Hard Corps

At the age of seventeen, Marco Martinez was a thug—a gun-toting, car-stealing gang member.
At the age of twenty-two, he was a hero—the recipient of the Navy Cross, the second-highest honor a U.S. Marine can receive, for extraordinary heroism under fire in the Iraq War. Hard Corps tells the story of his incredible transformation and of his experiences on the front lines of the War on Terror.

Writing with passion and candor, Martinez brings us back to his gang days, detailing experiences that make him “shudder in shame” to remember. And he recalls the moment that changed everything for him, when he spotted a barrel-chested U.S. Marine Corps recruiter at his high school. Immediately, he saw an opportunity to alter the course of his aimless life.

Martinez takes us with him through the grueling ordeal of Marine boot camp and the even-more-punishing training at the School of Infantry to show just how warriors are made. He reveals how he and his fellow grunts prepared tirelessly for battle, seeing combat not as a burden but as a privilege, the ultimate baptism by fire.
For Martinez, that baptism came in Iraq. In Hard Corps, he unfolds a warrior’s tale as riveting, harrowing, and immediate as any ever written. He takes us onto the narrow, treacherous streets of Baghdad, where enemy fire rains down from all directions; alongside his Marine squad as they patrol through the most dangerous war zone imaginable; and into a brutal terrorist ambush that calls upon reserves of ferocity and courage none of the Marines could ever be certain they possessed and that proves the value of every moment of their torturous training. Martinez also recounts stunning reminders of why we fight: the Iraqi man he met whose tongue had been chopped off for speaking out against Saddam Hussein’s regime, the ghastly evidence of human experimentation that Martinez’s squad discovered at an abandoned Iraqi military barracks, and the horrifying mass graves the Marines unearthed in the Iraqi desert.

Hard Corps gives us a visceral sense of what it means to know that you are ready to die for your brother Marines and that they would do the same for you. It tells us how it feels when words like duty, honor, and country are not an empty slogan. And, ultimately, it captures the traditions and ooh-rah spirit of the U.S. Marine Corps and the valor of all the Marines, sailors, soldiers,

From the Hardcover edition.

Share your thoughts on the Hard Corps ebook with other internet viewers!

Title of ebook: Hard Corps
ISBN: 9780307408037
parent-ISBN: 9780307383044
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Published: 09-2007
Released online for download: 09-25-2007
Author of eBook: Martinez, Marco

Format

Encrypted

Sku

ISBN

File size

Security

Printing

Copying

Read aloud

Devices

Digital Editions

Yes

5551691705

9780307408037

1526 KB

n/a

Not allowed

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Mobipocket

Yes

9780307408037

265 KB

n/a

Not allowed

Sys Requirements

Download reader

Microsoft

Yes

0307408035

9780307408037

283 KB

n/a

Not allowed

Sys Requirments

Download reader

eReader

Yes

5551691691

9780307408037

192 KB

n/a

Not allowed

Sys Requirments

Download reader

Hard Corps

From Gangster to Marine Hero
1

Sixteen with a Bullet

The 9 mm Smith & Wesson balanced on my right thigh had its grip wrapped in white medical tape. It was a big son of a bitch, and it had been fired numerous times before. An engraving tool had been used to scratch and grind the trigger. This, along with the tape, would make lifting fingerprints all but impossible. Over the last two years, I'd held and fired numerous weapons. When TEC-9s were cool, we would drive out to New Mexico deserts and shoot shit up. But this was something different. The 9 mm resting on my leg wasn't going to be used for target practice.

"I wish this pussy-ass muthafucka would hurry up and get home," Damien said as he looked at the house three doors down the street. "I'm ready to do this."

We were both ready to do this. We'd cinched knots in the rags wrapped around our heads and tucked them up under our hats so they could be quickly yanked down to cover our faces, like a train robber would in a western. My rag was brown. Damien's was black. That day I wore stereotypical 1990s-style Hispanic gangster gear, complete with ... read full excerpt from: Hard Corps ebook

Share your thoughts on the Hard Corps ebook with other internet viewers!

Title: Hard Corps
Avg. Customer Review: 5 out of 5 stars

Number Of Comments:
1 Review(s)

14 of 28 people found the following eBook review helpful:
	2 01/31/2008
Reviewer: A viewer from Florence, KY US
This is an excellent autobiography of a boy's growth into manhood via the Marine Corps in a time of war. Marco Martinez's story is a great example of the human spirit and its desire to provide a path for overcoming obstacles.
Was this review helpful to you?

Top eBooks in "Biography General & Other"

Game Over: The Rise and Transformation of a Harlem Hustler

by Faison, Azie

Faison was a ninth grade dropout who earned more than $100,000 a week selling cocaine in Harlem, New York, during the peak of America's "War on Drugs" between 1983 and 1990. ...more

Best price: $13.16

Long Walk to Freedom

by Mandela, Nelson

Read by Danny Glover, with an introduction by Kofi Annan.

Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero ...more

Best price: $9.95

Payback

by Perryman, Kimberly R

Life is difficult for everybody. Things don't always happen the way that you plan. Things go wrong. Priorities change. But if you suffer from Manic-depression (aka Bipolar...more

Best price: $6.00

My Mummy Wears a Wig - Does Yours?: The True Story of a Cancer Survivor

by Williams-Huw, Michelle

A true and heart warming account of a journey through breast cancer. A diagnosis of breast cancer made Michelle Williams-Huw, mother of two small boys, re-evaluate her life ...more

Best price: $13.15

The Baby Void - My Quest For Motherhood

by Uyterlinde, Judith

Pregnancy is a natural and wonderful part of being a woman. Judith, like most women at some stage in their lives, wants a child. The joy she feels when she becomes pregnant, ...more

Best price: $13.15

Down in Bristol Bay

by Durr, Robert, Durr, R. A., Durr

Dr. Robert Allen Durr, literary scholar and award-winning author, one-time rising star in the east Coast academic world, former confidant to legendary writer H. L. Mencken...more

Best price: $12.95

Fitness4x4: The Way of Dragan

by Radovic, Dragan

"The Way of Dragan" is a book that challenges conventional teachings on fitness and equips the reader with a totally new understanding of exercise. The book is not only a ...more

Best price: $39.99

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (E-Book)

by Bauby, Jean-Dominique

In 1995, Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of French elle, the father of two young childen, a 44-year-old man known and loved for his wit, his style, and his...more

Best price: $11.37

Other Biography eBooks Categories

Biography General (1414)

Regional Subjects (78)

Specific Groups (131)

Adventurers & Explorers (52)

Artists & Architects (243)

Business (75)

Childhood Memoir (28)

Criminals & Outlaws (37)

Editors, Journalists, Publishers (40)

Entertainers (336)