Sons of the Arghandab tells the story of the 1-320th Field Artillery "Top Guns" Battalion, 101st Airborne, in the Arghandab Valley, 2010-2011. The Arghandab River Valley is known for its lush vegetation from its grape furrows and its pomegranate orchards. It's also known as the birthplace of several Taliban leaders such as Mullah Omar and Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, and was a major crossing route for weapons coming from Pakistan into Kandahar. This hostile environment had already claimed the lives of many seasoned Infantrymen. But the Top Guns weren't infantrymen, they were artillerymen, deployed without their usual weapons and with minimal last-minute training, redesignated as "provisional infantrymen." Painstakingly researched by one of the Top Guns and told through the perspectives of the men who survived that terrible year, this is the harrowing story of Alpha, HHB, and Bravo Batteries as they undertook the challenges of an Artillery unit charged with an Infantry mission in the most hostile killing fields in Afghanistan. AUTHOR: Joseph ?Fonty? Fontenot is a combat veteran who served 20 years in the US Army and retired as a first sergeant, with combat deployments to Abu Ghraib, Iraq, and the Arghandab River Valley, Afghanistan. Before enlisting in the Army, he was a successful musician who gave up his career to serve during the Global War on Terror. After his year in Afghanistan, he won Soldier of the Year in 2015. He subsequently suffered multiple career-ending injuries and, despite several years in the Warrior Transition Unit, chose to return to the 101st. Fontenot has earned a bachelor's degree in forensic psychology and does guest speaking and helps veterans' organizations.
