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BY VADM Barry M Costello, USN (Ret)
Fortune Favors Boldness is the story of brave Sailors, Marines, and Coastguardsmen operating in harm’s way during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. VADM (ret) Costello was the commander of the Constellation Strike Group, and he provides his perspective from the work up for deployment to the execution of coalition operations with three strike groups operating in the confined waters of the Arabian Gulf to the lessons identified and emphasized in his later role as Commander THIRD Fleet.
This book details how 147 ships worked together to execute strike operations (802 Tomahawk missiles from ships and submarines from the Red Sea to the Arabian Gulf; and five air wings–three in the Gulf and two in the Mediterranean–that paved the way for the land forces as they made their way north to Baghdad. It also provides an in depth on the ground view of the mine warfare operation that cleared hundreds of mine-like objects in the Khor Abd Allah Waterway between Kuwait and Iraq, including five live mines that crossed the waterway near the port of Umm Qasr.
The oil terminals in the northern Gulf were threatened by Iraqi soldiers; however, U.S. Navy SEALs captured the terminals to preserve these critical infrastructures to support the future Iraqi economy. Shortly after that success, naval gunfire operations provided support to the British Marines as they assaulted the Al Faw Peninsula.
This book provides leadership lessons that are applicable to all Sailors, Marines, and Coastguardsmen–from the junior service members to senior officers. VADM (ret) Costello’s goal is to provide this detail to tell the naval story from 2003 so that future generations can benefit from knowledge gained from those operations.
