Ultimately disappointing

books:


	• The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228 Dick Couch Three Rivers Press, 2003 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 83 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Outstanding!

I got it quickly and in tact. It's a great blow by blow of as much of the process as you're gonna get without actually being there. It's a great read and I finished it in about a week or so. I also own the BUDS CLASS 234 DVDs and the amount of detail that this book offers over the DVDs fully justifies buying it. You won't be disappointed.

Ultimately disappointing

There's a lot to like about this book. Couch - a class="textlinks">SEAL himself - had unprecedented access to the SEAL training program, and was given a wide berth to write about it in detail. As an overview of an incredibly grueling training process, with access most of us will never have, it's solid.

Ultimately, however, Couch isn't up to the task of documenting what's put before him. The writing is intensely mediocre.

First, he fails to adequately some activities (such as log PT) well enough for the reader to actually understand what's going on. This is a common mistake among writers with inadequate editorial guidance. He doesn't know what his readers don't know, so fails to explain some things.

Secondly, Couch doesn't dig to find stories. At the end of the book, you don't feel like you know the members of class 228 as individuals. Sure, you can recite the litany of body-breaking obstacles they overcame, but who are they? Why should we care about these people? Only a few of them are singled out for meaningful individual comment, and they get praise of the blandest variety. No personality comes through.

Lastly, Couch doesn't get into the nitty-gritty of tactical training at all. Evidently there's a technique which helps the trainees swim faster, but Couch can't be bothered with so much as a paragraph to explain what it is. We're told the trainees study military tactics, but the tactics themselves are never explained. Technical detail - so I learned something about how SEALs think and operate - could have compensated for Couch's failure to find individual stories, but is sadly absent from this book.

I have a few friends who were SEALs and this book definitely increased my respect for them. I can't imagine going through what they went though.

On the other hand, I learn more about what SEALs do, and how they do it, from one of my friends' stories than I did from this book. There was tremendous potential in what Couch set off to accomplish ... but sadly, he didn't reach it.

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Only a few make it......

Ever wonder if you would be able to make it through class="textlinks">SEAL school ??

This will make you think long and hard about it.

If you can make it through the fitness tests, and the skills tests and the water tests, all the time having a fresh set of Instructors in your face, everytime you breath wrong.

You get to "try" and make it through "Hell Week", not many do.....

Having been a "guest" Instructor, I can say, this book is as close as you can come to being in SEAL school, without being a "sand cookie".

Thrilling

This is an excellent book not just for the military junkie, but for anyone who needs to take action in their life. What these BUD/S trainees go through every single day is more exciting than an average workout all week. The stories in the first 3/4 of the book are enthralling. The end kind of drags, but there's some excellent words of advice from the author that you can take with you to live an inspiring life. Easy read from cover to cover.

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Almost Five Stars

This was a great book, and I nearly gave it five stars. It's a detailed observation of Navy class="textlinks">SEAL training, written by a man who was once a SEAL himself. Incredibly informative, the author's finest moment (in my opinion) is when he breaks down the reasons why some men succeed in BUD/S, and some Drop On Request. The instructors don't even take bets as to which candidates will remain at the end of training, because all too often they are surprised.

So why only four stars? Because the book really doesn't go beyond being an "observation." As a reader, you may feel like you are watching the action, but you don't feel as if you are actually there. Couch doesn't get inside the thoughts or emotions of the men involved very often; he mainly just reports what he sees.

As one other reviewer noted, "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney delivers exciting content with a writing style that really puts you in the middle of the action--I highly recommend that book, as well.

"The Warrior Elite" is definitely worth reading, especially if you're looking to join the SEALs. (It's good to know what you're in for.) A good companion to this book is the Discovery Channel documentary about the Navy SEALs. After reading this book, you can check out the documentary for a good visual of all the stuff you just read about. It's not as detailed, of course, but a great way to round out the whole experience.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

With a postscript describing class="textlinks">SEAL efforts in Afghanistan, The Warrior Elite takes you into the toughest, longest, and most relentless military
training in the world.

What does it take to become a Navy SEAL? What makes talented, intelligent young men volunteer for physical punishment, cold water, and days without sleep? In The Warrior Elite, former Navy SEAL Dick Couch documents the process that transforms young men into warriors. SEAL training is the distillation of the human spirit, a tradition-bound ordeal that seeks to find men with character, courage, and the burning desire to win at all costs, men who would rather die than quit.

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