Death in the Jungle, Diary of a Navy Seal

by Gary R. Smith

1995

Status

Checked out

Genres

Collection

Standard Shelves

Publication

Ballantine Books (1995), 344 pages

Description

SNAKES, VIPERS, CROCS, SHARKS, AND THE VC With 257 combat missions in Vietnam under his belt, Gary Smith is a living witness to the realities of Naval Special Warfare. He worked with some of the toughest and most highly motivated men in the world, executing missions in the murderous terrain of Rung Sat Special Zone and Dung Island. The key to their success: go where no ordinary soldier would go and no VC would expect them. Though death reigned as king in the jungles of Vietnam, Gary Smith considered it a privilege and an honor to serve under the officers and with the men of Underwater Demolition Team Twelve and SEAL Team 1. Because he and his teammates, trained to the max, gave each other the courage to attain the unattainable . . . .

User reviews

LibraryThing member NickHowes

Former Navy SEAL Gary R. Smith provides his first-hand account of 30 combat missions during an eventual five tours to the Republic of Vietnam. After a few chapters on his background and his training, he starts out with detailed narratives of select missions from that first tour. A lot of it was

going out into the swamps of the notorious Rung Sat Special Zone south of Saigon and setting up ambushes, silently waiting, sitting or standing in rising tidal water, alert for a possible VC canoe or sampan coming into range during the day or, more likely, in the middle of the night. He offsets these accounts with comments on parties and pranks back at base, but it always comes back to putting it on the line in the Rung Sat. Very descriptive and useful in getting a clear idea of how the small SEAL teams operated in Vietnam. Glossary of military and gruntspeak in the back of the book, a black and white photo insert. Highly recommended for its gritty focus.

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