>> welcome to barnes & noble. i want to thank major rusty bradley for coming. thank you. [applause] >> thank you for coming. unfortunately have been made not attend and had a significant event come up at the last minute and i hate that because he was extremely significant in the right thing and production

of this project and really would not have taken off without him. but to start with a very sincere thank you on my behalf for coming tonight. the project has taken four years in the making. your support is indicative of this community and the soldiers that serve here. let me start by telling those of you who were not from this area that this this day at the bill and fort bragg home of special operations and two things you need to know about this area it is not a place to end up in a bar fight and this is the home of where he rose come from. the reason i wrote the book is because i have the privilege of knowing some of those and some are with us tonight. because of security reasons i will not point* them out

but they're the reason i wrote the book and we put all of the effort we could into it and i would give everything i could to be with them one more time. they are true heroes. that is the most common question that i have. there is a lot of common questions that are typically asked about the book but i want to break from the norm to give anybody who has a question the opportunity to ask just to see if i could field in the answers anybody may have. >> what did you have to go through to get the book released? >> considering a was the first operations officer ever authorized to write a

book while on active duty, we were bedded from public affairs from all safety offices with the special forces group. so we have approval release from the unit to all the way up to the top. it is neat that i just returned one month ago from my fifth appointment to afghanistan. to come home to have a book coming out is very special. >> the process of the book? >> your review? >> the review relieve took about a month and a half and went through it pretty thoroughly. but this is really starting to resonate that it is about

victory. for what we could do on the ground i was just lucky enough to be a part of it. it was a small group of ordinary men who did something extraordinary. it is about the men who directly put themselves confronted the enemies and came to the aid of an entire force. >> did you have been april report before you went on fox? >> there was someone there from the army and we discussed the issues that would arise and they did. but thank you. but what is important died just want to stick to the story line that is about the men and what they accomplished and how

important the public outside the military and special operations need to look at seven afghanistan and what it is. especially kandahar which is the crossroads of five major cities. all of those has been significant in the center of gravity since alexander the great. afghanistan is what is considered old persian of through asia that is part of the silk road that the british so intent on controlling it. twice. it is significant and that is what we wanted people to know and understand. not just a one clemson time but for centuries and remains exceptionally diverse and nine -- dynamic

where soldiers are serving. >> >> there is a lot of four books. toward the end, it was intents. great job. >> thank you very much. it took a lot of hard work again. the biggest challenge is because of the security requirements what they actually did an accomplished it is nothing short of phenomenal.

people buy it because they want to know what the soldiers are doing that was a very consistent question how much do they contribute? there relates directly to the units that we saw all are that you read about in the book or that we helped to build so they truly considered us almost afghans in brothers and would operate and execute like professional soldiers. that is what is missing in the national understanding of what is going on in afghanistan. >> in the battle in the vietnam, i felt it was on par with that.

>> but in all honesty the hard part is knowing what i saw with my own eyes knowing that anybody could replicate. listening to the men on the radio and doing things that people see on movies that seem so surreal and wondering if they could capture the true teheran and exhilaration. it is a double edged sword but i had a good friend to gave me some really good price and i originally told him that i want people to know about the story. i don't want them to get wrapped up in its success. he said you have wrong it should be overwhelmingly successful because that is

how you know, that people are finding it out about the story. >> he was a good friend of mine and made a comment. maybe you want to comment on it but that you all literally used every bit of ordinance in that part of afghanistan to call in planes from a carrier. >> i wish there were people here tonight. dave is one of those phenomenal heroes that is a mean old dog and will never get on the porch. that is why he has so much respect from those soldiers that day serve with. that is true on multiple locations we nearly ran out of ammunition which is one of the chapters. act one part in the battle

not only run out of small arms ammunition but also aircraft. we went through about 79 it sorties of aircraft which is almost unthinkable of less you think about massive conflicts like vietnam or korea or world war ii where literally there was an aircraft carrier support was shifted to iraq to afghanistan to respond to the amount of taliban being interdicted to the valley. to say that as some moments it was extremely dire is an understatement. but if anybody stood the ground they refuse to give it up. and tell you the u.s. air force came through on time and on target.

>> you mentioned your past experience. do see where you will write another book? >> yes. hopefully we can make the book successful with one operation that we were expected to conducted right after medusa called eagle summit. essentially during that period of time we were so short of security forces, we were unable to hold the ground and villages we had cleared progress after we clear the man had withdrawn the taliban moved back can. again, the guys from the group were called to go clean them out. how they did it was completely different from

how it was down the first time. i hope that opportunity does arise. i will put pen to paper so we will have one ready. [laughter] >> between now and then you hear about efforts to talk to the taliban. how do feel about that? >> people who do throw that question now there don't spend much time in the country or the ideology of the extremism of the taliban. there is no negotiating with these people. the same people when they cannot destroy coalition for engage coalition forces day turn on their own people to disembowel ltd. from of their husbands, a cut the nose and ears of their children. we cannot expect a level of

negotiation in. not anything that i have to say but what they have clearly stated consistently. when i hear people ask that, you have seen what they will do and the knowledge of the senior leaders who ordered it to know it is taking place and don't do anything to prevent it from it is indicative of what that organization would do too any member of any westerner or american if given the opportunity. >> it is well-documented after the soviets were thrown out what they do too their own people. >> and they continue.

in areas where they have no control except fear and that is a terrorist organizations do. they feed off your terror. one of the things i use the the insurgency continues to morph, look at 2006 which is just as applicable today how enemy continues to fight for land and people they don't control. of course, they will go into kandahar city to overthrow the police station because the people in the villages say they don't want them there and want them to leave. that is what makes defense like this today even more significant why we placed so much effort into taking the grass roots out from under the taliban with no popular

support because it is their birthplace. but they are losing their grip quickly. >> how do they come together like that? both days totally different what else do you see? >> it is the quality and caliber of the man. if you don't know about special forces, you are recruited selected and trained because you are fiercely independent and smart and adaptive and

competitive and also a team player. the brother of the men who stand next to you to steal a line it is not about mom and dad or apple pie a or baseball but the man fighting to your left or right. at the end of the day that is why they fight so cohesively because it is about the brotherhood. you will read about guys two were wounded two retreated under fire then turned around to get medevac and almost got into fistfights and hospitals to come back to their unit. that is not something of a movie. that really happens but the caliber of the men they will read about in the book.

anybody else? >> especially for all of us, will come home and we're so proud of the book and the journey you are about to take. that is phenomenal. >> it is humbling much as the military but this community and my church family. any misspellings? [laughter] of. >> given what you just about the taliban that you cannot negotiate, what is the long-term prospects with withdrawal? >> i just dodged a couple of those very short bullets not too long ago. [laughter] it is a fair question. but i will tell you that