Lone Survivor

[Radar Rider]

Lone Survivor is the story of Marcus Luttrell, the one surviving Navy SEAL of a reconnaissance mission gone bad. On 27 June 2005, a four man Seal Team was inserted into the Hindu Kush (eastern Afghanistan) in order to conduct surveillance on a HVM (high value miscreant) of the Taliban/al Qaeda; their intent was to locate and then either capture or terminate the HVM or call in a larger force to conduct that mission. The story will sound familiar if you recall the SEAL Team that was discovered by locals; the team then had to decide whether to kill the locals or to let them go and risk compromise. After some heated discussion, they decided to let the goatherders go and try to exfil ASAP. Other than the attacks which the team had to endure, THAT is most intense part of the story. The fact that four Americans, well behind enemy lines and with no commo, had to factor in crucifixion in the American media made their decision that much more painful.

Luttrell tells a fascinating story, beginning with his preparations for and attendance at SEAL training. Although we've all read of the hardships of that school, it is still amazing to see what SEAL candidates must undergo. The book then transitions to Afghanistan, and the missions of SOF. When the recon mission goes to hell, the 4 SEALS have to fight up to 200 miscreants armed with AK-47s and RPGs. Another gut wrenching portion occurs when the QRF is launched, and the aircraft is shot down by an RPG. Even as you root for the SEALS, you know the tragic end. Or you think you do. Luttrell covers his own fortunate survival, and the friendly tribesmen that risked all to help him.

Throughout the book, Luttrell skewers the lefties and the liberal media. When you read this story, you'll know why. With hardass training, a lot of faith and some luck, Marcus Luttrell made it home to tell his story. It is engrossing, reveals details that few know, and is a quick page turner. I HIGHLY recommend it.

[Gypsy]

I read this, it was a heartbreaker and a story of survival that I shall not forget.

I remember when snipets of his survival story started to be told, he (Luttrell) was referred to as "the one"...before his identity became known outside of the SEAL community.

[hoot72]

Outstanding book but ultimately heart-breaking....managed to find two copies in Kuala Lumpur and bought both from the book store.

The narration isn't what I would call stellar.

I found his frequent political/religious rants derailed the narrative off course in the oddest places. More often than not, his comments seemed to be in there because he had a forum to grief.

I feel for the families of the men that died. Clearly it was a terrible day and those guys went out there to fight without reservation. The entire "story"(is non-fiction a story?) and events were gripping but the agenda he inserted into the book seemed to have little to do with the events in question. It made me wonder was this stuff really going through his head when he was fighting for his life? Didn't he have other things to worry about?

Perhaps, if you are on board with his thinking it may not be as annoying to you but it seemed like the wrong forum to me.

j

[CPTAUSRET]

Originally Posted by eva05

The narration isn't what I would call stellar.

I found his frequent political/religious rants derailed the narrative off course in the oddest places. More often than not, his comments seemed to be in there because he had a forum to grief.

I feel for the families of the men that died. Clearly it was a terrible day and those guys went out there to fight without reservation. The entire "story"(is non-fiction a story?) and events were gripping but the agenda he inserted into the book seemed to have little to do with the events in question. It made me wonder was this stuff really going through his head when he was fighting for his life? Didn't he have other things to worry about?

Perhaps, if you are on board with his thinking it may not be as annoying to you but it seemed like the wrong forum to me.

j

I have not read the book, but Nancy (my wife) is after me to write a book re my time in VN...You can bet if I do, that I will lambaste a bunch of political hacks who prevented US from taking the war to the enemy. There were a great many targets begging to be hit, instead our air-crews were required to overfly Migs on the ground, in order to get to other less productive targets! "THUD RIDGE" is a good book on the topic.

Thank you, robert strange mcnamara. There were a great many hurdles we had to jump just to engage the enemy...Thank God I did not have gun cameras on my aircraft!

It's your book to write as you like and you can be sure I will buy it

For what it's worth, the most effective books I've read, didn't spell out the politics. They let the facts speak for themselves and allowed me to make an informed decision about what I was reading and how it fit into the context of the world. As an adult and a reader, I appreciate that authors realize I'm not 5 years old and need everything spelled out for me.

