05017cam a2200385 4500 234174695 TxAuBib 20140806120000.0 ||||||s2009||||||||||||||||||||||||und|u 9781400190744 1400190746 915a63d3-ec74-4fb9-8312-5a9c56e4ff79 OverDrive (Reserve ID) 220395 OverDrive (Product ID) 220395 OverDrive (Product ID) TxAuBib Campbell, Donovan. Joker One [Libby] : A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood. Tantor Media, 2009. Format: OverDrive OverDrive MP3 Audiobook, Filesize: 322MB. Format: OverDrive OverDrive Listen, Filesize: 322MB. History. Nonfiction. This first-person account of the author's experiences commanding a Marine platoon in Iraq is full of human tragedy, hope, camaraderie, and faith. He and his men spent seven months defending Ramadi, a Sunni-dominated city, and never let it fall to the insurgents. Narrator David Drummond has a pleasant voice and reads largely without emotion. His matter-of-fact style works well for most of the narrative, but he uses the same voice for firefights and attacks, which limits the impact of those sections. Drummond is easy to follow, and his excellent diction and pacing make the book interesting. His intonation, though, does not allow us to experience the full force of the author's words. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine. AudioFile Magazine. HTML:<p>In the tradition of <i>Jarhead</i> and <i>Band of Brothers</i>, this is the extraordinary story of one Marine platoon's brotherhood, honor, and sacrifice during the battle of Ramadi---arguably the most intense conflict of the Iraq War.</p> <p>When Donovan Campbell's platoon deployed to Ramadi in the spring of 2004, they believed they'd be spending most of their time building schools, training police, and making friends with the citizens. But shortly after arriving, when Campbell awoke to the chilling cry of "Jihad, Jihad, Jihad!" echoing from minaret to minaret across the city, he knew they had an altogether different situation on their hands.</p> <p>For nearly the entire day, Joker-One---the forty-man infantry platoon that Campbell was charged with leading---fought house-to-house to rescue other units, sometimes trading grenades with their enemies from just a few feet away. In the days and months that followed, hundreds of hard-core insurgents launched simultaneous attacks on the Marine forces in Ramadi, their ranks swelled by thousands of local volunteers drawn from the citizens of a city whose primary export was officers in Saddam Hussein's army. By the fall of 2004, nearly half the men in Campbell's platoon had been wounded in some of the fiercest urban fighting since Vietnam; less than a month after they withdrew, the forces in Ramadi were doubled, then tripled.</p> <p>Although <i>Joker One</i> is set in Iraq, the book's themes---brotherhood, honor, and sacrifice---are universal. Campbell shows us how his Marines' patience, discipline, and love for one another created a whole that is much greater than the sum of its parts, and how the essential goodness of these men remains unchanged by all of the pain and the terror surrounding them. His sharp-eyed, evocative, and unflinching account of his deployment is just as impressive as the man himself---a man who chose to enter the military because of his patriotism, sense of privilege, and deep religious faith when most of his Princeton classmates were cashing in their ivy league educations for lucrative careers among the financial elite. The vivid and gripping battle scenes will satisfy fans of military memoirs, but it's Campbell's sense of duty, faith, and love for his men that makes <i>Joker One</i> a truly extraordinary account of a war that has touched us all.</p>. Media Type: Audiobook. Importer Version: 2014-01-08.01 Import Date: 2015-08-06 14:05:22. Drummond, David. http://lonestardigitalibrary.lib.overdrive.com/ContentDetails.htm?ID=915a63d3-ec74-4fb9-8312-5a9c56e4ff79 http://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-25/1219-1/220395-JokerOne.wma Excerpt (OverDrive MP3 Audiobook) http://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/1219-1/220395-JokerOne.mp3 Excerpt (OverDrive MP3 Audiobook) http://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=915A63D3-EC74-4FB9-8312-5A9C56E4FF79&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (OverDrive MP3 Audiobook) http://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-25/1219-1/220395-JokerOne.wma Excerpt (OverDrive Listen) http://excerpts.cdn.overdrive.com/FormatType-425/1219-1/220395-JokerOne.mp3 Excerpt (OverDrive Listen) http://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=915A63D3-EC74-4FB9-8312-5A9C56E4FF79&.epub-sample.overdrive.com Excerpt (OverDrive Listen) TXKYP