New York Tech Virtual Book Club

featuring One Green Beret by Mark Giaconia (B.A. ’08)

This event has been postponed until September 2020. 

Join us for our second Book Club discussion of One Green Beret by Mark Giaconia (B.A. '08).

To register, scroll down and complete the form at the bottom of the page.

Book Club Discussion Group with Mark Giaconia
Thursday, July 9 - POSTPONED
5:30 – 7 p.m.

Zoom link will be made available in the confirmation email.

One Green Beret

by Mark Giaconia (B.A. '08)

Before the Iraq war in 2003, Green Beret teams infiltrated Northern Iraq, linked up with the CIA, and embedded deeply with the Kurdish Peshmerga to prepare for war. These special missions were called “Advanced Force Operations.” Subsequently, these special teams brought in the rest of the Green Berets during an operation called "the Ugly Baby." Then, one of the most significant battles in Special Forces history occurred: "Operation Viking Hammer," where six Green Beret teams along with a handful of CIA and Air Force Special Ops personnel, combined with approximately 8000 Peshmerga, took back hundreds of square kilometers from almost 1000 Ansar Al Islam extremists, and secured a poison production facility of national level significance. This book is the only firsthand account of these essential Unconventional Warfare operations, written by an operator who was there.

Find it on Amazon.com

Taken from Mark's Amazon.com page

Mark Giaconia served 15 years of his 20 year Army career in the Special Forces; he served in Bosnia, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, and Iraq as a Green Beret Operator. Mark holds two awards for valor from combat actions in Iraq and Kosovo (Bronze Star with "V" and an ARCOM with "V" respectively). He graduated from the toughest military training in the world, such as the Special Forces Qualification Course, Ranger School, Airborne and Jumpmaster School, Mountaineering schools, three different Sniper Schools, ASOT, and many more.

After his postwar intellectual evolution, Mark became a Computer Scientist, CTO, and technology leader, and he is also an accomplished Flamenco Guitarist, impressionist oil painter, woodworker, computer programmer and data scientist, and loves studying philosophy.

Are you or do you know an alumnus/a who has published a book that might be good for this club?  We'd love to connect with you!

Email your suggestions to alumni@nyit.edu.