Damn Fine Soldiers

A frontline account of the battles, the brotherhood, and the grit that defined the opening drive of Operation Iraqi Freedom. 2100 hours, 20 March 2003, western Kuwait.  Missiles streaked the night sky like the Fourth of July as American fighting vehicles revved and rattled near the Iraqi border.  Distant fires flickered on the horizon.  Jittery soldiers reported unidentified objects they thought were enemy tanks.  The ground war in Iraq was fifteen hours old, and after more than a month in Kuwait, Task Force 2-7 stood ready to enter the fray – to breach the border and race toward their objective 400 miles away:  Baghdad.  During the next three weeks, the 2-7 would fight a series of eight battles culminating in the capture of Saddam International Airport and the thrust into the heart of Iraq’s capital. Lieutenant Colonel Scott Rutter commanded Task Force 2-7 – an aggressive battalion-sized outfit built to pack a punch while advancing fast – and then-Captain Matt Paul led a mortar platoon under him.  21 Days to Baghdad is their firsthand account of the 2-7’s thundering drive up the Iraqi desert during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Beginning with the tense, uncertain moments when the task force rumbled into Iraq and swung its left hook along the Euphrates River, Rutter and Paul vividly narrate the 2-7’s march through a landscape haunted by the landmarks of ancient Mesopotamia and littered with debris from Desert Storm a dozen years earlier.  From As Samawah to the Karbala Gap, from Saddam Airport to Baghdad, Task Force 2-7 waged a daring ground campaign that shocked and awed every bit as much as the massive aerial bombardment that preceded it.  With the special grit and determination of the U.S. Army, the 2-7 fought its way north, battling a motley assortment of Iraqi Republican Guard, special forces, and militia – busting bunkers, demolishing enemy tanks, searching cars and buses – braving snipers, ambushes, boobytraps, and suicide bombers – enduring sand, sun, and heat – and dealing with the inevitable loss of good soldiers, one of whom would be awarded the Medal of Honor. Visceral and reflective, 21 Days to Baghdad is an unfiltered account of modern war, told from the tip of the spear that drove deep into Iraq in March and April 2003. More than a memoir by two commanders who led from the front, it is testimony and tribute to the fighting spirit of the American soldier.

Lt. Col. Scott Rutter was one of the most visible soldiers of the first phase of the Iraq War, where he received the Silver Star for his leadership of Task Force 2-7. During his more than twenty-year career in the U.S. Army, he served in air assault, mechanized, and intelligence assignments.  As a company commander during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, he earned the Bronze Star.  After his retirement in 2004, he became a war correspondent for Fox News and covered events on the ground in Iraq, including the Battle of Fallujah.  He has also appeared on CNN and MSNBC as a military analyst.  A board member of the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, Rutter now spends much of his time as a speaker and advocate for service members, veterans, and their families.  He lives near Glassboro, New Jersey. Col. Matthew Paul spent ten years as a platoon leader and company commander in various U.S. Army units.  After serving in Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division’s Task Force 2-7, he returned with the 101st Airborne Division in 2006 to train Iraqi Security Forces and conduct counterinsurgency operations.  Colonel Paul remains on active duty with the U.S. Army Acquisition Corps.  He lives near Washington, DC.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS                                                                PREFACE                                                                                            MARCHING ORDERS                                                                       TROOP LEADING PROCEDURES                                                  EVENT 1 THE BREACH                                                                    EVENT 2 THE DRIVE FROM HELL                                                 EVENT 3-5 THE DRIVE FROM HELL-PART 2                                OBJECTIVE RAIDERS                                                                      KARBALLA GAP                                                                              EVENT 6 OBJECTIVE HANNAH-THE LONGEST NIGHT                                                 EVENT 7 OBJECTIVE LIONS-THE BATTLE FOR SADDAM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT THE COUNTERATTACK                                                                 BAGHDAD-THE BATTLE FOR HIGHWAY 8                                  THE AFTERMATH                                                                            PARTING THOUGHTS                                                                    EPILOGUE                                                                                                        AWARDS AND MEDALS