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Title details for Hard Corps by Marco Martinez - Available

Hard Corps

From Gangster to Marine Hero

by Marco Martinez
ebook
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At the age of seventeen, Marco Martinez was a thug—a gun-toting, car-stealing gang member. At the age of twenty-two, he was a hero—the recipient of the Navy Cross, the second-highest honor a U.S. Marine can receive, for extraordinary heroism under fire in the Iraq War. Hard Corps tells the story of his incredible transformation and of his experiences on the front lines of the War on Terror.Writing with passion and candor, Martinez brings us back to his gang days, detailing experiences that make him “shudder in shame” to remember. And he recalls the moment that changed everything for him, when he spotted a barrel-chested U.S. Marine Corps recruiter at his high school. Immediately, he saw an opportunity to alter the course of his aimless life. Martinez takes us with him through the grueling ordeal of Marine boot camp and the even-more-punishing training at the School of Infantry to show just how warriors are made. He reveals how he and his fellow grunts prepared tirelessly for battle, seeing combat not as a burden but as a privilege, the ultimate baptism by fire.For Martinez, that baptism came in Iraq. In Hard Corps, he unfolds a warrior’s tale as riveting, harrowing, and immediate as any ever written. He takes us onto the narrow, treacherous streets of Baghdad, where enemy fire rains down from all directions; alongside his Marine squad as they patrol through the most dangerous war zone imaginable; and into a brutal terrorist ambush that calls upon reserves of ferocity and courage none of the Marines could ever be certain they possessed and that proves the value of every moment of their torturous training. Martinez also recounts stunning reminders of why we fight: the Iraqi man he met whose tongue had been chopped off for speaking out against Saddam Hussein’s regime, the ghastly evidence of human experimentation that Martinez’s squad discovered at an abandoned Iraqi military barracks, and the horrifying mass graves the Marines unearthed in the Iraqi desert.Hard Corps gives us a visceral sense of what it means to know that you are ready to die for your brother Marines and that they would do the same for you. It tells us how it feels when words like duty, honor, and country are not an empty slogan. And, ultimately, it captures the traditions and ooh-rah spirit of the U.S. Marine Corps and the valor of all the Marines, sailors, soldiers,

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 25, 2007

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780307408037

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780307408037
      • File size: 324 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      July 30, 2007
      In this macho, profanity-laced memoir by a 2003 Iraqi invasion veteran, Martinez describes himself as a Hispanic juvenile delinquent from Albuquerque, N.Mex., who turned his life around by joining the marines in 2001. His exploits (including winning the Navy Cross) will entertain military buffs with precise details of combat and of a sadistic boot camp that recalls the antiwar movie (but Marine and Martinez favorite) Full Metal Jacket
      . Bonded and eager for battle, his unit yearned in vain to fight in Afghanistan after 9/11 and joyfully participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Though experts now agree our forces overwhelmed Saddam Hussein's disorganized army, Martinez and his men assumed they faced a vicious enemy, referred to by Martinez as “terrorists,” and killed scores while destroying buildings with their overwhelming firepower. His company suffered two wounded. Martinez never doubts that he fought to defend America's freedom and freely admits his contempt for those who don't appreciate this. The book is peppered with denunciation of “biased news coverage,” “liberals,” “hippies,” John Kerry and Anthony Swofford (ex-marine author of Jarhead)
      , but readers who enjoy learning about the mechanics of an urban gang and of a marine platoon in combat are unlikely to object.

    • Booklist

      September 1, 2007
      Hard corps is a term of praise for a really dedicated marine. Its highly merited by Martinez, who pulls no punches, including in his language about his gangbanging teen years before, vaguely wanting an alternative and at the prodding of some mentors, he enlisted in the marines. Nor is there any bowdlerizing in his description of boot camp as intended to simulate the stresses of infantry combat (the marines overriding purpose, after all) without deliberately killing anybody. Thereafter comes a grunts-eye view of marine garrison service and, at last, deployment to Iraq. Martinezs battalion was one of the first into Baghdad and shortly after was engaged in a knock-down, drag-out fire fight in the suburbs, which Martinez most vividly relates and for which he received the Navy Cross for courage and leadership. Now a civilian again, Martinez will always be proud to have worn the title of United States Marine, and any reader interested in such a mans self-portrait will devour this book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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