Book excerpt: Author Jeffrey Ahern had longed to serve in the Army since he was thirteen years old. He attained that goal, and in Sons of Hope he narrates the story of his service as an infantry platoon leader during Operation Iraqi Freedom III and IV. Sons of Hope is based on the daily diary entries kept while he was assigned to Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 172 Infantry (Mountain) from January 2005 to May 2006. Aherns story begins with the mobilization training the platoon and company endured at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and then Fort Irwin, California, leaving the United States in May 2005. He provides details on the platoons counterinsurgency operations, daily patrols, nightly raids, the constant fear of IEDs and suicide bombers, and the never ending search for an unseen enemy. A vivid and detailed account, Sons of Hope provides insight into what life was like for a frontline soldier in Iraq conducting offensive operations. It communicates the importance of the sacrifices soldiers and their families have made in the last decade of war.