PHOENIX (AP) — An upcoming book co-authored by U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego will recount the Arizona Democrat’s experiences while serving in a Marine Corps unit that suffered heavy casualties during the Iraq War, the book’s publisher says.
Besides telling “harrowing accounts of some of the war’s most costly battles,” the book to be published in November under the title of “They Called Us ‘Lucky'” also will examine PTSD and serve as a tribute to Gallego’s fallen comrades, Harper Collins Publishers wrote in a description of the book.
Gallego’s unit was unscathed in the first two months of its 2005 deployment but ultimately lost 22 Marines and a Navy corpsman before returning to the United States that November.
The book was co-written with Jim DeFelice, a co-author of “American Sniper,” the memoir of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle, the Arizona Republic reported.
Gallego was elected to the Arizona House in 2010 and was first elected to Congress in 2014 before being re-elected three times from a Democratic-dominated district in metro Phoenix.
Gallego considered running for U.S. Senate in 2020 but ultimately did not, clearing a path for fellow Democrat Mark Kelly who unseated incumbent Republican Martha McSally in the general election.