The other day I visited Barnes and Noble and stumbled upon this book in the military history section. It came out last February and it is a great little book for folks interested in reading about special operations guys. What perked me up about the book was what this special operations soldier did after retirement. Changiz got out of the military in 2000, and immediately got into contract work like most SF guys do when they get out. When 9/11 happened, that is when his contracting career took off and the book transitioned from a story about life in special operations to a life of contract work.
This book chronicles that work and his story is familiar to a lot contractors that have been doing this awhile. Many veterans came back into the fold as contractors because of their desire to do something in the war effort after 9/11. What is interesting about Changiz’s story is that he was involved in some significant events in recent contracting history.
I don’t want to spoil it too much, but he was one of the first folks assigned to the Karzai detail when USIS fired that contract up. So it was cool hearing about the early days of the program, and it reminded me a lot of Frank Gallagher’s story about the Bremer Detail in Iraq (which is a fantastic book as well). Other companies Changiz worked for were DynCorp, PAE, and MPRI to name a few.
His book details 12 years of contracting and it is some cool history. I liked it because it dug into specific contracts that I had only heard rumors about, and it also detailed some contracts I had no idea about. Check it out, and there is a Kindle and audio version of the book if you are interested in that kind of thing. –Matt
Full Battle Rattle: My Story as the Longest-Serving Special Forces A-Team Soldier in American History
By Changiz Lahidji and Ralph PezzuloOver 100 combat missions, 24 years as a Green Beret—Full Battle Rattle tells the legend of a soldier who served America in every war since Vietnam.
Master Sergeant Changiz Lahidji served on Special Forces A teams longer than anyone in history, completing over a hundred combat missions in Afghanistan. Changiz is a Special Forces legend. He also happens to be the first Muslim Green Beret.
Changiz served this country starting with Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, when he entered Tehran on a one-man mission to spy on Iranian soldiers guarding the US Embassy where 52 US diplomats were being held hostage. Three years later, he was in Beirut, Lebanon when a suicide car bomb exploded in front of the US Embassy killing 83 people. Weeks after that, he was shot by Hezbollah terrorists on a night mission.
In Operation Iraqi Freedom, he led a convoy that was ambushed on its way to Fallujah. He was clearing houses in Mogadishu, Somalia on October, 1993 when a US Black Hawk helicopter was shot down 50 feet away from him in the incident that inspired Black Hawk Down. In 2002, he dressed as a farmer and snuck into Eastern Afghanistan and located Osama Bin Laden for the CIA.
Along the way, Changiz earned numerous commendations, including the Special Forces Legion of Merit, Purple Hearts, and many others. Last year he was nominated for induction in Military Intelligence Hall of Fame and cited as “the finest noncommissioned officer to ever serve in Special Forces.”
His story is an amazing tale of perseverance and courage, of combat and one man’s love of his adopted country.Buy the book here.