When the Tempest Gathers

Winner of the MCHF Eugene Sledge Award! These are the intense combat experiences of the first Marine to command a special operations task force recounted against a backdrop of his journey from raw Second Lieutenant to Task Force Commander; from leading Marines through the streets of Mogadishu, Baghdad and Mosul to directing special operations in an impossibly complex fight against a formidable foe. The journey culminates in the story's centerpiece: the fight against ISIS - one which finally seems to make sense for the soldiers, sailors and Marines involved, in which the author is able to use the lessons of his harsh apprenticeship to lead the SOF task force under his command to hasten the Caliphate's eventual demise. Milburn combines self-effacing candor with the insight and skill of a natural story teller to make the reader experience what it's like to lead those who fight America's wars.