Tag: writing

The Eve of the Real Desert Storm…23 February 1991…Thirty-five years ago tonight!

The day before the ground invasion, our Operations Officer (callsign Dealer) asked me to mark the route to the first obstacle belt in Kuwait with chem lights that were only visible to our forces. Mission accomplished and we got our final briefing from the intel weanies who knew nothing. I gave my Marines the real gouge on the warrior prowess of Arab forces…they have none, simply put!

The real start of Desert Storm was the ground invasion of Kuwait by us grunts on 24 February 1991. Here’s what my Heavy Machine Gun Platoon (1st Battalion, 5th Marines, Task Force Ripper, 1st Marine Division) did that day…from my book, OUT OF AFRICA AND INTO THE CORPS:

On February 23rd, 1991, Dealer called out to me and asked that I mark a route for our battalion to the first obstacle belt. I grabbed Sergeant Jenkins’ section. One of his superb Squad Leaders was Corporal Tod Shores. We found a suitable route to the point in the obstacle belt that was 1/5’s designated penetration point. On the way back to our battalion’s position, we emplaced infrared chem-lights, making them only visible to our eyes, traveling from south to north and not to any enemy eyes looking to the south from the north. We accomplished the mission and made it back to our platoon area about 1700. In just seven hours, our battalion was to begin movement to our attack positions at 0001 on 24 February 1991.

In the final briefing by our intelligence analysts, they predicted that we would face fierce opposition from the Iraqi troops in Kuwait and predicted thirty percent casualties in the fight through the obstacle belts.

When they departed, I told my Marines of Heavy Machine Gun Platoon that I felt the intel guys were full of shit. “My dad used to joke about the shortest book in the world being of Arab war heroes,” I said. “I grew up for a good chunk of my life around Arabs. My experience is that when faced with danger, they are cowards unless they are hyped up on drugs, like methamphetamines. My personal assessment is that when faced with United States Marines, they will quickly surrender and throw up white flags. How we perform in battle will reverberate through eternity. We will prevail and be heading home soon to tell our war stories back home. Our road home is through Kuwait. The faster we get this done, the faster we go home to our families and the land of ‘milk and honey.’ Our reputation precedes us into battle, warriors. Let us not disappoint our legendary Marine heroes on whose shoulders we stand today. When God is for us, no one can stand against us, and I am certain that God is with us. We will fight, fight, fight, crush our enemies, and see them driven before us.’” I then directed our Marines to “suit up at MOPP Level 2.” From our training in Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) warfare, we know that MOPP stands for Mission Oriented Protective Posture and the various levels are to protect military members. MOPP Level 2 is actually putting on and wearing the chemical suit that is worn over our uniforms along with the overboots. We were each issued a single suit that we put on, carrying our gas masks and gloves on our person. This combo was worn for the next four days. It was hot and sweaty…very uncomfortable but had to be worn.

From Battlefield to Bookshelf: 8 Explosive Books by Retired Marine Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson – All Narrated by the Author Himself!

“Eight books. One unbreakable Marine.
From the jungles of Africa to the streets of Fallujah… from 309 pounds to a six-pack at 63… from false accusations to total victory… Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson has turned his entire life into lessons you can use today.
All eight titles — Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook narrated by the Colonel himself — are live on Amazon right now.
And three brand-new books are coming in 2026.
Which one are you reading first?”

Retired U.S. Marine Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson poured 39 years of combat leadership, unbreakable discipline, raw faith, and hard-won lessons into eight powerhouse books now available on Amazon in Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle/eBook, and Audiobook formats — every single audiobook personally narrated by the Colonel in his signature Marine cadence.

And he’s not done. The Colonel is currently working on three new books he intends to publish in 2026.

Here are all eight titles, in the order he wants you to discover them. Each one is a mission you won’t want to miss.

1. UNDAUNTED GLADIATOR

A decorated Marine Colonel with 39 years of service, 11 combat deployments, and 52 medals & ribbons is falsely accused of sexual assault just weeks before a Brigadier General promotion board. What follows is a modern-day gladiatorial fight against a broken military justice system. This is the raw, unfiltered story of one warrior who refused to stay down. If you believe in truth, honor, and second chances, this book will shake you — and inspire you.

