This book pays a great tribute to American commandos during a battle on a mountain high altitude, ice, wind at night in Afghanistan lead by special forces commandos. The spirit is high. Fierce combats. The ennemy is dreadful. Very nice work.

"Roberts Ridge" tells it like it is! Rather hard to follow at times, and that's partially the fault of the author. But, in his favor, given the convoluted command structure that was in place at the time of the ill fated recon & subsequent rescue attempts on Takur Ghar, he does the best he can. I was constantly going back through the text trying to figure out who was calling which shots during this action. The book does provide an insider's look at the "Fog of War" and the confusion resulting therefrom. It also is an outstanding tale of courage and fortitude on the part of the Navy Seals, USAF Spec Ops, and Army Rangers who were involved in this combat operation. And there's sadness inasmuch as the casualties incurred by all the fine US forces involved need not have happened. JKBelew in Texas, an Old Marine & lifelong military history student.

MacPherson has given a good account of the events that transpired on Takur Ghar itself, seemingly without offense to any of the combatants; only they and perhaps their families and friends can judge that. This should be read for what it is - a segment of Operation Anaconda. If one seeks this to be the only and solely definitive book on Operation Anaconda, reading this alone would be an injustice to the reader, the writers of other works, such as Sean Naylor (Not a Good Day to Die), to MacPherson, and most importantly to the men who sacrificed much or all there. MacPherson does succeed in bringing you into a mission gone horribly wrong. As did mine, your anger will stir at the inability of, and over reliance upon our modern technology...and those who build missions on it (MacPherson doesn't criticize them as he could). This is a story of of bravery and sacrifice amid confusion and carnage. I do not agree with the review accusing MacPherson of attempting to, or falling short of writing another Black Hawk Down. This was a very different operation, with none of the "eyes on" command and control aspects of BHD. The men on Takur Ghar flew blindly into a compounding disaster. However, the courage, collective strength, sacrifice and joint special operations efforts of the men in the air and on the ground come through very clearly (unfortunately so do the dis-jointed and vastly physically/philosphically dispersed commands, but again, MacPherson does not judge their multiple, duplicative, and conflicting directives).
This is a page turner. I found myself feeling the loss of the SEALs, the frustration of the QRF Rangers, the valiant efforts of the Medics, the Aviators, and Air Force Controllers. I wanted to know more about the men and more about their lives beyond what MacPherson could provide. Such is the limitation on any work dealing with Special Operations.
If you want or need a more comprehensive of the "why they were there", my suggestion is to read this along with Naylor's work. That said, this a book I have, and will recommend.

I read Not a Good Day to Die immediately prior to reading Roberts Ridge. I was curious about the comparison and thought the topic was worth reading both. I wasn't disappointed.

Roberts Ridge has one significant shortcoming as a piece of nonfiction and that really stands out against Not a Good Day to Die. The subject matter of Robert's Ridge takes place during a much larger operation named Operation Anaconda. Roberts Ridge can be read in isolation but the reader is left without an understanding of the larger context in which it took place. And that context is helpful in understanding how the events on Roberts Ridge came to be and who the actors where. Without that context, the book essentially becomes a kind of action book, focusing on only what happened at in that limited time, as opposed to a more useful piece of nonfiction.

The author seems to spend too much focus on the jocularity during combat. Some of that humanizes the characters but again, it felt like the author was aiming for the equivalent of an action movie. And remembering the success of Black Hawk Down, he may have been.

I also don't like the title. Neil Roberts died alone on that mountain, giving his life for his country in unfortunate circumstances. As far as I've read, the place retains its historic name and only the title of this book calls it Roberts Ridge. That seems to me to be a little cavalier.

If you have the time and interest to read both, read Not a Good Day to Die First. You'll understand more. But that book has its own flaws that Roberts Ridge helps offset so they are both worthwhile.

I have to say that prior to writing my own review, I read the reviews below and I am saddened that apparent family members of the fallen feel an injustice was perpetrated by this book. If that's true then that is very unfortunate. However, since I don't know anything about these issues personally, I can only comment on my experience with the book, and I loved it. While others clearly did not care for the author's writing style, I enjoyed it much more than many of the other military non-fiction writers I have read. I thought the author did a great job of bringing together the accounts of so many people and I also appreciated the insight into who the lives of the soldiers that was afforded by the chapters about their backgrounds. It gave a very personal ring to the story. I have not read Naylor's account yet, but it is next on my list. Overall I'd highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Black Hawk Down or similar works. It's a very quick read with more action than most books in this genre can boast of.

