Military Books - Military Times

'Roughneck' highlights little-known spec ops battle

Written by two combat-tested soldiers with unique access to special operations troops and records, "Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War" is a valuable addition to the growing list of Iraq war stories.

The book, which focuses on one of the most savage and least known battles of the Iraq war, is based on the recollections of retired Sgt. 1st Class Frank Antenori. His co-author, Hans Halberstadt, is a former Army helicopter door gunner in Vietnam who has penned more than 50 military books.

Antenori, who served in Iraq as a team sergeant with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), and is now retired, lives in Arizona and is campaigning as a Republican for a seat in the House of Representatives.

"Roughneck Nine-One" recounts Antenori's experience as he led a team of Special Forces soldiers and a handful of support troops with about 80 Kurdish allies in a fierce five-hour battle against a larger Iraqi force at a remote crossroads near the village of Debecka on April 6, 2003. The crossroads between the northern Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk was a key coalition objective.

The 26 Green Berets, along with three Air Force bomb targeters and two additional support troops, encountered a reinforced Iraqi motorized rifle company that included more than 150 soldiers, four T-55 battle tanks, eight armored personnel carriers and heavy artillery support on call.

"Armed only with carbines, a few heavy machine guns and a few Mk-19 grenade launchers, my Special Forces A-Team and I were very vulnerable. Sure, we had a dozen new Army Javelin antitank guided missiles, but none of us knew how to fire one!"

It didn't matter. Although they were outnumbered 5-to-1 by some of Saddam's most resourceful troops, Antenori's soldiers stopped the enemy advance cold and proceeded to methodically kill them one by one until a handful of Iraqi survivors fled the battlefield.

"We refused to run, believing in our team's motto from the beginning — 'Nine-One Don't Run.' The mental discipline, to say nothing of just plain guts, of our soldiers in the U.S. military and Special Forces is legendary. But none more so than in that engagement."

The fight is vividly described, packed with such life and immediacy that even the civilian reader can understand the team's challenge and ultimate triumph. Within hours, more than 50 Iraqi soldiers were dead, two of their tanks were destroyed and all eight personnel carriers were burning.

In addition to being a thoroughly detailed and carefully documented retelling of the Debecka Pass victory, "Roughneck Nine-One" offers a rare look inside a Special Forces A-Team as it recruits, organizes and trains for combat.

‘Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War.’ By Sgt. 1st Class Frank Antenori (ret.) and Hans Halberstadt. St. Martin's Press. 288 pages. $24.95.

Don DeNevi is a freelance writer in California.