You Shouldn’t Have to Kill to Get Ahead
What the hell?! I thought to myself as the ground rumbled and a powerful thud shook the bulletproof glass of my mine-resistant truck.
I was leading a convoy of my Army platoon’s route clearance vehicles in the middle of Helmand Province in the southwest of Afghanistan—the birthplace of the Taliban. Our primary objective was to find improvised explosive devices (IEDs) buried under roads. We were also delivering water and batteries to support a massive regimental air assault by the Marines on an area full of Taliban strongholds.
While our convoy was crossing a wadi, a dry riverbed, one truck at a time, I heard a low boom. I instinctively looked at the trucks ahead of me, the ones equipped with ground-penetrating radar and extra rollers to detect and destroy any IEDs we encountered.
It took me a few seconds to realize it was one of the trucks behind me—the ones that are supposed to be protected—that had taken the hit. My mind started racing, trying to figure out how this had been possible.
… once the dust had cleared, my platoon sergeant went to inspect the scene of the blast. A hundred pounds of explosives had sent the 16,000-pound truck into the air, flipped it over and torn off the engine compartment. If not for the truck’s heavy armor and V-shaped design that directed most of the blast outward, all of the Soldiers inside would have been killed...
By Tyler Merbler from the United States - DSC09156, CC BY 2.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98780310
You Shouldn’t Have to Kill to Get Ahead is not just a Soldier’s story.
It’s a book that combines gripping lived experience with a plan for collective renewal to build a democratic system that works for the vast majority of Americans.
With clarity and courage, Chris cuts through the noise of partisan politics to expose how America's obsession with zero-sum success—whether on the battlefield, in the marketplace, or in public life—has left millions behind to benefit a powerful and wealthy few.
This is a book for anyone disillusioned by inequality, division, or the feeling that the American Dream has become a rigged game. With sharp insights and unflinching honesty, Chris offers a new vision for how we define success, who belongs, and what it means to build a country where no one has to fight just to live with dignity.
