Watchman at the Gates
A Soldier's Journey from Berlin to Bosnia
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Watchman at the Gates
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Narrated by:
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Malcolm Hillgartner
About this listen
General George Joulwan played a role in many pivotal world events during his long and exceptional career. Present at both the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, he served multiple tours in Germany during the Cold War and two tours in Vietnam. By chance, he was recruited as Nixon's White House deputy chief of staff and witnessed the last acts of the Watergate drama first-hand.
Joulwan chronicles his career in the upper echelons of the armed forces. He shares his experiences working with major military and political figures, including generals William E. DePuy, Alexander Haig, John Vessey, and Colin Powell, US ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Beyond the battlefield, Joulwan became an advocate for military and civilian relations during the Vietnam War, deescalating several high-intensity situations while studying at Loyola University as part of the US Army's Option C program.
Watchman at the Gates merges memory and lessons in leadership as Joulwan pays tribute to his teachers and colleagues and explains the significance of their influence on his personal approach to command. He also reveals how similar relationships of mutual understanding were crucial in his peaceful and productive dealings with both allies and enemies.
©2021 George Joulwan and David Chanoff (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 115
A Wall Street Journal national security reporter takes listeners into the lives of US Special Forces on the front lines against the Taliban and Islamic State, where a new and covert war is keeping Afghanistan from collapse.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent depiction of the non tactical battle.
- By Paddy on 11-16-21
By: Jessica Donati
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Fiasco
- The American Military Adventure in Iraq
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 785
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 423
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 419
The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.
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5 out of 5 stars
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History not Politics
- By Scott on 08-10-06
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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Project 9: The Birth of the Air Commandos in World War II
- American Military Experience, Book 1
- By: Dennis R. Okerstrom
- Narrated by: Charles Henderson Norman
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story5 out of 5 stars 5
Project 9: The Birth of the Air Commandos in World War II is a thoroughly researched narrative of the Allied joint project to invade Burma by air. Beginning with its inception at the Quebec Conference of 1943 and continuing through Operation Thursday until the death of the brilliant British General Orde Wingate in March 1944, less than a month after the successful invasion of Burma, Project 9 details all aspects of this covert mission.
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Cobra II
- The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq
- By: Michael R. Gordon, Bernard E. Trainor
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 25 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 349
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 225
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 224
Unimpeachably sourced, Cobra II describes how the American rush to Baghdad provided the opportunity for the virulent insurgency that followed. The brutal aftermath in Iraq was not inevitable and was a surprise to the generals on both sides; Cobra II provides the first authoritative account as to why. It is a book of enduring importance and incisive analysis, a comprehensive account of the most reported yet least understood war in American history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Informative military account of the War in Iraq
- By Graham on 09-02-07
By: Michael R. Gordon, and others
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The Gamble
- General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: James Lurie
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 176
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 125
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 122
Fiasco, Thomas E. Ricks's #1 New York Times bestseller, transformed the political dialogue on the war in Iraq - The Gamble is the next news-breaking installment. Thomas E. Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to document the inside story of the Iraq War since late 2005 as only he can, examining the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Sure Bet
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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The CIA War in Kurdistan
- The Untold Story of the Northern Front in the Iraq War
- By: Sam Faddis
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
In 2002, Sam Faddis was named to head a CIA team that would enter Iraq to facilitate the deployment of follow-on conventional military forces numbering more than 40,000 American soldiers. This force, built around the 4th Infantry Division, would, in partnership with Kurdish forces and with the assistance of Turkey, engage Saddam's army in the North as part of a coming invasion. Faddis expected to be on the ground in Iraq within weeks, the entire campaign likely to be over by summer. The 4th Infantry Division never arrived, nor did any other conventional forces in substantial number.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Highly Recommended Read
- By Bill Brown on 11-11-21
By: Sam Faddis
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A Better War
- The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam
- By: Lewis Sorley
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 68
Neglected by scholars and journalists alike, the years of conflict in Vietnam from 1968 to 1975 offer surprises not only about how the war was fought, but about what was achieved. Drawing on authoritative materials not previously available, including thousands of hours of tape-recorded allied councils of war, award-winning military historian Lewis Sorley has given us what has long been needed - an insightful, factual, and superbly documented history of these important years.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A thought-provoking history of the war 68-75
- By Rodney W. Schmisseur on 02-05-14
By: Lewis Sorley
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One Hundred Victories
- Special Ops and the Future of American Warfare
- By: Linda Robinson
- Narrated by: Kirsten Potter
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 49
In One Hundred Victories, acclaimed military expert Linda Robinson shows how the special operations forces are - after a decade of intensive combat operations - evolving to become the go-to force for operations worldwide.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Great book very informative.