If the writer of Lone Survivor had told his story well I might have bought into what he was saying more. As it stands, there's at least 2 dozen other books I would recommend in front of that one on the post 9/11 wars.

j

[Shar]

Originally Posted by CPTAUSRET

I have not read the book, but Nancy (my wife) is after me to write a book re my time in VN...

I'm with your wife on this - can we start a petition? Since reading An Enormous Crime I've been very interested in learning more about Vietnam but I haven't found a good place to start yet. Your book sounds like a good place!

[hoot72]

Originally Posted by eva05

The narration isn't what I would call stellar.

I found his frequent political/religious rants derailed the narrative off course in the oddest places. More often than not, his comments seemed to be in there because he had a forum to grief.

I feel for the families of the men that died. Clearly it was a terrible day and those guys went out there to fight without reservation. The entire "story"(is non-fiction a story?) and events were gripping but the agenda he inserted into the book seemed to have little to do with the events in question. It made me wonder was this stuff really going through his head when he was fighting for his life? Didn't he have other things to worry about?

Perhaps, if you are on board with his thinking it may not be as annoying to you but it seemed like the wrong forum to me.

j

I know what you're talking about but could it possibly be because of how fustrated he feels or how fustrated he felt at the time and he is telling us how it is or how it was and why he felt that way?

I know he repeats his political agenda and feelings a number of times...not that its necc. a bad thing..

[brianb0806]

Originally Posted by eva05

It's your book to write as you like and you can be sure I will buy it

For what it's worth, the most effective books I've read, didn't spell out the politics. They let the facts speak for themselves and allowed me to make an informed decision about what I was reading and how it fit into the context of the world. As an adult and a reader, I appreciate that authors realize I'm not 5 years old and need everything spelled out for me.

If the writer of Lone Survivor had told his story well I might have bought into what he was saying more. As it stands, there's at least 2 dozen other books I would recommend in front of that one on the post 9/11 wars.

j

Keep in mind that a big part of writing a book like that is to decompress. It's obvious that he attributes much of the blame for this incident to the liberal, uninformed politicians, lawyers and media hacks, who have forced the military to justify every action like a beat cop in LA. He needed a forum to express this as well as tell his team's story. I don't think his analysis of the politics behind the war are at all out of place. Every time we see another soldier, sailor or marine go on trial for murder in Iraq or Afghanistan, we hesitate a little more when confronted. This leads to unnecesary American casualties. There is no sense in it. It needs to be put in the spotlight as much as possible and this book has helped do that. He never criticized the war, his leaders or the mission, he only expressed fact. The fact that this was a constant thought in his mind certainly before and after the mission, and likely during it. Good on 'em.

The facts of this are a 4 man team went into very dangerous area, were compromised and nearly wiped out. Period. They were not denied some kind of support because Hillary Clinton didn't want a reaction force sent in. It wasn't CNN sending live data to the people they were fighting.

And correct me if I'm mistaken, but there has been military justice for soldiers convicted of violating the codes of conduct be it torture or illegal killing, etc. since the days of the Civil War? There is a standard that the military is expected to adhere to because they are representatives of the United States of America.

While reading this book I did not once have a fact presented to me that said, this man's hands were tied and he was unable to defend himself. I did not find any rational argument that said if the media weren't such jackals and "uninformed" people weren't so "uninformed" that the war would be over or that anything would be great. Would his team have been wiped out if CNN did nothing but run pro-Bush coverage?

In some points here, I am playing devils advocate(maybe to the point of being inflammatory) because I don't find myself aligned with all of his thinking.

Regarding the book as decompression, let me flip this for a second.

I was walking through my neighborhood 2 days ago, when a police van and several officers stop me and tell me to face the wall. I comply, having no idea what is going on, to find out they stopped me because I had a pocket knife in my pocket (I'm assuming there was an undercover agent who spotted it).

