Soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines share their great American war stories. \u201cWalk in My Combat Boots\u201d is a powerful collection of never-before-told war stories crafted from hundreds of original interviews by James Patterson, America\u2019s most trusted storyteller, and First Sergeant US Army (Ret.)<\/i> Matt Eversmann, part of the Ranger unit involved in the infamous Battle of Mogadishu portrayed in the movie \u201cBlack Hawk Down.\u201d These are the brutally honest stories usually only shared amongst comrades in arms. Here, in the voices of the men and women who\u2019ve fought overseas from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, is a rare eye-opening look into what wearing the uniform, fighting in combat, losing friends and coming home is really like. Readers who next thank a military member for their service will finally have a true understanding of what that thanks is for.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lisa Marie Bodenburg<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lisa Marie Bodenburg grew up in upstate New York, right near Buffalo. In high school, she was an honor roll student and played varsity sports; was a member of the Model United Nations and the National Honor Society; and won multiple academic awards. She is currently a staff sergeant and a 6174, also known as a Huey crew chief or a door gunner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re throwing your life away, \u201dmy high school history teacher tells me privately, after class. \u201cYou\u2019re throwing away your talent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s not the first teacher who has said this to me. My coaches are shocked by my decision. Nearly everyone in my life is. My mother, especially. I\u2019ve tried to explain to her\u2014to everyone\u2014my decision to join the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a privilege to be in this country, not a right. I learned this lesson in an AP American history class, and it soon became my passion, driven by my overwhelming need to earn that privilege every day. It starts with my honor to live in this country and extends to my pledge to fight for those who can\u2019t earn the privilege themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I felt this way before 9\/11, but that strengthened my decision. That morning I was in the hall at school, between periods, when a teacher stepped into the doorway of his classroom and said, \u201cDo you know what\u2019s happening?\u201d I didn\u2019t. When I stepped into his classroom, he had the news on. I instantly started crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All my mother can think about is college. Neither she nor my father (who died when I was young) went, but my two brothers did, and both got full rides. Which is why I\u2019ve worked so hard in school. My mother doesn\u2019t make a lot of money, so I\u2019ve got to get a scholarship, too, or I have to pay for it myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I\u2019ve made my decision. I\u2019m joining the Marine Corps. I need something to push me, to drive me, and to bring out something in me that gives me joy. Something that isn\u2019t easy. Problem is, I\u2019m seventeen, and my mother won\u2019t sign the paperwork. I\u2019ll have to wait until I\u2019m eighteen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until then, I\u2019ll go to college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2005, I walk into the recruiter\u2019s office and say, \u201cSign me up. I want to be a Marine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay, great,\u201d the male recruiter says. All the Marines here, I notice, are men. \u201cWhat do you want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to be Force Recon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The recruiter and the other guys kind of laugh at me. \u201cOkay,\u201d the recruiter says. \u201cWhat do you really want to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t understand what\u2019s going on. \u201cI told you. I want to be Force Recon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I get defensive. \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They stare at me like I\u2019m oblivious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWomen aren\u2019t allowed in infantry billets,\u201d the recruiter says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women aren\u2019t allowed. I\u2019m so angry I get up and leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I go back to college and, after I calm down, I do some research. Then I go back to the recruiter\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the most combative position I can have?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They tell me about this illustrious military occupational specialty (MOS) called a crew chief, or a door gunner. The more they talk, the more I realize it\u2019s as close to combat as I can get. It will literally take an act of Congress to change the fact that women can\u2019t serve in infantry positions. (They can now. That act of Congress finally happened.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan females hold the crew chief position?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell,\u201d the recruiter says, \u201cwe don\u2019t know of any women who do have it, but there\u2019s nothing saying you can\u2019t. If you go in with what we call an open contract, and if you make honor graduate, you\u2019ll get to pick your job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s \u2018honor graduate\u2019 mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt means you have to be the best. You have to graduate number one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I have a goal in front of me. \u201cDone,\u201d I say. \u201cSign me up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boot camp is fun. I love it. I have a great time. I\u2019m good at it because I know I\u2019m a leader. The Marines sharpen my skills. Their no-bullshit attitude creates a sense of self-confidence in me. They solidify what I\u2019ll stand for and what I won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I am the honor graduate. Number one. I did it. I accomplished my goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tell the battalion commander I want to be a crew chief. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any slots for you,\u201d she says, \u201cso we\u2019re going to sign you up to be crash fire rescue, which is in the aviation field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After boot camp, Marines either go to the School of Infantry or, if they\u2019re not going to be in the infantry, they go to Marine Combat Training (MCT), which teaches the basics of being an infantryman. I\u2019m shipped off to Camp Geiger, in North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In boot camp, men and women are segregated. You\u2019re not even allowed to look at each other from three hundred yards away. Now I\u2019m going through MCT with the male Marines. We\u2019re integrated, and women are going up against men every single day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this course has an honor graduate as well. A slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The master gunnery sergeant asks to speak to me. I go to his office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hear you\u2019re still looking to change your MOS to be a crew chief,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, Master Gunnery Sergeant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stares at me. I know what he\u2019s thinking: there\u2019s never been a female crew chief who has deployed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care that you were an honor graduate at Parris Island,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re