- By Ashley Cooper on 10-16-13
By: Linda Robinson
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Knife Fights
- A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice
- By: John Nagl
- Narrated by: Brian Hutchison
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 55
From one of the most important army officers of his generation, a memoir of the revolution in warfare he helped lead, in combat and in Washington. When John Nagl was an army tank commander in the first Gulf War of 1991, fresh out of West Point and Oxford, he could already see that America’s military superiority meant that the age of conventional combat was nearing an end.
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5 out of 5 stars
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There's so much I didn't know.
- By Lori James on 12-07-22
By: John Nagl
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The Coldest Winter
- America and the Korean War
- By: David Halberstam
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,812
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,250
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,242
Up until now, the Korean War has been the black hole of modern American history. The Coldest Winter changes that. Halberstam gives us a masterful narrative of the political decisions and miscalculations on both sides. He charts the disastrous path that led to the massive entry of Chinese forces near the Yalu, and that caught Douglas MacArthur and his soldiers by surprise. He provides astonishingly vivid and nuanced portraits of all the major figures.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Almost as good as The Best and the Brightest
- By Doug on 10-02-07
By: David Halberstam
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My Share of the Task
- A Memoir
- By: General Stanley McChrystal
- Narrated by: Kevin Collins
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,170
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,019
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,023
In this illuminating memoir, McChrystal frankly explores the major episodes and controversies of his eventful career. He delves candidly into the intersection of history, leadership, and his own experience to produce a book of enduring value. Joining the troubled post-Vietnam army as a young officer, McChrystal witnessed and participated in some of our military’s most difficult struggles. He describes the many outstanding leaders he served with and the handful of bad leaders he learned not to emulate.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Incomplete ending
- By Jfadams on 04-23-13
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The Hardest Place
- The American Military Adrift in Afghanistan's Pech Valley
- By: Wesley Morgan
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 179
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 156
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Story5 out of 5 stars 155
Of the many battlefields on which U.S. troops and intelligence operatives fought in Afghanistan, one remote corner of the country stands as a microcosm of the American campaign: the Pech and its tributary valleys in Kunar and Nuristan. The area’s rugged, steep terrain and thick forests made it a natural hiding spot for local insurgents and international terrorists alike, and it came to represent both the valor and futility of America’s two-decade-long Afghan war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A walk through time
- By Brandon Kennedy on 04-12-21
By: Wesley Morgan
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The Fourth Star
- Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army
- By: David Cloud, Greg Jaffe
- Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked to save an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. They survived the military's brutal winnowing to reach its top echelon. They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible of Iraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over the last four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protect the nation over the next century.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Learning from the Military
- By Joshua Kim on 06-10-12
By: David Cloud, and others
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Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 29 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 413
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 328
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 323
In this Pulitzer Prize - winning biography, Barbara Tuchman explores American relations with China through the experiences of one of our men on the ground. In the cantankerous but level-headed "Vinegar Joe", Tuchman found a subject who allowed her to perform, in the words of the National Review, "one of the historian's most envied magic acts: conjoining a fine biography of a man with a fascinating epic story."
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4 out of 5 stars
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A period that directly affected our world today
- By Charlotte on 08-29-12
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Why We Lost
- A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
- By: Daniel Bolger
- Narrated by: Steve Coulter
- Length: 20 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 187
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 163
Over a 35-year career, Daniel Bolger rose through the army infantry to become a three-star general, commanding in both theaters of the U.S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. He participated in meetings with top-level military and civilian players, where strategy was made and managed. At the same time, he regularly carried a rifle alongside rank-and-file soldiers in combat actions - unusual for a general.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An apolitical account of our recent wars.
- By DMgraphicGlass on 04-07-15
By: Daniel Bolger
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Putin's Wars
- From Chechnya to Ukraine
- By: Mark Galeotti
- Narrated by: David Sibley
- Length: 15 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 101
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 88
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 89
Putin's Wars is a timely overview of the conflicts in which Russia has been involved since Vladimir Putin became prime minister and then president of Russia, from the First Chechen War to the two military incursions into Georgia, the annexation of Crimea and the eventual invasion of Ukraine itself. But it also looks more broadly at Putin's recreation of Russian military power and its expansion to include a range of new capabilities, from mercenaries to operatives in a relentless information war against Western powers.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Botched Attempt on Russian Stress
- By Alexey B. on 12-20-22
By: Mark Galeotti