 | THE MAJESTIC TWELVE MSGT Jack Lynch II, USMC (Ret.) with Rick Lynch
Thomas Dunne Books
Not Yet Published
Genre: Combat History |
On February 11, 2004, United States Marine Corps Master Sergeant and military historian Jack W. Lynch II arrived in Baghdad’s Green Zone to find a Headquarters Company nearly paralyzed with fear, timidly crouching as virtual prisoners behind the walls of Hussein’s commandeered Presidential Palace. Convoys between the Palace and Camp Victory, 5.4 miles down Baghdad’s highways, were attacked with amazing regularity by Iraqi guerillas, and why not? After all, official Headquarters policy was plainly and simply “Run! Run! Run! Under no circumstances engage the enemy; take the fire, put the pedal to the metal, and run!”
Master Sergeant Lynch changed all that. Organizing convoy escorts into “hunter/killer teams,” modeled on the amazingly successful German commerce raiders of World War II, he transformed the equation dramatically. Almost overnight, attacking a U.S. convoy became the last thing scores of Iraqis ever did.
The team (one woman and twelve men) was handpicked and trained by Master Sergeant Lynch and from day one their trademarks on Baghdad’s roadways were swift and lethal violence and a battlefield flamboyance not seen since the days of Civil War cavalry.
Individually they were known as Maji Knights, collectively they were The Majestic Twelve, and they stalked the Palace Highway praying for any excuse to dismount their vehicles and exterminate the enemy in close combat. Wherever they went, with radio call signs like “Trick Shot,” “Rockstar,” and “Machinegun Kelly,” wearing Arab shamocks rakishly about their necks, using the enemy’s AK-47s, their vehicles audaciously emblazoned with their custom designed “dagger & serpents” logo, they left behind stacks of Iraqi dead, and an enemy brutalized by shocking violence and an unrelenting tornado of lead and fire.
This is the story of over 200 combat missions run over some of the most dangerous roads in Iraq. It is also the story of American ingenuity that overcame the obstructionism, indifference, and even outright hostility of a timid and frightened higher command. Most importantly, it is the story of a tight knit unit that rose above it all with a single-minded determination to do anything required to win the war. In the end, their faith in the competence, fairness, and justice of their superiors would be destroyed, but their faith in their mission, their country, and, more importantly, each other, would remain solid. This is the story of The Majestic Twelve. |
|
|
| British Rights: | The Zack Company, Inc. | | Translation Rights: | The Zack Company, Inc. | | Audio Rights: | The Zack Company, Inc. | | Film & TV Rights: | The Zack Company, Inc. | | Rights Sold: | |
|
 
|
|
The Zack Company, Inc.
