Excellent Story Great Narrative Broad Strokes on American Policy

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	• Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 Marcus Luttrell Little, Brown and Company, 2007 - 390 pages average customer review:based on 696 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

As real as it gets, an amazing story!!!!

As a former military pilot of pointy nosed jets I am still in awe of the Navy SEALS and Delta guys. While we zip around in our fancy jets and fly LGB's thru doors, I (speaking for myself instead of all fighter pilots) I am totally in awe of the professionalism, incredible bravery, dedication, athleticism, determination, and heroism of these "teams". I had the privilege of working around some of these guys and they are truly the finest athletes and warriors on the planet. I felt that I was in the presence of the Dallas Cowboy's or Greenbay Packers star running backs when I met these guys. There was always four of them when I ran into them (they actually did stay in four packs when they trained) and always had the latest weps :) From what I've seen, I believe the story told by Mr. Luttrell to be very factual. This story sounds like exactly what it is like to be a SEAL and how they fight (as well as the stories I've heard about BUD/S). I felt so sad when I read how the ROE of the battlefield was made a mess of by our current totally clueless political types. The finest warriors are having their hands tied by nit wits.... So sad, I feel for you....

Who do fighter pilots envy?? For me, it is the Navy SEALS and Delta.... I don't hold a candle to these guys, the finest warriors on the planet...

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Could've Been Much Better

This would've been a better book without the entire first half. Far too much time is devoted to subjects that have been covered many times ("The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228" for example provides an in-depth narrative on SEAL training.)

The second half of the book is highly dramatic and, at times, touching. Still, my overall impression of the book is that it offers too much testosterone and not enough insight. Which is a shame because there are enough truly compelling passages to make you realize what a great book it could have been.

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Excellent Story Great Narrative Broad Strokes on American Policy

The story is excellent. Great narration, great detail about BUD/S and the Navy Indoc program. I felt like I was there with Luttrel. The narrative about Operation Redwing is very detailed and also subtlety tugs at the heart strings during the engagement when he loses his three team mates. Patrick Robinson's influence is also present, and I think this helps Luttrel in focusing his narrative.

Luttrel obviously has a well earned axe to grind against what he perceives American Policy and the media. However he also broadly condemns the media and Liberal, (I am interpreting this as Democrats) politicians in the United States Justice system's application of the rules of engagement. The rules of engagement cost him his friends and a part of his life. For that there is no compensation large enough. However by broadly condemning what he calls the "liberals" I think he is doing the narrative a disservice. I think it would have been better to leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions about what might be wrong with the rules of engagement, our society, our approach to engaging in military conflict. I would have hoped that Patrick Robinson would have helped with this as an experienced writer and journalist. But perhaps Robinson has his own axe to grind as well.

I am not drawing judgement on Luttrel. His service and sacrifice are beyond anything anyone could have asked of one person. I just think that a narrative the draws conclusions for the reader is more of a personal vendetta than an exploration into the story that allows the reader to draw their own conclusion.

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Let's Talk about the Politicians, academics and the media

Instead of addressing the story of the SEAL training program and the battle itself, because so many have done it before me and probably done a better job than I could, I'll address the criticims regarding the author's comments about the "liberal media." (1) like never before, the competition among the media has resulted in a frenzy to get a story out as quickly as possible if the editors believe it will sell more papers, get better ratings etc. Speed, not accuracy or the truth is the goal of the modern day media. I can't respect people who do such a poor job in their own profession criticising people who are performing a job that nobody in the media has a clue or the abilty to perform. To the modern day media, a dead soldier, sailor, airman or Marine is a number to be added to a total to cite in their story.
2) It is a rare academic who has served in the Boy Scouts, let alone the military. Duty, Honor, Country are foreign concepts to academics who dwell on relative morality, the lack of truth and the trivial. Senior academics working in US colleges are for the most part, people who avoided serving in the military during the 1960's and 1970's, who are not only ignorant of the military or law enforcement, they despise those people who work in those professions. William Ayers, the former friend of Obama is a prime example of this type of person, no remorse, no regrets about what he has done or how he has lived his life, even while he feeds at the public trough provided by the government he despises.
3) Finally, our modern day politician who, like the academics, avoided service in Vietnam or in the case of some, managed to get safe jobs because they were the sons of senators etc. Much as I dislike Al Gore, I do not include him in this category because as I understand it, he did not choose his job, the Army told him what he would be doing and where and in his case, it was Vietnam. I can respect that. But, for the most part, the men and women serving in the Congress may know a lot about appropriations for the military, but really, have no clue about the sacrifices made by the people in the military and frankly, I believe they don't care unless these people can be used for political purposes.

So, there are 3 groups of ignorant and dispicable people who exert far more influence than they should about the "rules of engagement." What to do about it? Unfortunately, there isn't much of anything that will be done about the ROE or these people until another 9/11 or worse occurs, then these same people, much in the same way they hate the police until one of them is robbed or killed, will be clamoring for the military "to do something." And the military will. WHY?
DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY
Semper fi
JWMatney U.S. Navy 1974-1978

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