All Routes Are Amber: A Soldier's Experience in the Iraq War

It was 2005 when Martin Swirko, a Master Sergeant serving in the Massachusetts Army National Guard, volunteered for active duty to serve as an embedded advisor with an Iraqi battalion. Motivated with a burning desire to discover whether or not the US Army doctrine he had been instilling in soldiers throughout his career had any relevance once they arrived on the modern battlefield, Swirko left his wife, civilian life, and career behind, and transitioned from Ft. Carson to Kuwait to Iraq, and finally into combat.

In a vivid retelling of his military experiences, Swirko begins by describing his first days in the US Army Reserves in the eighties, followed by the tedious and often arduous process as he was mobilized and fed into the regular army for his assignment. As he moves through time to eventually describe his time in Iraq, he provides a candid glimpse into his leadership challenges and the unique cultural obstacles he and his team faced while operating and living among his Iraq battalion and the local population.

All Routes Are Amber relays the experiences of a citizen soldier who ultimately volunteered for active duty in Iraq to contribute to the global effort to stop radical Islam.