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I picked it up after reading a review of it on one of the online news sites.
Amazing story, told by the lone Navy SEAL who survived the incident which saw the deaths of over a dozen special forces guys. The first half of the book talks about the Navy SEAL training...amazing what those guys go through. Even as a retired gang cop from Los Angeles I'm seriously impressed by what those guys are able to survive in the BUD/S School. Makes us all look like girlie-men by comparison.
The story of the battle in the mountains of Afghanistan is a gripping narrative and a very moving story of courage and loss. What Luttrell had to endure to survive is remarkable. One of the most compelling things about this story (for me) was the revelation of just how the rules of engagement under which our soldiers must fight obviously result in much higher casualties, and just how unworkable it can make a mission.
Luttrell is very politically conservative (most soldiers I know are) and that is evident as he shares his thoughts and frustrations with the ROE, but even if you're politically left-of-center the story is worth the read IMO.
I read about it here in a different thread. Think the SEALS are amazing. Got it at the library. Didn't get very far, couldn't stand it. Ax grinding, poor writing....
I loved the book. I picked it up because I wanted to read about what happened in that horrid battle in Afghanistan.
I was surprised when the first part of the book grabbed me. I don't know how anyone can survive the SEAL training. I was totally exhausted just reading about it.
I had no problem with the author's writing style. I am usually tuned in to the style and this book was well written, IMO, because it came across as the author having a chat with me.
I read about it here in a different thread. Think the SEALS are amazing. Got it at the library. Didn't get very far, couldn't stand it. Ax grinding, poor writing....
I am with you although I finished it. I thought the writing was very poor, and the survivor came across as someone without an ounce of critical thinking skills. In case you missed it, for a military book on Special Forces, The Horse Soldiers is far superior. It is a thrilling story regardless of where one's personal political convictions lie and the quality of the writing is so far above Lone Survivor as to put it in a different category altogether.
I read Lone Survivor and liked it.
The explanation of the "rules of engagement" our troops must follow is worth the cost of the book. The story is true not a work of fiction. If you pick it up don't expect it to read like a Tom Clancy or Dale Brown work of fiction.
I read Lone Survivor and liked it.
The explanation of the "rules of engagement" our troops must follow is worth the cost of the book. The story is true not a work of fiction. If you pick it up don't expect it to read like a Tom Clancy or Dale Brown work of fiction.
GL2
Speaking for myself, I got real sick of listening to him bitching about how the evil liberals were preventing him from killing unarmed civilians. I can understand the tactical reasons for wanting to do that, but his flaming politicizing of the issue was total bull****.
Speaking for myself, I got real sick of listening to him bitching about how the evil liberals were preventing him from killing unarmed civilians. I can understand the tactical reasons for wanting to do that, but his flaming politicizing of the issue was total bull****.
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In my opinion we are fighting this "war on terror" in the wrong way. In past wars you defeated an enemy by controlling his lines of supply or killing their armed forces with bigger and better weapons. There were "rules of warfare" and the opposing sides in those wars could be identified by the uniforms they wore. Great pains were taken to avoid inflicting death and destruction on non combatant civilian populations.
In this current war there are no easily identifiable combatants. Muslim Jihadists are the ones trying to kill us and they seek refuge in civilian populations. They do not care if you wear a uniform, how old you are, Male or Female or the color of your skin. IF you DO NOT accept the way they believe and follow their beliefs exactly they believe it is their GOD GIVEN "duty" to kill you.
There are only two ways to defeat an enemy like this: 1.You can convert them or 2. you kill them.
In MANY predominantly Muslim countries it is ILLEGAL to preach any religion or even possess a bible or other religious book. Even in countries we consider ALLIES (Saudi Arabia etc.) openly preaching Christianity or other religions can get you killed. So conversion would be difficult.
We don't need to CONVERT JIHADISTS to Christianity or any other religion. We just need to convince them that JIHAD is not the way. Outsiders CANNOT do this. Militaries cannot do this. This is something that must be done from within these populations. When JIHADISTS intermingle within a population the only way an outside military force can wipe them out is to kill everyone around them. Collateral damage is the official term. Short of sending in an assassin to kill each and every Imam or person teaching Jihadism we will never get rid of this idea.
The only thing that will change the way we fight this war is for the JIHADISTS to kill tens of thousands of American civilians in a short time period. If two or three hundred thousand American civilians were killed in a short time period the anger of the American people would be so great that we would turn loose our military machine and MILLIONS of people in the Muslim world would be killed.
There is one more option. We could all bow down and pray to Allah but even then there are certain sects of their religion that would still want to kill us. THAT IS NOT AN OPTION.
I hope this never happens but I think that is the direction we are heading in.
GL2
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