Operation Pineapple Express: The Incredible Story of a Group of Americans Who Undertook One Last Mission and Honored a Promise in Afghanistan - Softcover

Mann, LT Col Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1668003643 ISBN 13: 9781668003640

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2023

Synopsis

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

An edge-of-your-seat military memoir and true story about a group of retired Green Berets who come together to save a former comrade--and 500 other Afghans--targeted by the Taliban amid the chaos of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan.

In April 2021, a Special Forces operator deployed abroad sends an urgent plea: Get Nezam out of Afghanistan now. Nezam, one of the first Afghan National Army commandos trained alongside US Special Forces, is receiving threatening messages from the Taliban. His former commander, retired Lt. Col. Scott Mann, activates Task Force Pineapple, connecting with fellow special operations veterans and allies to plan a high-risk rescue mission.

Operating from basements and garages, the team orchestrates an escape route into Taliban-controlled Kabul, working around enemy checkpoints and surging crowds to get Nezam through Kabul airport safely. When calls flood in from other veterans, interpreters, and at-risk civilians, the mission expands--and Task Force Pineapple rescues 500 more Afghans in three turbulent days before the deadly ISIS-K suicide bombing. Operation Pineapple Express is a thrilling account of heroism, service, and loyalty in the final days of the War on Terror.

About this title

About the Author

Lt. Col. Scott Mann is a retired Green Beret with over twenty-two years of Army and Special Operations experience around the world. He has deployed to Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is the CEO of Rooftop Leadership and the founder of a 501c3 committed to helping veterans tell their stories in transition. Scott regularly speaks to and trains corporate leaders, law enforcement, and special operations forces on best practices for going local and making better human connections. Scott has frequent appearances on Fox News, CNN, and other national platforms as a thought leader on countering violent extremism, building organizational relationships, and restoring trust in our communities. He is also an actor and playwright who has written a play about the war called Last Out--Elegy of a Green Beret on Amazon Prime.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Prologue PROLOGUE

KABUL—AUGUST 19, 2021

Nezam stacked a few bricks and squirted lighter fluid on some wood chips. He clicked open a Zippo and lit the pile. Flames jumped up in a small fire.

Morning light was just beginning to spread over the neighborhood; the power had been off all night. At one point, he had sat in his uncle’s car in the dark, his powered-down iPhone plugged into the charger. The sporadic choppa of Kalashnikov rifles had subsided. The silence was eerie.

His phone was still off as he huddled by the fire. One at a time, he fed sheets of paper into the flames. With all the cooking fires in the neighborhood, the smoke wouldn’t draw attention. The papers were colorfully adorned with commando crests, Afghan and American flags, skulls pierced with daggers, scorpions, helicopters, rifles. They praised Nezam in English or Dari. They were signed by commanders—no last names. SF Dave. Captain Rob. There was the Defense Language Institute English course. Commando Kandak Certificates of Achievement. Letters of recommendation from a 75th Ranger Regiment battalion commander.

It was Nezam’s life that was going up in flames. It was everything the Afghan National Army recruiter in Takhar had told him he was too small to be. It was everything that made him stand tall against his corrupt uncle back home. It was what the fat mess hall sergeant had tried to lock him away from becoming.

In a way, however, maybe they’d been right. They were just looking at it the wrong way. It wasn’t Nezam who couldn’t do it—it was Afghanistan.

The papers burned. But they were only symbols.

He was still an elite special operator.

Besides, he had copies. He’d uploaded the documents to a cloud account belonging to several of his U.S. friends, just in case.

But then Nezam pulled out his graduation certificate from the Q Course at Fort Bragg. And the orders authorizing him to wear the blue and gold “long tab” emblazoned with SPECIAL FORCES.

I can’t do it, he thought.

He folded up this and a few other original American documents, tucked them deep in his shirt, and poured water over the embers. Black smoke wafted skyward. Looking up, he noticed an old mujahideen staring at him from beyond a row of hedges twenty-five feet away. One of the neighborhood guys he played chess with. Did he see me burning papers? Does he know who I am?

Nezam smiled and placed his right hand over his heart, the common greeting among Afghans, waiting for a reaction. The mujahideen slowly lifted his palm to his own chest, a silent salaam, and shuffled out of sight.

The old warrior had given his blessing.

A few moments later, Nezam powered on his phone. A flood of messages popped up, ones that had been sent hours earlier.

One caught his eye.

MULLAH MIKE

Brother, it’s time to go.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1668003643
• ISBN 13: 9781668003640
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432