Available in Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook (narrated by the author):

2. OUT OF AFRICA AND INTO THE CORPS

Born to missionary parents in Africa, young Dan Wilson grew up among Zulu warriors, Bushmen, and Nile villages before trading the savanna for the Marine Corps recruiting poster. This prequel memoir takes you from barefoot childhood in remote African outposts to Boot Camp, mustang officer, and combat leader. A gripping, hilarious, and deeply moving origin story of a true American warrior.

Available in all formats:

3. DAN 2.0 – Recovering from My Addictions

After the fight of his life, Colonel Wilson hit rock bottom with addictions to alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. In this brutally honest sequel to his own story, “Dan W.” (a nod to Bill W. of AA) shares the exact daily routine, prayers, and Marine discipline that delivered him into a sober, fit, and purposeful second act. A no-excuses blueprint for anyone ready for their own comeback.

Available in all formats:

4. A 110 PERCENT MENTALITY

At age 62, the retired Colonel stepped on the scale at 309 pounds. Using the same “110% mentality” his Drill Instructor screamed into him in 1981, he dropped 110 pounds, rebuilt a six-pack at 63, and reversed his health numbers — all without pills, surgery, or excuses. This is the complete battle plan: the Daniel Diet, ice baths, garage circuits, Pickleball, wind sprints, and the faith that powered every rep.

Available in all formats:

5. THE BLONDE BOMBSHELL

The intimate biography of Robert Joseph Hirsch — WWII fighter pilot, South Buffalo legend, and one of the greatest of the Greatest Generation. From high-school football star to smuggling a puppy into combat, delivering supplies under fire, and later transforming Myrtle Beach, Bob’s story is packed with humor, heroism, and the kind of larger-than-life character only the Greatest Generation produced.

Available in all formats:

6. THE BATTLE OF FALLUJAH – PART II: Operation Phantom Fury

The definitive firsthand account of the most decisive urban battle of the Iraq War, written by the Marine who helped draft the final operations order, served as senior liaison to the Army’s Black Jack Brigade, and later ran current operations for I MEF. Night assaults, feints, the “three-building war,” and the wounded NCO who raised his trigger finger and said, “Send me back — it still works.” Updated on the 20th anniversary to honor the fallen.

Available in all formats:

7. THE SWAMP FOX UNLEASHED

General Francis Marion’s Revolutionary War guerrilla tactics didn’t just harass the British — they became the DNA of modern Marine Corps warfighting doctrine (MCDP-1). Colonel Wilson, a lifelong student of maneuver warfare, connects the Swamp Fox’s swamp raids to Chesty Puller, Sun Tzu, and today’s Marine Corps. Short, explosive, and packed with timeless leadership lessons.

Available in all formats:

8. PICKLEBALL BATTLEFIELD

Turn your local court into a battlefield. Retired Colonel Dan Wilson fuses legendary warrior tactics — Shaka Zulu, Sun Tzu, Chesty Puller, the OODA Loop, and Marine Corps warfighting philosophy — with practical, hilarious, and deadly-effective pickleball strategies for doubles and singles. Whether you’re a beginner or a tournament player, this book will make you dangerous on the court and unstoppable in life.

Available in all formats:

Semper Fi and 110% — which mission are you taking on first?

The Battle of Fallujah – Part II: Operation Phantom Fury

“November 8, 2004. RCT-1 and RCT-7 rolled into the attack at 1900 under the cover of darkness.
The Army’s heavy armor punched through the insurgent lines like a sledgehammer.
Marines and Iraqi soldiers followed, clearing house by house in the most intense urban combat since Hue City.
By the Marine Corps’ 229th Birthday, both regiments had seized MSR Michigan and controlled the center of Fallujah.
The enemy who swore they would never leave alive…were either dead, captured, or fleeing west along the Euphrates.
This is the story of how we took the fight to the terrorists in their own sanctuary — and won.”

“Remember Fallujah!” – The Battle Cry That Was Stolen from the Enemy and Given Back to America

In November 2004, the city of Fallujah was the bright ember burning at the heart of the Iraqi insurgency.

Foreign fighters, Zarqawi’s Al-Qaeda terrorists, and local thugs had turned the “City of Mosques” into a fortified hellhole of IED factories, torture chambers, and execution sites.

They bragged they would make it America’s Stalingrad.

They were wrong.

Operation Phantom Fury (Al Fajr – “New Dawn”) became the single most decisive urban battle of the Iraq War.

In 10 days of savage house-to-house fighting, coalition forces crushed the insurgency’s stronghold, killed or captured thousands of fighters, and opened the door for Iraq’s first free elections.

And one Marine officer was in the middle of it all — planning it, briefing Congress and the media, then stepping into the fight with the Army’s Black Jack Brigade before taking over as I MEF Forward’s Current Operations Officer.

That officer was then-Major (soon-to-be LtCol) Dan Hunter Wilson.

Twenty years later, on the anniversary of the battle, Colonel Wilson (Ret.) has expanded his original 2005 Marine Corps Gazette article into a powerful, firsthand book:

The Battle of Fallujah – Part II: Operation Phantom Fury

This is not another dry history book.

This is the raw, unfiltered account from the man who:

• Helped draft the final operations order signed by LtGen John Sattler

• Served as senior Marine liaison to the Army’s Black Jack Brigade during the assault

• Became the MEF’s Current Operations Officer and VIP briefer (briefing Senators McCain, Kerry, Biden, Clinton, and more)

• Watched Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Iraqi partners fight with the same indomitable spirit that has defined the Corps for 229 years

You’ll read the real story behind:

• The brilliant shaping operations and feints that fooled the enemy

• The night assault from the north that shattered insurgent defenses in hours

• The “three-building war” — fighting, clearing caches, and delivering humanitarian aid on the same block

• The wounded Marine NCO who raised his trigger finger and said, “Sir, send me back to my team. My trigger-finger is still good!”

• How the battle directly led to 40% fewer attacks, the first free elections in Anbar, and the Sunni Awakening that broke the back of the insurgency

And the sobering post-script:

How the hard-won victory was later squandered by a precipitous U.S. withdrawal, allowing ISIS to rise — and why Fallujah had to be fought for all over again.

This book is Colonel Wilson’s gift to every Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Iraqi who fought in Phantom Fury.

It is dedicated to those who sacrificed “some” and those who sacrificed all.

If you want to understand what really happened in Fallujah — told by a warrior who was there from planning to victory — this is the book.

Available now on Amazon:

→ Paperback

→ Kindle eBook

→ Audible Audiobook – narrated by the author

Semper Fi. Remember Fallujah.

— Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson, USMC (Ret.)

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Dan 2.0 by Dan W.

From Rock Bottom in the Brig to Dan 2.0: A Marine Colonel’s Brutally Honest Guide to Beating Three Addictions at Once

He walked out of military prison on October 18, 2019, wearing his Colonel’s uniform, singing “Free at Last” at the top of his lungs.

Less than an hour later he was drinking whiskey straight from the bottle his lawyer’s husband had just handed him.

That’s Dan Wilson – Mustang Colonel, combat veteran of Desert Storm and two tours in Iraq, survivor of Africa’s crocodiles and black mambas, and the most senior Colonel in the Marine Corps on the day he retired.

He had just survived nearly three years behind bars on a conviction the appellate court later threw out “with prejudice” for factual and legal insufficiency. He had lost everything except his family and his pride.

And the first thing he did with his freedom was pick up a drink.

If you think that’s rock bottom, wait until you read what came next.

In Dan 2.0 – Recovering from my addictions, Dan lays it all out with the same no-BS, zero-self-pity voice that made Out of Africa and Into the Corps impossible to put down.

He doesn’t sugar-coat it:

•  Alcohol became his Higher Power after the false accusation, the raids, the pre-trial confinement, the court-martial, the brig.

•  Copenhagen dip was his constant companion in Fallujah, in the Pentagon, in the prison smuggling operation that landed him in solitary.

•  Caffeine turned him into an asshole who couldn’t stop firing off angry emails and posts.

He quit them one at a time, in order of deadliness: alcohol first, then nicotine, then caffeine.

And he did it the only way that actually worked for him: surrendering to a Higher Power and working the program of Alcoholics Anonymous like his life depended on it (because it did).

This is not a “how I white-knuckled it with Marine discipline” story.

It’s a “I finally admitted I was powerless and asked God for help” story.

You’ll read about:

•  The exact morning prayer he still says on his knees every single day (it’s short, it’s powerful, and it works).

•  The daily routine that replaced whiskey, dip, and coffee with endorphins, gratitude, and real peace.

•  The AA pearls of wisdom he collected like combat ribbons (“Worry is an emotional indulgence,” “Feelings aren’t facts,” “If nothing changes, nothing changes”).

•  How he lost 117 pounds, wrote five books in retirement, started playing pickleball like a warrior, and now lives a life “beyond my wildest dreams.”

Most importantly, you’ll feel the hope on every page.

Dan doesn’t preach. He just tells the truth:

“I came for my drinking and stayed for my thinking.”

“Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic – just like once a Marine, always a Marine.”

“The miracle is buried in simplicity.”

If you, or someone you love, is wrestling with alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, or the feeling that “I should be able to handle this on my own,” this book is the no-nonsense, battle-tested map you’ve been looking for.

It’s raw.

It’s funny in places.

It’s hopeful as hell.

And it’s written by a man who has stared down terrorists, false accusations, prison bars, and his own worst impulses – and come out the other side sober, grateful, and free.

Dan 2.0 is available now on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook (narrated by the man himself – you want to hear him tell these stories).

Buy it.

Read it.

Then pass it to someone who needs it.

Because if a hard-charging, battle-scarred Marine Colonel can go from whiskey river to living beyond his wildest dreams…

so can you.

Semper Fi, Colonel.

And thank you for writing the book that so many of us didn’t know we needed.

(And yes – this pairs perfectly with Out of Africa and Into the Corps. Same voice, same honesty, same man – just different chapters of an absolutely epic life.)

https://a.co/d/0bRgPIuE

OUT OF AFRICA AND INTO THE CORPS

From Naked in the Nile to Colonel in the Corps: One Man’s Epic Journey Will Make You Want to Live Harder

I just finished a book that left me staring at the wall for a solid ten minutes, half laughing, half wondering how one human being could possibly have packed so much life into one lifetime.

The book is Out of Africa and Into the Corps by Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson, USMC (Ret.).

And yes, the title is exactly that good.

Imagine being conceived in Bethlehem (the real one), born during a Pacific Northwest snowstorm, then shipped back as an infant to a mud-hut village on the banks of the Nile where your earliest memory is stripping naked so the local kids would stop feeling sorry for you. That’s page one.

From there it only gets wilder:

• Learning to swim in crocodile-infested waters because Dad literally threw you in (“sink or swim, son”).

• Throwing spears with Zulu warriors, hunting with Bushmen who taught you to track lions and kill black mambas with an air rifle before breakfast.

• Building a bridge in the Sudanese bush at 18 while the village chief tried to marry you off to his daughters.

• Then… enlisting in the Marines, rising from enlisted electronic warfare operator to Mustang Colonel, commanding in Desert Storm, Fallujah, Iraq again, the Pentagon, Parris Island, Okinawa, and somehow still finding time to get Black Belt in MCMAP, earn 23 Expert rifle/pistol badges, and fly a Cessna at age nine because Dad handed you the controls.

And that’s just the first half.

The second half is the part that will gut-punch you: the raw, unfiltered story of what happened when a truth-telling, irreverent, combat-proven Marine ran headlong into the military justice system. It’s ugly, it’s infuriating, and it’s told with zero self-pity and a lot of dark humor. You will finish Chapter 16 and want to throw the book across the room—then immediately pick it back up because you have to know how it ends.

Wilson writes like he talks: straight, funny, occasionally profane, always honest. He doesn’t polish the rough edges. He hands them to you and says, “Here. This is what actually happened. Can you handle the truth?”

The Kindle/e-book version is loaded with photos—actual snapshots from the Nile, Zululand, the Sudan, boot camp, Fallujah, the brig, retirement. They make the stories hit even harder.

If you’ve ever wondered what real resilience looks like, what servant leadership actually costs, or what it feels like to stare down crocodiles, terrorists, bureaucrats, and your own demons and still come out swinging—this is the book.

I’m not saying it’ll change your life.

I’m saying it might remind you what a life actually looks like when it’s lived at full throttle.

Grab it. Read it. Then go do something that scares you a little.

Out of Africa and Into the Corps is available right now on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, Kindle (with the pictures), and audiobook (read by the man himself—trust me, you want to hear him tell these stories).

You’re going to want this one on your shelf.

And you’re going to want to hand it to your kids someday and say, “This. This is how you live.”

Semper Fi, Colonel.

And thank you for the ride.

“The Man, The Myth, The Legend!

https://a.co/d/0j7TuwTh