Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.

Code Name

Johnny Walker

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

In this unforgettable memoir, the Navy SEALs' most trusted translator—a man who is credited with saving countless American lives and became a legend in the special-ops community—tells his inspiring story for the first time.

As the insurgency in Iraq intensified following the American invasion, U.S. Navy SEALs were called upon to root terrorists from their lairs. Unsure of the local neighborhoods and unable to speak the local languages, they came to rely on one man to guide them and watch their backs. He was a "terp"—an interpreter—with a job so dangerous they couldn't even use his real name.

They named him Johnny Walker. They soon called him brother. Over the course of eight years, the Iraqi native traveled around the country with nearly every SEAL and special operations unit deployed there. He went on thousands of missions, saved dozens of SEAL and other American lives, and risked his own daily. Helped to the U.S. by the SEALs he protected, Johnny Walker's life is so remarkable that his tale reads like fiction. But every word of it is true.

For the first time ever, a "terp" tells what it was like in Iraq during the American invasion and the brutal insurgency that followed. With inside details on SEAL operations and a humane understanding of the tragic price paid by ordinary Iraqis, Code Name: Johnny Walker reveals a side of the war that has never been told before.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

  • Formats

  • Languages

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      March 24, 2014
      America, as portrayed in this military memoir written by an Iraqi native with ties to U.S. command, is "a refuge and a dream," a country that stumbled into an already broken Iraq and did its best with the pieces it found. "Johnny Walker" is the code name given to the author while working with Navy SEALs as a translator and interrogator. DeFelice, best known for his work on Chris Kyle's memoir, American Sniper, co-writes Walker's tale of the war. The book is at its best when Walker reflects on the impact of the job on the life of his wife and kids. During the six years he spent allied with the Americans, Walker and his family were threatened and forced to relocate several times. However the author often strays away from his personal experience, focusing instead on the action of war. Even his primary message that the Iraq war was not caused by America is lost through the repetitive accounts of house raids. By the time Walker and his family relocate to California, the story feels less about a man who fought in secret, and more about someone who wanted and found a way out of a war torn country.

    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2013

      Committed to changing his country's government, Iraqi Alahmady worked as a translator for the U.S. military during the war, also delivering intelligence and saving lives; he's been praised by famed U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. Today he lives in San Diego, where he trains new SEALs. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      January 15, 2014
      Fiery, insightful memoir from the former Iraqi translator who fought alongside U.S. Special Forces during the recent war in Iraq. With the assistance of DeFelice (co-author: American Sniper, 2012, etc.) and writing as a first-time author under a protective pseudonym, "Johnny Walker," this Mosul-born, pro-American Muslim Iraqi relates a sometimes-biased but invaluable insider's perspective of Iraq after Saddam Hussein. After an undistinguished stint in the badly trained Iraqi army, the author made a decision early on in the 2003 conflict that to provide for his family, he would have to collaborate with the American occupying force. Although his initial attempts at obtaining work as a translator and adviser for the Americans were frustrated, he eventually caught on with the Navy SEALs. Quickly, he began to learn that being a translator also meant being a combat-ready soldier and risking his life. Things began to get seriously dangerous for "Johnny," however, when his relationship with the American forces became well-known around Mosul, which made him a potential target for assassins. This pressure to both serve his American employers and still retain close ties to his own Iraqi community is what eventually drove him to pursue his dream of immigrating to America. Throughout the book, the author gives a vivid sense of what it's like to be stuck geopolitically between a rock and a hard place: Iraqis like him rejected the tyrannical rule of Hussein but then had to endure the chaos of the destabilizing influence that the U.S.-led invasion wrought on the country. Although he defends the motives behind the American invasion, the question of whether this pre-emptive military action was an effective operation in the long run is a point he mostly evades until the end of the book. Ultimately, any national allegiances take a back seat to "Johnny's" survival instincts. Eventually, the once-impossible dream of becoming an American citizen and bringing his family to the U.S. became a hard-won reality. A harrowing personal journey of courageous self-empowerment during wartime.

      COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Loading