Truly impressive account of BUD/S training

books:


	• Suffer in Silence David Reid Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, 2004 - 340 pages average customer review:based on 32 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Truly impressive account of BUD/S training

I've read every SEAL BUD/S book I can get my hands on. I'm always looking for books about the training and have immensely enjoyed books like "Class-29," "Warrior Elite", and "You Want Me To Do What?". They're all excellent, but this one stands out because of its realism (if indeed it's accurate. After all, it is a work of fiction.) If it's real, then this is by far the most realistic description of the training I've seen. The characters are cliche but if the detail is accurate, then holy cow, these guys go through some really, really serious stuff. One thing about the level of detail is that you can feel how cold BUD/S students become. Your muscles burn and you ask yourself how the human body can endure such pain? I'm too old to be in the Navy but I've always read these accounts with a wishful desire to try it out. This is the very first account where I have seriously questioned why in the world I'd want to put myself through what these guys do. And for me this is quite a change since I'm constantly thinking about how I would have liked to try it. But now I'm not so sure. So if gritty, cold realism is what you want, and if this book is truly accurate, then pick this up and enjoy a great read.

for more information click here

Riveting

Reid's Suffer in Silence is riveting from cover to cover. It's raw and intense, and rings of authenticity. It will give pause to anyone contemplating the agony of BUDS program, but incite and inspire those as focused and masochistic (self-declared by the author) as Reid. The details of the story are exhaustive, and the rhythm of the book follows the undulations of the long, sleepless nights of the Hell Week experience, leaving the reader spent by the end of the book and craving for deeply needed sleep (or just a nice afternoon nap, as in my case-- of course, after I finished the book!). Though portraying experiences that push the limits of human endurance, and offering a glimpse into a (sometimes dark) mindset and world far from most of our comprehensions, Suffer in Silence succeeds in also being fun and engaging... a great read.

for more information click here

A Truly Impressive Book Worth Picking Up

Over the last several years, I have read several accounts of SEAL training and missions, including Chuck Pfarrer's "Warrior Soul," Marcinko's "Rogue Warrior," and Couch's "Warrior Elite" and "The Finishing School." These are all good books, but none of them kept me turning the pages like "Suffer in Silence." Although comparing nonfiction to fiction might seem like comparing apples and oranges, I think all five books can be judged fairly side-by-side. Reid's story is so personal and clearly uncensored, it rings of authenticity, leaving little doubt that the author was writing from personal experience.

I devoured "Suffer in Silence" in two sittings, which is a true rarity for me. Reid strips away the ridiculous machismo which typically infects military writing, leaving behind a real, unfiltered glimpse at the worst kind of hell a military trainee could possibly endure. Readers with little exposure to the Special Forces might be disturbed by the rather graphic descriptions of training, but I loved every page. The cast of characters is strong, and the plot took an interesting and unexpected twist towards the end which I enjoyed. Without giving anything away, let me just say that the plot doesn't follow the sadly predictable military-genre model, which involves bonding in training, then saving the country in a daring mission.

No book is perfect, and Reid's novel is no exception. However, he fully deserves the five stars I'm giving him for "Suffer in Silence." Of any book I've picked up over the several months, I would have to place his at the top of the pile. I'm looking forward to his next project.

for more information click here

A great read

Wow! I picked up this book on a suggestion from a friend and spent whole weekend reading it. I really felt the emotions of the main character as he went through his training. The author creates a vivid and realisitc portrait of a man pushing himself beyond evry limit. I highly reccomend this book.

Step Into His Boots

From the opening pages of "Suffer in Silence" you know you are in for a wild ride. Author David Reid puts the reader in the sand and surf alongside Ensign Mark Grey, a natural athlete and overachiever facing perhaps the supreme challenge of his life.

The Basic Underwater Demolition course (BUD/S) is the first step in becoming a Navy SEAL. The young men accepted for BUD/S training possess some of the best minds and bodies in the Navy, and still the majority will not complete the course. "Suffer in Silence" eloquently shows the reader why that is, and what it takes to become a SEAL.

We join ENS Grey in the second week of training for BUD/S Class 283. Hell Week is still a month or more away, and graduation just a distant mirage. Yet Grey and his classmates have already said goodbye to the ordinary world and accepted another; one of constant physical and psychological pressure, all-powerful instructors, and moments of good or bad luck that can make all the difference.

Mr. Reid skillfully conveys this atmosphere, and his characters are just as convincing. Class 283 is filled with memorable human beings, with all their strengths and weaknesses, being stretched to the breaking point. The BUD/S instructors are no less diverse or sharply drawn. Some are decent and others are arbitrarily cruel. Yet each is complex; moments of honor and grudging respect are intermingled with random acts of violence and pettiness.

There is one more character in this book that deserves mention - the sea. After finishing this book the reader will have a new respect for the quick, cold sea; it is more impartial, more implacable and more capricious than any BUD/S instructor could dream of being.

And that is the key to understanding this book and BUD/S. Like war, the sea is unforgiving of the smallest error, and sometimes takes its due even when no mistakes are made. Ensign Grey and his classmates will learn this lesson well both in and out of training during their time at BUD/S. With "Suffer in Silence", Mr. Reid expertly allows the reader to gain from some of that hard-won wisdom.

for more information click here

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7

hot

not?

What's your opinion?

Write a review and share your thoughts!

recommendations

Endurance Sports, Adventure Racing, and the Joy of Survival
Some books that I've read in the past year or so.
Top Five Books on Navy SEALs
Great Navy Novels
SEAL Books

search for books
suffer in silence, silence, suffer

Impressum / about us