Sean Parnell

“How do we explain what happened to our family? How do we tell our story?” When you spend 485 days, or 16 months, on the frontlines where 80% of your brethren are wounded, these are the first questions that go through your mind as you step across the parade deck at your homecoming. This is a wounded rate that has not been seen in the military since the Battle of Gettysburg having 32 of the 35 men in the legendary 10th Mountain Division receiving Purple Hearts for wounds sustained in combat. Captain Sean Parnell, US Army Ranger (ret.), eloquently details the experiences of these 34 men under his command as they engage Taliban soldiers on the Pakistani border. His new book “Outlaw Platoon” gives a heroic account of the hell that he and his men went through going toe-to-toe with highly skilled foreign fighters in which his unit killed 350 opposition forces without one civilian casualty. Before being dismissed after their tour in Afghanistan, Capt. Parnell promised his men he would tell their story, the story of heroism and brotherhood. How has the war in Afghanistan changed since Capt. Parnell and his “outlaw platoon” have left the battlefield?