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Title: Packed for the Wrong Trip

Subtitle: A New Look inside Abu Ghraib and the Citizen-Soldiers Who Redeemed America's Honor

Author: W. Zach Griffith

Narrator: Stephen Hoye

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-29-16

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

How an Unprepared, Undertrained Group of Maine National Guard Troops Went to Abu Ghraib to Fix the Irreparable

The prison at Abu Ghraib was still a relatively unknown part of America's War on Terror when - with no special training and their gear lost somewhere between the United States and Baghdad - the 152nd Field Artillery Battalion of the Maine National Guard was sent there to serve as guards in February 2004. Just before their arrival, the now infamous photos of the abuses suffered by the prisoners hit the world stage. Abu Ghraib became the focal point not only for global condemnation, but for the insurgents' outrage.

Over the next year, the 152nd would come under attack by snipers, suicide bombers, vehicle-borne IEDs, and constant rocket and mortar fire. Yet at the same time, the Mainers would form close bonds with some of the prisoners, among them an Iraqi boy struck by a mortar in one of two mass casualty events, and Kamal, a community leader who acts as an envoy between the detainees and the soldiers and yet is assassinated after his release for helping the Americans.

The men of the 152nd were an eclectic group of citizen-soldiers caught in one of the darkest corners of the war in Iraq. Packed for the Wrong Trip tells the true story of how they relied on each other and their own ingenuity to survive and to transform one of the most inhumane detainee centers into a functioning, humane prison - or as close to one as you could get when tucked between Baghdad and the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

Members Reviews:

This book exposes the reader to realities that exist which ...

This book exposes the reader to realities that exist which run contrary to the general public's perception of how US military operations are conducted and the perception as to how US military personnel are trained and supported. I was shocked at these realities and proud of our troops ability to adapt and persevere.

Very informative. I personally know Kelly Thorndike and know ...

Very informative. I personally know Kelly Thorndike and know how hurt physically and emotionally he remains.

This book was a very personal journey

This book was a very personal journey for my husband and myself. Our youngest son, Sgt. Shawn Keyte, was part of the 152nd FA. A small unit of Citizen Soldiers from Maine that literally âPacked For The Wrong Trip.â When we said our goodbyes, and watched our son drive away on the bus that cold January day, we had no idea he would end up in one of the most dangerous and horrific places in Iraq. The title of this book, written by Maine author and combat correspondent, W. Zach Griffith, befits the situation this unit was placed in from beginning to end. An intimate lesson in the history of errors made by our government, and of Soldiers determined to do the right thing.

Griffith takes you through the gates of Abu Ghraib Prison, into what has been described by all those who were there as Hell. That name becomes a reality with a vivid and shocking intensity within the three short pages of the opening chapter. You now are on a journey that at times seems surreal. He reveals a war we were not prepared to fight and with soldiers not given the tools to do so. This small group of Citizen Soldiers from Maine began their duty in a place which seemed to have no boundaries, even within prison walls.