at my school now. If you want that job, you have to graduate honor graduate out of my school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the platoon, we do land navigation. We do long humps carrying weapons and hundred-pound packs, learning how to survive off the land. I learn to shoot a .50 caliber and a 240. We eat MREs. We don\u2019t shower for weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love it. I absolutely love it\u2014no matter what they throw at me, no matter how many times they say I\u2019m a brand-new nugget who doesn\u2019t know her head from her ass. You\u2019re here to learn, they keep telling us. You\u2019re here to fight for this country. You signed up in a time of war. You did this willingly, so you better get your head on straight and learn to do it right because the Marine next to you is counting on you to save his life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As graduation approaches, I\u2019m neck and neck with another guy for the honor graduate spot. It comes down to the final test\u2014a gun test on the 240 heavy machine gun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I score number one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Graduate as honor graduate. They finally change my MOS to crew chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I still have four more schools to go through before I can actually hit the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next stop: the Naval Aircrew Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida, where I\u2019ll learn to become a crew chief. Half of the course is extremely strenuous PT qualifications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m the only female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I learn about the fixed wing and rotary aircrafts. There are a lot of attack helicopters, but the Huey is the one I want. Its primary mission is combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I finish the course and graduate as the honor graduate\u2014again. Now I get to choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gunnery sergeant walks down the line and asks each graduate his choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHueys,\u201d I tell him. That will put me in the fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He shakes his head. \u201cNo, I\u2019m going to put you on 46s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m a nobody lance corporal, and he\u2019s a gunnery sergeant who\u2019s also a Huey crew chief. The reason he doesn\u2019t want me on the Hueys is probably because it\u2019s a good ole boys club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I speak up. \u201cRespectfully, Gunnery Sergeant, I was told that if I graduate honor graduate, I get to pick. And I pick Hueys.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy do you want Hueys?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tell him. He stares at me for what seems like hours. My heart is racing, blood pounding in my ears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can dig your own grave,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Next stop: SERE school. Survival, evasion, resistance, and escape. They blindfold us and put us on a bus where the windows are blacked out. They drop us off at some undisclosed location in California, where we learn resistance methods if we\u2019re ever captured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I get beat up a little bit as I learn how to survive. But still, I\u2019m loving it. Same with the next school, CNATT\u2014the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training. I love the challenges. I love proving people wrong. And I love proving myself wrong, too\u2014there are plenty of days when I hang my head and think, Man, I can\u2019t do this. But then I wake up the next day and push myself more and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m honor graduate at both schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My last school is all about flying. It\u2019s studying how to be crew chief and then passing not only written examinations but practical examinations, like going down into the flight line shop, checking out the right tools, setting up your aircraft properly, and being able to say the correct things on the flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is where you\u2019ll find out whether or not they\u2019ll let you fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At every school, the men have made it clear that they don\u2019t want a female graduate in the door gunner position. At each school, they make it harder and harder for me to succeed. The pressure is constant. I turn it into fuel for my fire. Oh, you don\u2019t want me here? You don\u2019t think I can do it? Well, guess what? I\u2019m going to do it and I\u2019m going to do it better than everyone else. CMT school is even more intense. All day, every day, I\u2019m being told by my male instructors and by other men who are there to supposedly help me and lead me that I don\u2019t belong here. They tell me I can\u2019t be a door gunner. That I\u2019m not going to make it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the first time I don\u2019t like being in the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spend a lot of nights scared. There are a lot of tears and plenty of days when I have zero motivation. On those days, the only thing I know how to do is take the next step. When the alarm goes off, I get out of bed. Next step, I put my boots on. Next step, I walk to class. It\u2019s all about that next step\u2014these small, everyday victories. It\u2019s all a mental game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I am not going to quit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One instructor makes me believe I\u2019ve flunked out. Then the scores are posted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m the honor graduate. I\u2019ve made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now it\u2019s time to go to the fleet. There, no one cares if you were the honor graduate or the bottom of the barrel. None of that matters. You start again from zero. It\u2019s time to put all your training into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And you better deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I show up to my first squadron, HMLA-367 Scarface, in California. I\u2019m the only female. As I check in, the guys on the squadron glare at me like, \u201cWait a minute, you can\u2019t be here. This is a good ole boys club. Absolutely not. She ain\u2019t ever gonna fly on my aircraft. She ain\u2019t ever gonna work on my aircraft. She\u2019s just a walking mattress. She\u2019s not good for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We deploy together in nine months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWalk in My Combat Boots\u201d can be purchased through all major retailers, including <\/i>Amazon<\/i><\/a>, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite local bookstore.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n James Patterson is the world\u2019s bestselling author. The creator of Alex Cross, he has produced more enduring fictional heroes than any other novelist alive. He lives in Florida with his family.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt Eversmann retired from the Army after twenty years of service. His last assignment was as an Infantry Company First Sergeant in the 10th Mountain Division during the surge in Iraq. He spent almost half of his career in the 75th Ranger Regiment and was a member of Task Force Ranger, the unit immortalized in the film \u201cBlack Hawk Down.\u201d Matt and his family live in West Palm Beach where he runs his own consulting company, Eversmann Advisory.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n