Title: Lone Survivor - The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10
Authors: Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson
Pages: 386
Genre: Non-fiction
Grade: B+
Synopsis: This is the account of
Operation Redwing, a counter-insurgent mission that took place in Afghanistan in 2005. 4 Navy SEALs were inserted high on a mountain with the intention of capturing or killing a Taliban leader. They are caught in a massive firefight which kills three of the SEALs. The rescue helicopter with additional SEALs is shot down by the Taliban killing an additional 16 members of the US Armed Forces.
My Review: This book is very powerful because half of the book isn't even focused on the failed mission, but on the training and boot camp that the Navy SEALs go through. This book details why the SEALs are the United States strongest fighting forces and why they are used most often in special missions where much is at stake (see the killing of Osama Bin Laden on May 2, 2011). The training regimen that the SEALs are put through is amazing. By the time one has trained to be a SEAL, there isn't anything that they can't do. The author of this book and the lone survivor, due to miraculous circumstances, places much of the blame for the bad decisions made by the SEALs on the mountain on the fear of retribution by the "liberal media" back in the States. This was an incredible look into the training and pressures that these heroes are faced with.
Disclaimer: As is typical with most books about military procedures, there is some foul language, but Luttrell makes an effort to limit the poor language to specific quotes or examples.
From the Book: "(p. 88) The SEALs place a premium on brute strength, but there's an even bigger premium on speed. That's speed through the water, speed over the ground, and speed of thought. There's no prizes for gleaming a set of well-oiled muscles in Coronado. Bulk just makes you slow, especially in soft sand, and that's what we had to tackle every day of our lives, mile after mile."
