Brotherhood of Warriors: Behind Enemy Lines with a Commando in One of the World's Most Elite Counterterrorism Units

297 Pages·2008·2.14 MB·English

by  Aaron Cohen

Behind Enemy Lines
with a Commando
in One of the
World’s Most Elite
Counterterrorism Units
BROTHERHOOD

OF

WARRIORS

A A R O N C O H E N

AND DOUGLAS CENTURY
TO T HE FA L L E N WA R R IO R S
The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is
that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary
man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.
Car l os Cast aneda

Contents

Epigraph iv i
The Dizengoff Massacre 1
Part I 19
One
It began almost immediately after 9/11. My office in Beverly… 21
Two
I arrived at the Robert Land Academy, a sprawling, sixty-eight-acre… 29
Three
My last day in Los Angeles was more stressful than… 45
Four
Outside the airport, a woman, tall, slim, dirty blond, in… 53
Five
Besides the new fishpond work, I was going to my… 59
Six
My stepfather’s friends Jack and Sara Eisner lived in the… 67
Seven
Located on the Mediterranean coast, just south of the city… 77
Part II 87
Eight
This is it,” I told the old, white-bearded cabdriver with… 89
Nine
Throughout basic training, instructors engaged in a brutal level of… 101
Ten
At the seven-month mark, the regular combat units in the… 109
Eleven
We were now given the luxury of six hours’ sack… 115
Photographic Insert
Twelve
After the massa kumta we were granted a week off. 123
Thirteen
When we weren’t on the range, we were in the… 129
Fourteen
From the two platoons of roughly forty guys in basic… 139
Fifteen
From this point forward, almost a year into our army… 145
Sixteen
After graduation we were given ten days off to recharge… 163
Part III 173
Seventeen
On our first day as operators in the unit, Ilan… 175
Eighteen
The heart and soul, or perhaps I should say the… 183
Nineteen
Eventually, you start to get comfortable with your fear. As… 191
Twenty
Most warriors in the field start to isolate themselves at… 213
Twenty-One
One morning in Tel Aviv as I was trying to… 223
Part IV 231
Twenty-Two
By the last few months of my tour, I was… 233
Twenty-Three
When I came back to Los Angeles that summer, I… 243
Twenty-Four
I returned to L.A. and got my own apartment. Back… 251
Twenty-Five
How can the United States improve its overall level of… 265
Los Angeles 2007 271
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher