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389 reviews for:
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10
Marcus Luttrell
4.08 AVERAGE
389 reviews for:
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10
Marcus Luttrell
4.08 AVERAGE
This is a very powerful, inspiring book that will take you on a roller coaster of emotions. It is also a testament to how strong faith and prayer can be and how God is always with us.
AMAZING story about a survivor! I highly recommend this book to anyone. It is slow at first but once he starts talking about the battle you can't put the book down.
Absolutely amazing story - I seriously hope people read this and have a better understanding of what our uniformed men and women are up against serving in today's military. These SEALs are the best of the best - they deserve our thanks and full respect.
Although I didn't enjoy the typical warrior profanity, I was very moved by this patriotic story. I feel even more than before the importance of supporting our troops.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Like others have mentioned, this book does a better job of feeding the author's ego than describing the bravery of the soldiers that lost their lives in Operation Redwing. Luttrell constantly bashes the 'liberal media' and supposed worthlessness of the Geneva Convention, with little to no evidence for his claims. Even if our enemies abroad mock our adherence to rules of war, that does not mean we should abandon them. That's why we have them in the first place -- to protect human morality in times of crisis. I mean, seriously, these rules were established in large part following the Holocaust in order to protect ourselves from vile acts of human destruction. Calling them harmful to our efforts abroad is dismaying.
Beyond those offenses, the writing is lackluster and shallow. There is a lack of political discussion or any sort of critical thinking about how disasters like Redwing can be avoided in the future. I would not recommend this book.
PS I have an enormous appreciation of and respect for our armed forces and what they sacrifice for our country. This book does not change that.
Beyond those offenses, the writing is lackluster and shallow. There is a lack of political discussion or any sort of critical thinking about how disasters like Redwing can be avoided in the future. I would not recommend this book.
PS I have an enormous appreciation of and respect for our armed forces and what they sacrifice for our country. This book does not change that.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
Words cannot even describe how good this book is. The movie was decent and I think the actors did the real SEALs justice. However, nothing beats reading the book. I read it before I went to Navy basic and it inspired me to do my best in all aspects of my life. Have the tissues ready because this one is a tear jerker. I am proud to be a minuscule part of their legacy even though I will never fully comprehend what these men went through and what the SEALs continue to do for our country and for the greater good. Hooyah!
I much preferred the writing style in this book to Chris Kyle's but I (as a military wife) was able to relate more to Chris. This flowed smoother, almost as if you were reading first person POV fiction. I had to remind myself that this actually happened. Kyle's flowed more as a recollection full of personal musings that sometimes rambled. Obviously there were many other differences like Kyle's story covered multiple engagements, deployments, and home life and was more inside the city walls whereas Luttrell's was focused solely on Operation Redwing which was initially a recon mission. Make no mistake, this is definitely a book you shouldn't pass up and Luttrell is one amazing guy! My heart goes out to him and the families left behind. I've got mad respect for the SEALs.
This is seriously a book I would have never read without my book discussion group, as in it was on a list of books I intended to consciously avoid. Still, I would do a lot of things to be able to participate in the monthly discussion, including read some real stinkers. I grabbed this on library audiobook, and then waited until the last few days before it was due to actually start it. My first impression was dismayed amusement at the jingoistic tone, but a willingness to continue, until I hit the first vitriolic rant against the liberal media. I nearly chucked the book then, wondering if I should just skip this month altogether, as I couldn't see how we could possibly discuss the book without a hyper-politicized and potentially bloody conversation. I tried to think my way around it, and then finally directed my most pressing questions to a friend who is a former army ranger. He gave me some ground to approach the book from, and I did finish it (in a blaze of patriotic glory).
My questions to him were: Have you read the book or any of Luttrell's story? What did you think? Do you think the ROE should be jammed up the Geneva Convention's ass? Are all Navy SEALs really this in love with themselves? His answers were: Somewhat, Bullshit, Sort of, and Yes.
Are there elements to Luttrell’s story that are stretched? Certainly, a quick Google will pull up several articles that poke some holes in his account. Much like the proverbial fish story, every time the story gets retold there are more enemy combatants. The original account was 20-30, and has currently ballooned to 200 REF. More than that though, in his rant against the ROE, he claims that there were only two options—kill the guys or let them go. My friend says this is the wrong dichotomy, that it was kill them or detain them. A different article points out that this is a false dichotomy, and that there were whole ranges of options open to them, and gives a list of things they could have tied them up with:
What I found intriguing was that if I ignored the blaring politics, the book was interesting, both the portions on the training and Luttrell’s actual account of what went down (well, minus the more action movie-like parts where people are shot six times, including in the head and throat, and keep right on shooting. Enemy combatants always seem to go down in a single shot). I didn't have any issue with sustaining interest in his narrative, and I think if it hadn't been for the ham-fisted arguments against the Rules of Engagement, that it would have been a much better book. My friend said that the ROE are necessary, that as they were applied in Iraq and Afghanistan they did risk the lives of our troops, and that they need to be simplified. Weird how when you state something without ranting it can actually reach people’s ears.
I still can’t say I’m looking forward to this month’s discussion, but I’m going with printouts of a few things I dug up, and a large book to hide behind in case there’s any blood spray.
My questions to him were: Have you read the book or any of Luttrell's story? What did you think? Do you think the ROE should be jammed up the Geneva Convention's ass? Are all Navy SEALs really this in love with themselves? His answers were: Somewhat, Bullshit, Sort of, and Yes.
Are there elements to Luttrell’s story that are stretched? Certainly, a quick Google will pull up several articles that poke some holes in his account. Much like the proverbial fish story, every time the story gets retold there are more enemy combatants. The original account was 20-30, and has currently ballooned to 200 REF. More than that though, in his rant against the ROE, he claims that there were only two options—kill the guys or let them go. My friend says this is the wrong dichotomy, that it was kill them or detain them. A different article points out that this is a false dichotomy, and that there were whole ranges of options open to them, and gives a list of things they could have tied them up with:
In the book, Marcus Luttrell says that their team did not have anything to bind up the locals. But they had belts, shoe laces, the Afghan's own clothing, and rifle slings. It still stuns me that a SEAL team went out without even a tiny bit of 550 cord or zip ties.My friend says that the SEALs he worked with had flex cuffs as part of their basic kit. He also was concerned that Lutrell claims they voted on the matter—“There is a god dammed chain of command for this very reason.”
What I found intriguing was that if I ignored the blaring politics, the book was interesting, both the portions on the training and Luttrell’s actual account of what went down (well, minus the more action movie-like parts where people are shot six times, including in the head and throat, and keep right on shooting. Enemy combatants always seem to go down in a single shot). I didn't have any issue with sustaining interest in his narrative, and I think if it hadn't been for the ham-fisted arguments against the Rules of Engagement, that it would have been a much better book. My friend said that the ROE are necessary, that as they were applied in Iraq and Afghanistan they did risk the lives of our troops, and that they need to be simplified. Weird how when you state something without ranting it can actually reach people’s ears.
I still can’t say I’m looking forward to this month’s discussion, but I’m going with printouts of a few things I dug up, and a large book to hide behind in case there’s any blood spray.