Operation Iraqi Freedom marked a new era in television war coverage. On-the-spot reporting by journalists, photographers, and cameramen captured combat in ways that are nothing less than historic. Sharing the triumphs, tragedies, and daily routines of the soldiers, viewers crouched in the trenches, felt the vibrations of bomb explosions, tasted sands borne on fierce desert winds. We were there—embedded among the troops, eyewitnesses to the horror of battle. Historic television. Historic journalism. NBC news captured it all and was the acknowledged leader among all the network and cable news organizations covering the Iraqi war.

This book, written and produced by NBC News, presents a chronological narrative of reporting from the field supplemented by interviews and anchored broadcasts from Qatar, Kuwait, and the United States. The book includes a Foreword by Tom Brokaw, an Introduction by an NBC military expert, and a special dedication to fallen colleague David Bloom. Thousands of hours of images and words have been molded into a concise, eloquent summary of the historic events of the conflict.