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mssegallsays 's review for:
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10
by Patrick Robinson, Marcus Luttrell
I have mixed feelings about this novel. Undoubtedly, everyone who participated in operation Red Wing were incredibly brave and men I am proud to say served this country. The actions of these men even after sustaining incredible injuries is amazing to me. Luttrell in my opinion does an excellent job of detailing the Murphy's Ridge fighting and giving each man their credit for their incredible valor. I also enjoyed hearing about SEAL training in the first half of the novel, I found the process fascinating and horrifying at the same time. It just goes to show how hard these men have to work to be the elite.
That being said, here is where I hold issue with this novel. It is incredibly braggadocious. Luttrell always finds a way to insert his superiority, even when he is by himself being beat by the Taliban. He brags about how he could have taken them all. I get it, in order to be a SEAL, in order to face any situation the armed forces are asked to face, you have to have a certain amount of bravado and belief that you are the bee's knees. It's excessive in this case, and it takes away from the story he is telling. Also, I can understand his frustration with the media and the US civilian bleeding heart populations who don't understand that there are unfortunate casualties in war.......BUT I don't need to hear your political leanings so many times. It would have been entirely sufficient to explain why they were worried about ***Spoiler*** killing the goat herders and how the Taliban would have used the media to talk about the SEALS killing innocents. ***END spoiler*** How that media story would have been picked up by the US media and they would have been publicly perceived as murderers and likely been charged as murderers under social pressure to "make an example" even though every military strategist would have said to kill them so that your position stays secure. It would have been enough to explain that, rather than every chapter bitching about the "liberal media".
Overall, I think it is important to tell the story of Operation Red Wing, I think it's important that the men who died there be remembered and memorialized for their bravery. I just am not sure that this novel did the best job of it. I enjoyed the story, just maybe not the way it was told.
That being said, here is where I hold issue with this novel. It is incredibly braggadocious. Luttrell always finds a way to insert his superiority, even when he is by himself being beat by the Taliban. He brags about how he could have taken them all. I get it, in order to be a SEAL, in order to face any situation the armed forces are asked to face, you have to have a certain amount of bravado and belief that you are the bee's knees. It's excessive in this case, and it takes away from the story he is telling. Also, I can understand his frustration with the media and the US civilian bleeding heart populations who don't understand that there are unfortunate casualties in war.......BUT I don't need to hear your political leanings so many times. It would have been entirely sufficient to explain why they were worried about ***Spoiler*** killing the goat herders and how the Taliban would have used the media to talk about the SEALS killing innocents. ***END spoiler*** How that media story would have been picked up by the US media and they would have been publicly perceived as murderers and likely been charged as murderers under social pressure to "make an example" even though every military strategist would have said to kill them so that your position stays secure. It would have been enough to explain that, rather than every chapter bitching about the "liberal media".
Overall, I think it is important to tell the story of Operation Red Wing, I think it's important that the men who died there be remembered and memorialized for their bravery. I just am not sure that this novel did the best job of it. I enjoyed the story, just maybe not the way it was told.