Soldier's Education: A Hard Degree To Earn

President Obama has announced plans to send more troops to Afghanistan -- but is it too little, too late?

U.S. Army Captain Craig Mullaney, who was stationed in Afghanistan in 2003, joined Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith to share his perspective on the president's bold move as well as Mullaney's new book, "The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education."

Mullaney's book recounts what happened to him and his platoon while in Afghanistan.

The brave young man, who was a West Point cadet and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, also shared what drove him to become a soldier as well as the lessons he learned, not just in school, but on the battlefield.

Mullaney credits his sense of service to his grandfather, combined with being like "any 17-year-old, looking for adventure and purpose."

He went on to talk about the meaning of courage, which he says "isn't the absence of fear, but being able to face fear and work through it and that courage comes from the responsibility of those you lead."

For more of this story, click the Play button below: