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AFTER NEARLY 40 years of war and terrorism, Americans feel like they’ve seen it all.
The Iranian hostage crisis and the first Gulf War. The bloody disaster of Mogadishu and the ongoing fight in Afghanistan. The hunt for mad bombers in New York, and the search for Osama Bin Laden in Tora Bora.
Changiz Lahidji really did see it all, upclose and personal. Wait, who? The Iranian immigrant became the first Muslim Green Beret in 1979. He went on to spend two dozen years on active duty, notching more than 100 combat missions in Afghanistan alone.
When he retired as a master sergeant, he had served on Special Forces ATeams longer than anyone in history.
And in “Full Battle Rattle,” written by Lahidji and Ralph Pezzullo, the heroic veteran remembers it all as he always has — as a privilege.
Lahidji was born for battle. He was always more interested in adventure than school. At 18, he left his mostly secular, middleclass family to enroll in the elite Iranian Special Forces.
He liked the camaraderie, but the missions weren’t what he imagined as a kid watching John Wayne movies. Many of his assignments felt wasteful — like security duty at one of the Shah of Iran’s parties, a desert feast celebrating 2,500 years of the Persian Empire.
“The massive tent accommodated 600 guests, who were feted with a lavish 51/2-hour banquet served on dinnerware created by Limoges and with wine and food provided by Maxim’s of Paris,” the soldier writes.
“Foreign dignitaries were shuttled back and forth to the airport in 250 identical red MercedesBenz limos.”
It was a long way from watching the Duke in “The Green Berets.” So when Lahidji finished his hitch, he immigrated to California. He worked at family gas stations in the pre-silicon Silicon Valley for a while.
In November 1978, he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
There were some preliminary skirmishes. Getting through Special Forces training was one battle.