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Contact: Judy Heise

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WHERE YOUTH AND LAUGHTER GO

WITH THE CUTTING EDGE IN AFGHANISTAN
by LT. COL. SETH W. B. FOLSOM, USMC
Advance Praise
This book is a masterpiece that draws you from the
first page. You ask yourself, What would I do if I
commanded a thousand Marines in a hellhole like
Sangin? This is the textbook of agonizing combat
leadership, when the task is beyond the battalions
control. Nation-building was a mistake that our
policymakers and generals refused to admit. Only grit, love
for each other and self-pride kept our grunts going. Here is
the raw, unflinching truth all infantry battalions knowthe
story of the American fighting man in Afghanistan.
BING WEST, combat Marine, assistant secretary of defense
and best-selling author of The Wrong War and One Million
Steps

A visceral, first-hand account of Marines at war in the

Taliban sanctuary of Helmand Province and of the
grinding, brutal reality of combat, command, and
counterinsurgency. A timeless classic in the tradition of
Bing Wests The Village.
DANIEL R. GREEN, Defense Fellow, The Washington
Institute for Near East Policy and co-author of Fallujah Redux:
The Anbar Awakening and the Struggle with al-Qaeda

Where Youth and Laughter Go is an unusually candid, detailed account of what its like to
prepare and lead a battalion of US Marines on deployment to one of the most dangerous areas of
Afghanistan. Lt. Col. Folsoms insights into the leadership, tactical and personal challenges posed by
operations in Sangin at the tail end of an uncertain war contain valuable, hard-won lessons for future
counterinsurgent leaders and students of the conflict.
BILL ARDOLINO, associate editor of The Long War Journal and author of Fallujah Awakens: Marines,
Sheikhs, and the Battle against al Qaeda

ritten from the perspective of a Marine infantry battalion commander, Where Youth and Laughter Go
chronicles LtCol Seth Folsoms command of the elite 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, known as
The Cutting Edge, and his harrowing deployment to Afghanistans volatile Sangin District. This unique
view presents a deeper look into the complexities and perils of modern counterinsurgency operations in
Americas longest war. Charged with the daunting task of pacifying a region with a long history of violence
and instability, Folsom and his Marines struggled daily to wage a dynamic campaign against the shadowy
enemy force that held Sangins population firmly in its grip. With peace and stability always teetering on
the brink of collapse, the Marines of The Cutting Edge confronted their own mortality as they conducted
endless patrols through Sangins minefields while fighting to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan
villagers.
Lt. Col. Folsom made the unusual decision to patrol with his rifle squads every day through Sangin,
leading his Marines under desperate circumstances while they dodged improvised explosive devices and
sniper fire from an invisible enemy. As his tour progressed and casualties mounted, Folsom found his
objectivity evaporating and the love for his men growing. More than a blood-and-guts war story, Where
Youth and Laughter Go is a jarring, boots on the groundlevel examination of the myriad challenges and
personal dilemmas that todays young service members face as the United States approaches its final
endgame in Afghanistan.
A stand-alone volume, Where Youth and Laughter Go is the culminating chapter of a trilogy that
began with The Highway War: A Marine Company Commander in Iraq in 2006 and continued with In the
Gray Area: A Marine Advisor Team at War in 2010. Affecting and contemplative, this final entry
completes LtCol Seth Folsoms recounting of his personal experiences in command over a decade of war.
Lt. Col. SETH W. B. FOLSOM, USMC, has a bachelor of arts in international relations from the University
of Virginia, a master of arts in national security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a master of
arts in strategic studies from the Marine Corps War College. He is the author of The Highway War: A Marine
Company Commander in Iraq and In the Gray Area: A Marine Advisor Team at War. The Highway War
(2006, Potomac Books, Inc.) won the 2007 Military Writers Society of Americas (MWSA) Gold Medal for
Best Memoir. In the Gray Area (2010, Naval Institute Press) won the 2011 Marine Corps Heritage
Foundations General Wallace M. Greene, Jr. Award, the 2011 Marine Corps Professional Reading List
selection, and 2012 MWSA Gold Medal for Best Memoir. Why Cant We Win?: Pitfalls in Modern U.S.
Counterinsurgency Operations won the 2013 Foreign Area Officer Association (FAOA) Writing Award. He
lives in Woodbridge, Virginia.

WHERE YOUTH AND LAUGHTER GO: With The Cutting Edge in Afghanistan
by Lt. Col. Seth W.B. Folsom, USMC
Publication Date: 15 September 2015. 392 pp., 15 photos, 2 maps, glossary, index.
Hardcover list price: $34.95 | 28. 50
ISBN: 978-1-61251-871-8 | History War in Afghanistan | eBook edition also available.
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