Book Review

You can see my article in the February 2020 Sentinel. And you can also see the whole Last Out play on Amazon Prime.

Time passed. Trump made a deal with the Taliban. Biden decided to roughly follow the agreement and finally leave our 20 year war. And inevitably, but with astounding speed the Taliban took over the country. That left a lot of people unprepared to make a quick exit. That is roughly where this book starts.

There were people we knew who had been working behind the scenes trying to get interpreters, their families, and others out. And when word started getting out about Operation Pineapple Express, I was not at all surprised to hear that Scott was involved in it.

Knowing what I already knew of the quality of Scott’s productions, I was happy to say yes to his surprise request that I review his book. As curious as most of the country was, as a Green Beret I was especially curious how that whole scene played out. I have to tell you that it was hard to put down.

He tells the story from a deeply personal level and uses a style that builds in intensity and bares the good and the bad. He starts out hoping he can provide moral support for Nezam, with whom he had worked in the Village Stability Operations in Kandahar Province, now stuck in SIV hell. As it dawns on him that the government is not going to be much help to the incredibly courageous people who so many Green Berets trusted their lives to, he realizes that these folks would have to depend on him and, at first, just a handful of others if they were to stay alive, because the Taliban were hunting them.

The story describes the dangers and fears faced by those on the ground, and the ups and downs of the struggle they faced in trying to leave. It also tells of the obstacles faced by those that were trying to help with the clock ticking relentlessly, and how small successes led to larger successes amidst the chaos.

Scott’s group was not the only one working the problem, but eloquently serves as an example of the intense effort put in by a combination of vets, civilians, and active duty personnel to extricate as many as possible in the time allowed.

At the end of the book he expounds on his exasperation with the abominable way our folks were seemingly hung out to dry by the government while SF typically did things our own way to get the job done.

He also has some suggestions on how to proceed, because the mission continues, with thousands more to save who are far more deserving than the many who made it out without ever having picked up a rifle. I am forwarding those suggestions to my congressman who happens to be a vet.

Go buy, borrow, or steal a copy of this book. It is inspiring for the general public, but right in the headspace of any Green Beret.

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LT. COL. SCOTT MANN (RET.) is a retired Green Beret with more than twenty years of Army and Special Operations experience. He has deployed to Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is the CEO of Roof- top Leadership, a professional training and coaching company specializing in human connection skills, and the founder of The Heroes Journey, a 501c3 committed to helping U.S. and Afghan veterans tell their stories and transition to civilian life. Scott regularly speaks to corporate leaders, industry associations, law enforcement officers, and special operations forces on how to forge deeper connections with the people they serve and create more powerful outcomes in business and life. He is also an actor and playwright who has written and performed in a play about the war called Last Out—Elegy of a Green Beret which can be seen on Amazon Prime. A recent empty nester to three grown boys, Scott lives in Tampa, Florida, where he chases his wife Monty around the house on every possible occasion.