Written by: Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson
Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
Originally Reviewed: 10-19-17 on audible.com
Rating: 2 – Read if you want to know about Navy Seals
A Horrific Tale of Courage and Dedication
I saw the movie before ever reading the book and I’m glad the visual work represented the book well. There are several things missing from the movie, but you can only squeeze so much into that short of time. I really only have two criticisms of the book and I’ll lay those out first: one, the author spent far too much time telling us how awesome the SEALs are (come on Marcus every other Navy SEAL book or movie does the same thing… we get it you guys are the best) and at least three times in the book he accuses other branches of the military for their inability to keep OPSEC while within the broader military community the SEALs are a joke on that subject (i.e., more book and movie deals than anyone else).
After the laborious retelling of BUDS and several stories of awesomeness (at least Marcus admits he’s overly arrogant, albeit earned the right to be so), he gets to Operation Redwing. I loved the details of Afghanistan from Airplane, to Helicopter, to man-on-the-ground. You get a sense of what it’s like to be there and the ominous terrain he had to counter and fall from.
I was able to listen at 3x speed without any issues. I appreciated the author(s) giving detailed account of the Pashtun cultural values and the people’s interaction with Marcus.
Other works for consideration:
1. Fearless, by Eric Blehm (about Adam Brown DEVGRU Operator)
2. American Sniper, by Chris Kyle
3. Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds, by David Goggins
Project 19 