|
Happy Fourth of July, I am sure this is one of the most special days in your life.Patti Branco I understand more about the military than I ever thought I would know or even want to. I have to admit-the first part, the training for the Seals was interesting but nowhere as compelling as the excursion into the Taliban war zone, after the initial Seal training. Bravo Marcus, so happy you were able to bring these memories and experiences home to us Americans that you have protected. This book was amazing. It kept me on edge and was well written and authentic. This book is like an action movie in print.
There is a time honored tradition in British special forces memoirs to simply make stuff up, usually more violence, to make the story sexier. I suspect the same happened here.
But they've done a disservice to the special forces community and to those readers who want serious military history, not artificial patriotism a la FOX news. Unfortunately, Luttrell is the "lone survivor", and his account, or rather his ghost writer's rendering of it, has way too many holes in it to be believable.
There is no question in my mind that some heroic things happened on that mission; I don't think they would give the medal of honor to someone who didn't deserve it. From a marketing point of view, judging by the vast majority of reviews posted here, they hit it right on the head.
The fact that this quite awful book was "co"written by a British hack (a rather odd choice for an American soldier) already explains a lot. The most famous example, of course,is "Bravo Two Zero", which according to currently available information never had any enemy contact at all, but whose exploits in several contradictory books and a movie morphed into an epic running battle resulting in hundreds of dead Iraqis.
This isn't how it happened; this is what the ghost writer thinks the American audience wants to read, complete with silly political rantings the kind of which I have never read in a military memoir before.
What these guys go through in TRAINING is amazing. No, the writing was NOT exemplary.Yes, at times it was repetitive.Yes, 10,000 less words would have made this story better.You probably won't always agree with the author's political beliefs.BUT,If you'd like to read a gut wrenching true story of a REAL group of hero's, then buy and read this book. AND, when the rubber met the proverbial road in this story, these particular guys showed a kind of bravery that will surely impress you.
This cannot continue.Pickup this book, you won't regret it for a moment and you will end up passing it around to friends and family so you will get your money's worth. The Hero's and heroics described in this book literally choked me up.While I'm sure it wasn't a focal point or intent of the author's, I especially appreciated the parts about how outdated Rules of Engagement, the biased liberal media and civilian lawyers are getting brave men and women killed every day. Once I picked this book up, I could not put it down. It was exciting, informative and emotional. This is something America needs to see, realize and wake up to.
When they get deployed and finally begin their mission (redwing, I think) it is non-stop on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading. Don't be deterred by this section of the book, don't put it down, keep reading. Buy it, read it, and read it again. This story is absolutely amazing. The first half of the book is a thorough glimpse into the becoming of a Navy SEAL, pretty intense but rather boring after a couple dozen pages. I loved this book, and so have three of my close friends who don't typically enjoy reading non-fiction.
|
