Official Release June 28th 2016
In the chilling debut novel from
retired US Army Colonel Claude Schmid, two young officers encounter brutality,
faith, guilt, and fear while fighting for their lives in the chaos of 2004
Iraq.
Two young US Army officers are trying to do their duty in Iraq playing whack-a-mole with at least seven fanatical insurgent groups in the aftermath of the American invasion. Both officers serve in the Big Red One, the vaunted 1st Infantry Division. Christian Wynn is stationed close to the flagpole, where he quickly learns that the situation in post–Saddam Hussein Iraq is as confusing to those who wear stars as it is to their men out on the pointy end of the bayonet. Cole “Moose” Murphy leads a platoon of Wolfhounds, young soldiers struggling to understand the situation, and their places in it, as they patrol the mean streets of a Northern Iraqi city infested with tribes, factions, and shooters who just want to kill Americans.
Through their mutual support and experience with the real essence of ground combat—kill or be killed and politics be damned—they lead from the front, desperately trying to help their soldiers stay motivated and alive. The Wolfhounds, like the rest of the American Army, struggle to deal with a growing insurgency and the insurgents’ weapon of choice: improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. As the platoon is visiting a school construction project, a sniper’s bullet sends the Wolfhounds on a days-long pursuit.
Placed squarely in the American tradition of war writing such as Kevin Power’s The Yellow Birds and John Renehan’s The Valley, Princes of War takes its protagonists into the real Iraq, where the enemy is elusive and danger stalks constantly. Human emotions as old as time—ambition, courage, doubt, fear—churn inside each soldier as he searches for the sniper. Some men falter, some fail, and some demonstrate extraordinary courage.
Two young US Army officers are trying to do their duty in Iraq playing whack-a-mole with at least seven fanatical insurgent groups in the aftermath of the American invasion. Both officers serve in the Big Red One, the vaunted 1st Infantry Division. Christian Wynn is stationed close to the flagpole, where he quickly learns that the situation in post–Saddam Hussein Iraq is as confusing to those who wear stars as it is to their men out on the pointy end of the bayonet. Cole “Moose” Murphy leads a platoon of Wolfhounds, young soldiers struggling to understand the situation, and their places in it, as they patrol the mean streets of a Northern Iraqi city infested with tribes, factions, and shooters who just want to kill Americans.
Through their mutual support and experience with the real essence of ground combat—kill or be killed and politics be damned—they lead from the front, desperately trying to help their soldiers stay motivated and alive. The Wolfhounds, like the rest of the American Army, struggle to deal with a growing insurgency and the insurgents’ weapon of choice: improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. As the platoon is visiting a school construction project, a sniper’s bullet sends the Wolfhounds on a days-long pursuit.
Placed squarely in the American tradition of war writing such as Kevin Power’s The Yellow Birds and John Renehan’s The Valley, Princes of War takes its protagonists into the real Iraq, where the enemy is elusive and danger stalks constantly. Human emotions as old as time—ambition, courage, doubt, fear—churn inside each soldier as he searches for the sniper. Some men falter, some fail, and some demonstrate extraordinary courage.
Review
“More than just another action war novel, Princes of
War . . . seduces you into a compassionate moment of Iraqi
life only to be shattered . . . as the explosive action
surfaces. . . . [T]hrilling, compelling, and revealing.”
—Dominic Certo, US Marine Corps Combat Veteran and author of Gold in the
Coffins and The Valor of Francesco D’Amini
About the Author
Colonel Claude Schmid retired from the US Army in 2013 after
thirty-one years of military service in combat units around the world. During
his two tours of duty in Iraq, he commanded a combined US-Iraqi infrastructure
security force that secured, defended, and assisted in the rebuilding of Iraq’s
northern energy infrastructure. He returned to Iraq as commandant of the new
Iraqi military school system. Before retiring, Schmid served as chief of the
Army’s Wounded Warrior Flight program, which welcomed thousands of wounded
warriors back from Iraq and Afghanistan for medical treatment. Serving in this
capacity—witnessing the warriors’ hardship and pain, and hearing their
stories—reaffirmed the unbreakable strength of America’s soldiers, marines,
sailors, and airmen.
A first-generation American, Schmid was born in New Jersey to Swiss parents. He is an avid student of history, politics, and good books, and holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and government from Wofford College and master’s degrees in business administration and strategic studies from the United States Army War College. He is a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the International Churchill Society, and serves on the New Jersey Board of Directors of Operation Homefront.
A first-generation American, Schmid was born in New Jersey to Swiss parents. He is an avid student of history, politics, and good books, and holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and government from Wofford College and master’s degrees in business administration and strategic studies from the United States Army War College. He is a member of the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the International Churchill Society, and serves on the New Jersey Board of Directors of Operation Homefront.
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