I knew only a little about this story before reading "Roberts Ridge." There are (of course) contradicting accounts about what "really happened" on Takur Ghar, but the story this book tells from that momentous fight was very compelling in my opinion. I read the book quickly and enjoyed it throughout. There are so many people involved in this battle it does get hard to keep it all straight in a few spots. Overall, I enjoyed the book and appreciated MacPherson's writing style.

This is one of the best ones I've read about the fighting and the problems the Marines had fighting in that terrain.

Even the television has made a documentary of this event - I am damn proud of the Marines and this fighting force particularly.

The MOST PROFOUND part of the entire book was the final writing in the book with regard to the SOG Fund to pay for the educational costs of the children of our lost warriors. I was so impressed I sent them a sizable donation.

I was then even more impressed to receive a personal thank you from the fund's director.

Simply outstanding - I could not put it down and found myself reading this until the sun came up.

"Roberts Ridge" is the story of a mission during Operation Anaconda in March 2002. The goal was to set a Navy SEAL team on top of the mountain Takur Ghar, Afghanistan, and observe Taliban and al-Qaeda soldiers and report back to headquarters. But what the SEALs stumbled into was a al-Qaeda base, and they fought back, shooting down a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and wounding and killing some of the team. Indeed the first man killed was SEAL team leader Petty Officer Roberts, whom the book is named for. The Army Rangers (led by Captain. Self, who becomes the new narrator) were called in to rescue the SEALs, but ended up trapped on the mountain as well when their Chinook was also shot down. What followed was a 17 hour fight for survival in the highest elevation U.S. troops have ever fought on. They had to contend with the cold, lack of oxygen, and an enemy who was more dug in than expected. When the Rangers and SEALs were finally rescued, seven of them had been killed, and more than half wounded, some of them life long injuries.

This book is obviously trying to copy Mark Bowden's "Blackhawk Down", and the stories (both real life incidences) are eerily similar. Both are about botched military operations; both showed men doing incredible things under enormous pressure, and when it comes right down to it, it's about the men beside you. The book really made me think that military brass hadn't learned their lesson from The Battle of Mogadishu. They seriously underestimated the enemy, al-Qaeda was thought to run when contact was initiated, but they did not. Instead they were set up in incredible network of bunkers and caves in the mountains. The equipment that the modern Army frequently failed on them, and a second rescue was very slow in coming. These are the facts. That it repeated Mogadishu so exactly is scary. That is the good thing about the book, the story of the mission and it's people.

The bad thing is the writing. It was thick and got so bogged down so often that I just didn't care and had to force myself to keep trudging through. It is a fascinating story about modern war and it's fallacy, but it is horribly written. I thought it could have been edited better, with a lot more thought going into quick action sentences instead of trying to make it so epic; it's already a great story, it doesn't need any help. It made me feel so apart from the men that it was hard to relate to them at all.

Still a good book, a story worth knowing. It's just like climbing a mountain, it's hard going, but worth it when you're done.

These stories of heroism need to be on the front pages of the news rather than the depressing, negative drama we have become so desensitized to. This isn't necessarily suppose to be a great work of prose, but a detailed and accurate look of what happened on Takur Ghar during Operation Anaconda. If you are interested in true stories of heroes that are utterly ignored by the popular media these days, pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

Roberts Ridge is a great story ruined by bad writing. The events of Takhur Gar could easily have been the next "Blackhawk Down" but poor writing and lackluster prose actually separated me from the characters when I found myself wanting to bond more with them. It seems this book was rushed into production in the hopes of the public latching onto it as the first great story from the war on terrorism, but it falls well short of that pinnacle. Overall it's a story worth telling, but it would have been better told by someone else.

A real "grabber" and a good read. Unbelievable lack of communication in this high tech age. America has some VERY brave men.

I first read "Not A Good Day to Die" by Sean Naylor and could immediately feel the bias towards the SEALS that had been involved in the planning and execution of Operation Anaconda. Being that Mr. Naylor has written for Army Times for a number of years, it was easy to pick out. So much for journalistic impartiality. After reading "Roberts Ridge", I was much impressed by Malcolm MacPherson's writing. There is not one slander or slight to any member of any service. It is straight forward writing, very descriptive, and gut-wrenching at times. It was so good, there were times that I could watch it in my head and thought, "This would make a great movie, much like Blackhawk Down". I strongly recommend Roberts Ridge, and I commend Mr. MacPherson on a job well done!

I have done research and have actually talked to a few people who where there and they agree that this book is the most accurate story of what happened on Takur Ghar Mountain. You feel the intensity of the battle. Mr MacPherson did a great job telling the story of these American Heros.