Victory Point by Ed Darack | Book review by LtCol Rob Scott, United States Marine Corps

VICTORY POINT chronicles multifaceted combat operations in the mountains of Afghanistan by the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment, operations that ultimately ended in success, a success proven by the unfettered National Assembly and Provincial Council Elections in September of 2005. Ed Darack, the author, spent two months with 2/3 in Afghanistan in 2005 and that time period was the genesis for the book. He spent a great deal of time interviewing the Marines and sailors and lived at Camp Blessing with the Marines, sailors, and Afghan Security Forces.  In the book he chronicles how the battalion achieved victories, not by technology dependent special operations, but by time-tested boots-on-the-ground, small unit counterinsurgency tactics.  Ed was able to see the battalion and how it worked closely with locals, spending as much time outside the wire as possible, proving our intentions for a unified and pacified country, and of course, always being ready for the tough fight. VICTORY POINT brings the reader into all aspects of what it took to win a difficult counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan, conveying the no-nonsense, classic, and time proven methods of this type of warfare, from the dividends yielded from passing out school supplies to children, to helping build roads and other infrastructure, to the necessity of undertaking a high intensity combat.  While much of the book is devoted to the kinetic combat operations that ensued during Operations Red Wings and Whalers, he covers the battalion’s full spectrum of counterinsurgency operations in the book. Everyone will benefit from reading this book because it gives superb insight into “why” Afghanistan is so radically different from Iraq and will require the skillful application of all elements of national power in order to achieve some modicum of stability for them and the region. LtCol Robert R. Scott is a military fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS and has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. From 2003 to 2006, he served as the battalion executive officer of Second Battalion, Third Marines. In that capacity, he deployed with the 31st MEU(SOC) in 2003–2004 and to Operation ENDURING FREEDOM VI in 2005.