THE LAST PUNISHER: A SEAL Team THREE Sniper’s True Account of the Battle of Ramadi by Kevin Lacz (Threshold Editions; on sale July 12th; Hardcover $28.00) is a gripping and intimate on-the-ground memoir from a Navy SEAL who was part of SEAL Team THREE with American Sniper Chris Kyle.

A bold, no-holds-barred first-person account of the Iraq War, with wry humor and moving testimony, Kevin Lacz tells the story of his tour in Iraq with SEAL Team THREE, the warrior elite of the Navy. This legendary unit, known as “The Punishers,” included Chris Kyle (American Sniper), Mike Monsoor, Ryan Job, and Marc Lee. These brave men were instrumental in securing the key locations in the pivotal 2006 Battle of Ramadi, told with stunning detail in these pages.

Minute by minute, Lacz relays the edge-of-your-seat details of his team’s missions in Ramadi, offering a firsthand glimpse into the heated combat, extreme conditions, and harrowing experiences they faced every day with anecdotes including:

•The story of The Battle of Ramadi, which took place during the summer of 2006, was the most dangerous time in the Iraq War and was the time of Kevin’s first deployment.

•Chris Kyle giving Kevin his nickname, “Dauber,” early on in his SEAL career.

•Kevin’s first task in Iraq was to drive in a massive convoy for several hours along a road littered with hundreds of IED craters. His driver was Michael Monsoor, who was later posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

•Kevin was the medic to care for Marc Lee when he was shot on a house clearing operation on August 2nd, 2006. Marc’s wounds are fatal, and he becomes the first Navy SEAL to be killed in Iraq. Kevin is later awarded a Bronze Star with a combat ‘V’ for carrying Marc’s body through enemy gunfire to safety.

•Working as the SEAL technical advisor to Bradley Cooper on the set of American Sniper, where he later joins the cast, playing himself in the film.

Experience his deployment, from his first mission to his first kill to his eventual successful return to the United States. THE LAST PUNISHER brings the reader into the life and mind of a SEAL, demonstrating the tough realities of war. At the same time, Lacz shares how these experiences made him a better man and how proud he is of his contributions to one of this country’s most difficult military campaigns.