{"id":27462,"date":"2016-09-11T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/09\/11\/level-zero-heroes-author-returns-with-second-marsoc-tell-all\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:52:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:52:43","slug":"level-zero-heroes-author-returns-with-second-marsoc-tell-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2016\/09\/11\/level-zero-heroes-author-returns-with-second-marsoc-tell-all\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Level Zero Heroes’ author returns with second MARSOC tell-all"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MARSOC veteran and best-selling author Michael Golembesky is about to release the follow-up installment to his memoir on\u00a0a Marine special operations team’s missions in Afghanistan.\u00a0“Dagger 22,” which will be released on Sept. 20, picks up where “Level Zero Heroes” left off. Golembesky’s second installment concludes the story of\u00a0<\/span>Marine Corps Special Operations Team 8222’s deployment to Bala Murghab valley in Afghanistan’s northwest Badghis province.\u00a0Like its predecessor, “Dagger 22”\u00a0rejects the typical approach of most military books, which strive to provide details of an operation from every possible angle. Golembesky, or “Ski,” as the team calls him, focuses instead on his fellow operators.<\/span>\"MAR

Michael Golembesky, the author of “Level Zero Heroes” and “Dagger 22,” is seen here during his 2009-2010 deployment to Bala Murghab, Afghanistan.<\/span><\/figcaption>
Photo Credit: Photo by Patrick Dolphin <\/span><\/figcaption>The result is a no-holds-barred account of some of the ugliest combat in Afghanistan. The team\u00a0fought\u00a0against the\u00a0Taliban, the restrictive rules set by higher headquarters, boredom, bitter cold weather, and sometimes each other as the\u00a0Marine alpha males battled everything from fear to fatigue.<\/span>“I\u00a0<\/span>hope it gives young Marines insight into unconventional operations,” Golembesky told Marine Corps Times. “Special operations is more of an outside-of-the-box thinking. It is smaller teams, more capabilities, different mission sets, and these are the caliber of people that are required to fill the ranks.“Strive to be that caliber in order to honor the legacy and carry the organization into a greater future.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

“Dagger 22”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

has a different feel from “Level Zero Heroes,” Golembesky said, which landed on the recommended reading list for U.S. Special Operations Command weeks after its 2014 release. That book\u00a0centered on defensive, reactive operations from Forward Operating Base Todd. In “Dagger 22,” the team turns from reactive to proactive operations to shape the battlefield in anticipation of the spring offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While MSOT 8222 included some of the most capable members of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command, the book shows their human side<\/p>\n\n\n\n

. The team’s tight brotherhood is strained after a mission goes wrong. The Marines struggle to cope with boredom, loss and frustration over restrictive tactical directives issued by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, then-commander of International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces Afghanistan. Teams were prohibited from using aircraft-delivered munitions without approval from a high-level commander. Night raids on compounds and homes \u2014 the very places the Taliban were known to hole up \u2014 were out of the question.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Dagger 22”\u00a0captures the Marines’ frustration. At one point, he said the\u00a0team even “flatly called into question our reason for even being there.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You have to put confidence in guys on the ground,” said Golembesky, a former joint terminal attack controller\u00a0who now teaches classes on drone operations at the Air Force Academy. “…The ones there can see the depth of the situation, and they know the history of how it got there and they can see where it is headed. Those 90 clicks away in an air conditioned room don\u2019t have that insight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n