David Thomas

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  Saving Aziz : How The Mission To Help One Became A Calling To Rescue Thousa

  $28.99

  Former Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux details the incredible rescue missions that evacuated not only his long-time comrade and interpreter, Aziz, but also more than 17,000 Afghans and allies who were left in the grip of the Taliban’s violent regime as the United States military withdrew from Afghanistan.

  During his eight deployments to Afghanistan, Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux and his comrade and Afghan interpreter, Aziz, carried out over a hundred dangerous missions to eliminate High Value Targets (HVTs) in the Taliban’s terrorist regime. During those years, Chad was welcomed into Aziz’s growing family, and the two men developed a brotherly bond as they stood against the Taliban’s violent oppression.

  In April 2021, fourteen years after Robichaux’s final deployment, the Biden administration announced that the United States military would end its twenty-year occupation in Afghanistan and would pull its military forces from the country by the twentieth anniversary of 9/11. Immediately, Robichaux knew he had to save Aziz and his family. As he began to organize efforts, he realized a greater need to help more of the Afghan people he had come to know and respect. As the deadline for withdrawal drew near, he formed a coalition of nonprofits called Save Our Allies and created Task Force 6:8, which consisted of twelve former special operations veterans, to evacuate American citizens, green card holders, and special immigration visa (SIV) applicants out of the volatile country. They successfully extracted 12,000 evacuees in a period of ten days and took them to the United Arab Emirates. Then, by partnering with several other nonprofits, they continued to evacuate an average of fifty people per day over the next few weeks so that more than 17,000 were rescued, the largest number for any rescue group and second only to the United States military.

  Following those rescue efforts, Robichaux carried out a two-man reconnaissance mission over the span of ten days that provided flight paths across the border into Tajikistan. Operating at night and tracked by the Russian KGB, they successfully evaded capture by the Taliban and Chinese special forces, and were the first on the ground providing real-time intelligence for outside intelligence agencies, which made way for additional evacuations.

  Saving Aziz gives the behind-the-scenes view of the evacuation efforts that saved thousands from the Taliban during a historic humanitarian crisis. In this gripping

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  Leftovers : Baylor, Betrayal, And Beyond

  $18.99

  Ever since he was a young boy, Matt Sayman wanted to play basketball. He played for hours on end, studied other players, and attended numerous basketball camps. His family believed in his dream, too, even agreeing to move to Texas when one of Matt’s favorite coaches left Pennsylvania for the Lone Star State.

  Matt eventually received a full athletic scholarship from Baylor University. He was only six-feet-four but what he lacked in height, he made up for in skill and positive attitude. He was destined to go pro after graduation.

  Then the summer before his senior year, the bottom falls out of Matt’s world. A player goes missing…and is found dead. A teammate is the murder suspect. A coach is accused of paying players under the table. Some receive drug-free urine samples to pass off as their own. And through it all, Matt is supposed to be the glue who holds the Baylor basketball team together.

  In The Leftovers: Baylor, Betrayal, and Beyond, Matt shares his personal story of dealing with the fallout after tragedy and trouble nearly sank Baylor’s program. Matt was senior co-captain, but with a short-manned team of leftover players, there was no way to have a winning season. There was no way some talent scout would take a chance on him.

  Matt’s hope and faith were shaken because of the scandals that summer. He had just turned twenty-one in January and began to party and drink heavily. His post-Baylor years included a DWI, a difficult divorce, and broken relationships. Matt struggled to find peace. On his thirtieth birthday, just a few days after a deep conversation with his pastor, Matt said goodbye to alcohol and surrendered his life to God. This book tells the story of Matt’s personal redemption.

  The Leftovers is also a story of the redemption of Baylor University’s men’s basketball program; Matt’s team with a young new head coach forged the Baylor team that won the 2021 NCAA men’s basketball championship.

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