On Point : The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom

This hard-hitting, authoritative account of U.S. Army operations during the Second Gulf War draws on official records and work carried out by the Army's Operation Iraqi Freedom Study Group.

The authors cover everything from logistical operations to gunfights at platoon level to help readers understand the complexity, scale, and rigors of the war and what it was like for the solders in the field.

As Gen. Tommy Franks says in the foreword, the book is far more than a standard campaign history.

It not only puts the Army's story in the context of joint operations in Iraq but also analyzes the operation in admirable detail.

Using hundreds of interviews of the troops and scores of detailed maps and illustrations, it provides a user-friendly guide to the Army's first major campaign in more than a decade and ten-years worth of investments in digitalization and interservice operability.

The first part of the book reviews the evolution of the US Army since the First Gulf War and establishes the context in which preparation for the second occurred.

A narrative of combat operations up to 1 May 2003 follows with a focus at the tactical level but set in the context of theater-level operations.

The book concludes with suggestions of early implications for the Army and joint forces as they shape future force structure and training.

This book is published in cooperation with the Association of the United States Army. Col. GREGORY FONTENOT, USA (Ret.), commanded a battalion in the Army's point division that broke the Saddam line in the First Gulf War and is a former director of the School of Advanced Military Studies.

Lt. Col. E. J. DEGEN, USA, has served at all levels in Field Artillery Battalions and during Operation Iraqi Freedom he was chief of plans for the Vth US Corps in Heidelberg, Germany, and in Baghdad, Iraq.

Lt. Col. DAVID TOHN, USA began his service in the Air Defense Artillery and transitioned to Military Intelligence.

He currently commands the 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion.