The Man in the Arena

Book excerpt: On September 11, 2018, Navy SEAL Chief Edward Gallagher-a highly-decorated combat veteran with deployments to war zones in Cosovo, Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq-was arrested for war crimes at the TBI medical clinic where he was receiving treatment. His incarceration was the culmination of a year-long whisper campaign started by a group of disgruntled underlings after a successful deployment decimating ISIS in Mosul, Iraq. After that deployment, Chief Gallagher was named the #1 Chief at SEAL Team 7, nominated for a Silver Star for valor on the battlefield, and listed for promotion. A few junior members of the platoon whom Chief Gallagher had called out for cowardice and ineptitude decided they couldn't let those things stand, and escalated minor leadership complaints into false accusations of stabbing a captured ISIS fighter and shooting noncombatants. Fighting against a corrupt investigation and a deceitful prosecutor who would be removed from the case for spying on defense attorneys, Chief Gallagher was found innocent on all major charges, and freed from prison. But only after he and his family were put through hell. President Trump had to intervene for Chief Gallagher to have access to his lawyers before trial, then restored his rank and insured his Trident pin was not taken after the acquittal. This tell-all exposes a military justice system designed to break and persecute our country's warfighters, told by a family who was targeted by it. While heavily covered in the media, the full story of how a war hero was railroaded and nearly sent to prison for life for crimes he didn't commit has never been told. Chief Gallagher did not testify at his trial and has spoken in little detail about how this travesty came about. Until now. A shocking, raw, exposé that pulls no punches and calls out each and every bad actor in this surreal story."People always tell me, if our life was a movie, no one would believe it." -Andrea Gallagher