling in air strikes to back up their unique style of fighting. 

"It's as if the Jetsons had met the Flinstones," Special Forces soldier Ben Milo told the author.

This is a fascinating book, giving you a good glimpse into the way the Special Forces soldiers adapted to their mission in Afghanistan.  "You eat what they eat, sleep where they sleep, and think like they think."  In two months time, these soldiers accomplished what planners in the Pentagon felt would take 2 years to get done.

You might remember the name Johnny "Mike" Spann, a CIA paramilitary officer who was the "first American to be killed in a post-9/11battle' and then there is John Walker Lindh, an American who traveled overseas and joined the Taliban to take up arms against the Americans.  In Horse Soldiers you will read about the events leading up to Mike's death and the capture of John Walker Lindh.

Horse Soldiers is an easy to read book that you will find hard to put down.  Yes it truly is an "extraordinary story of a band of U.S. soldiers who rode to victory in Afghanistan" and one I would highly recommend.