Company Commander

Description

Six months in Helmand, under constant attack, 200 men relying on you 24/7. What would you do? In 2008 Major Russell Lewis commanded a company of two hundred soldiers from the British Army's legendary Parachute Regiment on a six-month tour in the most dangerous part of Afghanistan. Company Commander is his story, a riveting first-person account of incredible bravery, telling what it is like to have 200 Paras depending on you constantly, to make decisions which can and do cost lives, to see men under your command killed and injured and being under the most intense pressure imaginable every minute of every day for six long months. Company Commander is a true leader's story - a unique and vivid mix of front-line battles and strategic decision making and an intensely personal and inspiring account of a tour in the most perilous theatre of war on the planet.

Major Russell Lewis MC was commissioned in to the Parachute Regiment in 1994. He has served three tours in Northern Ireland, one in Kosovo, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan in 2008, after which he was awarded the Military Cross.

For those of us who have never seen active service, Russell Lewis's book is an exciting introduction to the tough and dangerous world of military leadership under fire * Chris Patten * The pressures on a Company Commander are huge and in this book Russell Lewis brings to life most vividly both the intensity of the combat and the depth of care for those under his command. It is a most compelling book that shines new light on the ferocity and the humanity of the Afghanistan conflict. I commend this book to military historians and the general reader alike * General The Lord Dannatt *