H.R. McMaster is a retired 3-star General, former National Security Advisor, decorated Iraq and Gulf War veteran, and an influential author. Having his endorsement for Bastards & Brothers is a major honor.

Here’s his full endorsement for Bastards & Brothers:

This book should be required reading for NCO’s, junior officers and senior leaders. Ajax Trueblood describes in compelling detail tactical level actions and tough decisions that had strategic consequences. Our troopers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in Ninewa Province, fought adjacent to Marines of Third Battalion, Second Marines and Regimental Combat Team 2.  We monitored each other’s operations and situation reports.  Our cavalry troopers and the Marines of 3/2 took the offensive against a brutal and determined enemy.  The author brings readers into the command post for campaign planning and into the streets for house-to-house fighting in Western Iraq. This is a study of command and combat leadership at all levels.  And it is a fitting tribute to those who fought and sacrificed for the mission and their fellow Marines.

–H.R. McMaster, 71st Colonel of the Third U.S. Cavalry and author of Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World.

McMaster’s new book, Battlegrounds: is a groundbreaking reassessment of America’s place in the world, drawing from his long engagement with these issues, including 34 years of service with multiple tours of duty in battlegrounds overseas and his 13 months as National Security Advisor.

McMaster is a fascinating guy, and real soldier/scholar/intellectual. As a young captain he led a brilliant attack during the Gulf War, in the Battle of 73 Easting, and was awarded the Silver Star for his combat leadership.

He then wrote the best-seller Dereliction of Duty, about U.S. generals in the Vietnam War. He is now a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, and hosts an outstanding podcast.