A lieutenant's gripping, personal account of the legendary U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division's stand in the mountains of Afghanistan. -- From the publisher.

Prologue: February 5, 2006, Eastern Afghanistan / Part I. Outlaw country. Game faces -- Prisoner of the divide -- The long, dark reach / Part II. The spring offensive. Only do, or do not: May 7, 2006 -- Gauntlet: May 7, 2006 -- Welcome to the family -- The becoming -- Bring out your dead: May 8, 2006, FOB Bermel -- The moral high ground / Part II. The summer of discontent. The gates of Mordor: June 9, 2006, east of FOB Bermel-outlaw country -- Morning on the mountain: June 10, 2006, east of FOB Bermel -- The zombie apocalypse -- Desolation walk -- Blood brothers -- The place beyond devotion -- Chickenshit squared -- Skeleton crew: June 26, 2006, checkpoint outside Malakshay -- Arrival moment -- Rocket's red glare -- Last fair deal gone down: mid-July 2006 -- Village of the damned: late July 2006, Afghan-Pakistani border -- Shake and bake: late July 2006 -- The far side of the sky: August 16, 2006, Ocean City, Maryland -- We stumble through: August 16, 2006, Ocean City, Maryland / Part IV. Indomitable moments. Crosses to bear: late August 2006, Bermel -- The place where mettle grows -- The last last stand -- Homeward bound: FOB Bermel, January 20, 2007 / Epilogue: Summer 2009.