After searching me and my bags they inform me that they are going to confiscate my pocket knife because it is illegal. I ask, politely, since when is carrying a pocket knife illegal. They counter with it has a 4" blade, which it did not (had a 3" blade -- we ended up measuring it). At this point they give me back the knife and say they are giving me a warning. A warning for what? (incidentally carrying a knife is fine in NYC as long as it is not a switch blade type knife)

Now if I go and write and article where I'm decompressing and blasting all police as fascists , stealing my rights, etc., etc. Does that make an educated article? No. Is it in anyway constructive? Does it help figure out how to go from here? No.

That's what this book felt like to me.

j

[jatx]

Originally Posted by eva05

Children cry because they don't have the reasoning power of adults.

That's what this book felt like to me.

j

You, sir, are a complete imbecile.

What gives you the right to slander any SOF soldier as a "child" with limited "reasoning power" - let alone one who has been to hell and back, and probably wishes he died with his friends?

You may not like the way he told his story, you might even disagree with his politics, but it's his story to tell and he doesn't need you impugning his character or casting aspersions.

Ponder that while designing your video games under the protection of better men.

[peepee1]

Originally Posted by jatx

You, sir, are a complete imbecile.

What gives you the right to slander any SOF soldier as a "child" with limited "reasoning power" - let alone one who has been to hell and back, and probably wishes he died with his friends?

You may not like the way he told his story, you might even disagree with his politics, but it's his story to tell and he doesn't need you impugning his character or casting aspersions.

Ponder that while designing your video games under the protection of better men.

Shack X 2

JATX, I was not trying to disregard his service or the sacrifice of his friends. I have edited my post to reflect that. Perhaps I should have worded my commentary more carefully.

What I should have said is "House to House" by Staff Sergeant David Bellavia conveys some of the same ideas/politics and does it far more effectively because while describing the events that happened to his platoon in Falujah, he talks about circumstances where men/women of the armed forces have to make no-win life and death decisions under impossible pressure. Just his description of these situations made me feel for those men and think about how it must feel to be held to rules like don't shoot a child, unless he is carrying ammunition for the RPGs that are being fired at him and men in his stead.

It's easy to demonize things and say this is bad or good. Bellavia does a excellent job of making me understand what people in his position must go through and the sacrifices they make. It also makes me very conscious various people in the media, political arena that are always trying to draw lines between good and bad, right and wrong, etc.

Regarding how I choose to think or live, while under the protection of a "better man"...There are millions of men and women in the military, government and law/enforcement of the USA am I not allowed to take issue with anything of them say because I haven't been in the military or police or government? Because I have never been a member of the Federal government does that mean I'm not allowed to have an opinion about how are government is run? Because my trade is not in the military or government does that mean I have no right to an opinion on what my country does?

I am discussing the writing in the book. I'm not even trying to make a point about agreeing/disagreeing with the politics of it, my beef is specifically with the writing. Is it possible to critique the work without "casting aspersions" or "slander" to his character? Can we not write a negative review of something just because it was written by a veteran or member of the US Government?

No one on this forum is a former President of the United States, but I see plenty of critiques (some less than subtle) at different former POTUS's. I can think of no one I would classify a "better man" than that. In fact, theoretically the POTUS is the "best man" in the United States of America, because he has been elected by the population of our country to represent their wants, needs and hopes and make decisions that will keep us all safe and prosperous.

I've never made claims to being a soldier or a better man than anyone. I don't try to pass myself off as military, LEO, etc. because I don't need to. I pay taxes and contribute where I can.

j

[Kyobanim]

Looks to me like you guys need to read what you type before you press the submit button. It's very easy to take a post out of context, on any board.

BTW, name calling isn't allowed here. If you can't discuss a topic in a civilized manner there are other places that will let you do so.

[2018commo]

I read the book this summer while on vacation. I remember thinking what a great way to honor his brothers, who cares whether he can write.
That week I called all of the guys from my first ODA, just to hear their voices. Most of what I am, how I think and how I raise my son, I can attribute to them.
Drop a dime if you haven’t in a while.