On April 29, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army is spotted less than four miles from the U.S. Marines’ Dong Ha Combat Base. Intense fighting develops in nearby Dai Do as the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, known as “the Magnificent Bastards,” struggles to eject NVA forces from this strategic position. Yet the BLT 2/4 Marines defy the brutal onslaught. Pressing forward, America’s finest warriors rout the NVA from their fortress-hamlets–often in deadly hand-to-hand combat. At the end of two weeks of desperate, grinding battles, the Marines and the infantry battalion supporting them are torn to shreds. But against all odds, they beat back their savage adversary. The Magnificent Bastards captures that gripping conflict in all its horror, hell, and heroism. “Superb . . . among the best writing on the Vietnam War . . . Nolan has skillfully woven operational records and oral history into a fascinating narrative that puts the reader in the thick of the action.” –Jon T. Hoffman, author of Chesty “Real and gripping . . . combat with all the warts on.” –Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak, USMC (Ret.)

Comic genius Rich Hall introduces a series of magnificent bastards and lost souls in this hilarious collection of tall tales. Meet the man who vacuums bewildered prairie dogs out of their burrows; a frustrated werewolf who roams the streets of Soho getting mistaken for Brian Blessed; a smug carbon-neutral eco-couple; a teenage girl who invites 45,000 MySpace friends to a house party; the author of a business book entitled Highly Successful Secrets to Standing on a Corner Holding Up a Golf Sale Sign and a man whose attempts to teach softball to a group of indolent British advertising executives sparks an international crisis.

Both a uniquely intimate look at what makes a sniper tick and a harrowing read filled with dramatic war tales, Trigger Men is a book about killing and what it takes to be the ultimate warrior. Hans Halberstadt takes readers deeper inside the elusive world of snipers than ever before, from recruitment and training to the brutality of the killing fields. Mixed into the thrilling narrative, for the first time ever in their own words, American combat snipers talk about what it is like to kill a man and what it takes to become one of the elite. Based on hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews, Halberstadt gets inside the sniper mind and shows how Shadow Team confidence led to success that led to even more aggressive operations. Readers will learn how snipers think and interact as a team, how missions are planned and executed, how the weapons work, and even what happens when a bullet strikes its target.

Hold High the Torch, the first of a series of regimental and squadron histories by the Historical Branch, G-3 Division, Headquarters U.S. Marine Corps, is designed primarily to acquaint the members of the 4th Marines, past and present, with the history of their regiment. In addition, it is hoped this volume will enlarge public understanding of the Marine Corps’ worth both in limited war and as a force in readiness. During most of its existence the 4th Marines was not engaged in active military operations, but service of the regiment in China, the Dominican Republic, and off the west coast of Mexico, was typical of the Marine Corps’ support of national policy. In many of its combat operations, the 4th Marines was only one element of a much larger force. In other instances, as in the Dominican Republic and China, the regiment was a subordinate unit in situations which were essentially political and diplomatic. Only so much of these higher echelon activities as are essential to an understanding of the 4th Marines story have been told. This is a regimental history and the focus is therefore on the 4th Marines.

In August 1965 as a forward observer with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, the author saw his first combat in Operation Starlite, the first large-scale ground combat operation in Vietnam. In March 1966, as the artillery liaison officer for the renowned 'Magnicent Bastards' of the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, he fought in Operation Texas, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. For two hours, Sympson directed over 2,500 rounds of artillery fire nearly on top of Echo Company to drive back the Viet Cong who had trapped the Marines at the edge of a heavily fortified village.

"In his fifth book on the Vietnam War, Nolan presents the definitive account of one of the Marine Corps' most blood-soaked battles: a tale of snipers and ambushes in the blinding elephant grass.." -- Book jacket