Come by Page & Palette on Thursday, September 14th at 6pm to listen to Andrew Wiest talk about his newest book, Dogwood: A National Guard Unit’s War in Iraq, along with General Robinson and LTC Lyon.
Dogwood: A National Guard Unit’s War in Iraq
Based on years of interviews and written by one of the finest American military historians of his generation. An unsparing account of the sharp end of war.
This book traces the experience of the 150th Combat Engineers (the Dixie Sappers) of the Mississippi National Guard through the unit’s tour of duty in Iraq in 2005, the Dixie Sappers were a true melting pot. Comprised of city youth hoping to attain college benefits, to rural African Americans seeking a way out of grinding poverty, to women who sought to break barriers, to patriots answering their nation’s call after 9/11 – the Dixie Sappers represented nearly all of what America had to offer in 2005.
Amidst the transformation of the military in the 21st century, no longer was the Guard destined to be weekend warriors tasked mainly with local disaster relief. The new Guard was a sharp weapon of war. Guardsmen and women grew up together in the same communities, played sports and served together. This provides a singular advantage, but also makes loss hurt all the more. Defying poor equipment, lack of specialist training and heart-breaking losses, the Dixies Sappers endured combat. But they also did much more. Thinking on their feet they implemented their own homespun counterinsurgency policy that turned a hotbed for insurgency into a thriving community – one of the few success stories of the war. But it was all for nought.
Set within the context of a changing military, an evolving strategic situation and an unpopular war, Dogwood lays bare the harsh reality of war.
Andrew Wiest
Dr. Andrew Wiest is University Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi and has served as a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom and as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Warfighting Strategy at the United States Air Force Air War College. Dr. Wiest is the Founding Director of the Dale Center for the Study of War and Society and the Founding Co-Director of the Center for the Study of the National. Guard at Southern Miss. Dr. Wiest has published widely and presented his research at conferences and at invited talks both nationally and internationally. Dr. Wiest has published more than 20 books, including The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam and Vietnam’s Forgotten Army (which won the Society for Military History’s Distinguished Book Award). He has also been nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on National Geographic Channel’s documentary Brothers in War, which was based on his book The Boys of ’67, and won a New York Festivals Gold Medal for his work on the History Channel documentary Vietnam in HD. His new book, Dogwood: A National Guard Unit’s War in Iraq was released in May with Osprey/Bloomsbury.