I remember August 25, 1982, well. I was one of about 50 reporters standing on a south Beirut beach as the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment came ashore. I still remember Colonel James Meade in the lead amphibious craft. He was a dashing figure; movie star handsome. Meade, a marine aviator, wore a blue pilot’s scarf as he came ashore. It was flapping in the brisk Lebanese coastal wind.

Meade led the 32nd Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU). Lt. Colonel Robert …

River Liberty (also called Khanjar) was described as an operation. However, it had the feel of an invasion. U.S. Marines were moving, as an expeditionary force, into the homeland of their enemy, the Taliban.

At 4:30 am, the company with whom my son, Carlos, and I were embedded, Golf Company, 2/8 Marines, stepped out of the U.S base at Hassan Abad, in southern Helmand province, and headed south into certain trouble.

The Taliban were determined not to let Golf Company …