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desertjarhead505's review against another edition
4.0
This account of the travails of a group of naval officers and sailors, starting with nearly a hundred who want to become SEALs and ending with ten or so actually making it through the initial training - the SEAL version of boot camp, really, although they've all been through either Navy boot camp or the Naval Academy already - is a grinding read. I saw SEALs a few times during my own 20 years in the Marine Corps, and I'd read some things about them, but I didn't know this much about them before reading this.
I gave it four stars instead of five for a couple of reasons, one minor and one major. The minor reason was that the author's prose is kind of sloppy and deserved better editing; the more important problem I have with it, though, is the lack of any consideration of the problem of the SEALs, like the rest of our military, sometimes being misused by our country's executive leadership in ways that clash with our ideals as a nation (for example, the involvement of some SEALs in the mistreatment of prisoners, a la Abu Ghraib.) That's a problem without an easy solution, if you accept the tenets that we do need armed forces to protect Americans and our allies and interests, and that the military have to leave the decisions as to how they're used to the elected civilian leadership that's accountable to the electorate. I wish Captain Couch had at least touched on it.
I gave it four stars instead of five for a couple of reasons, one minor and one major. The minor reason was that the author's prose is kind of sloppy and deserved better editing; the more important problem I have with it, though, is the lack of any consideration of the problem of the SEALs, like the rest of our military, sometimes being misused by our country's executive leadership in ways that clash with our ideals as a nation (for example, the involvement of some SEALs in the mistreatment of prisoners, a la Abu Ghraib.) That's a problem without an easy solution, if you accept the tenets that we do need armed forces to protect Americans and our allies and interests, and that the military have to leave the decisions as to how they're used to the elected civilian leadership that's accountable to the electorate. I wish Captain Couch had at least touched on it.
angief65's review against another edition
4.0
good book on what the guys go through to be SEALS. HOOYAH!
michaelferlazzo's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
This is a typical “U.S. navy seal” book, nothing too special, but was interesting to read at the time, obviously would recommend American Sniper over this book, but it is good for what it is
vaderbird's review against another edition
4.0
5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish
bookishdea's review against another edition
4.0
Great book! Very interesting. It's really amazing to read what the guys have to go through. Couch is a good author -- this book could be very dry but it isn't at all. Couch really goes into what it's like, especially because he went through BUD/S himself, so you get some comparisons. It's a neat inside look, and definitely worth a read if you have any interest whatsoever in the subject.