Mother's Day: The Courage & Sacrifice of the 3rd Battalion 25th Marines. In his debut book, Cleveland gives a first-hand account of his time with the 3/25, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His book is one of only a handful written telling the unit's story. In 2005, Cleveland, a Navy Corpsman (medic), deployed to Iraq with a thousand fellow Reservists as part of 3/25, an Ohio-based Marine Reserve unit. After five months of relative quiet, enemy forces began launching attack after attack on the unit. By the time the battalion went home in November 2005, it had lost more men than any other single unit in the war. Forty-six Marines and two Navy Corpsmen were killed in action during the unit's roughly nine-month activation.

"These young men weren't Special Operators or even full-time soldiers," said Cleveland, who served with the battalion from 2002 to 2006. "They were Reservists who in their civilian lives worked as teachers, nurses, police officers, paramedics, and Home Depot workers. This is a story about traveling from civilian to combatant in the worst possible scenario and back. My goal is to memorialize the men that I served with: who they were, what they did and what it cost them."

Cleveland, a police detective in Ohio with 25 years as a uniformed officer, will donate all proceeds from his book to Feed Our Vets, a non-profit providing food assistance to veterans and their families.

"Taylor's story is so emotional and engaging," said Chris Schafer, CEO at Tactical 16 Publishing. "His story provides deep insight into what happened to 3/25 in Iraq, and is a tremendous tribute to the men who sacrificed everything to defend our freedoms."

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