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Biography & Autobiography. Military. Nonfiction. HTML: A Navy SEAL's firsthand account of American heroism during a secret military operation in Afghanistan. Inspiration for a major motion picture by Mark Wahlberg. On a clear night in late June 2005, four U.S. Navy SEALs left their base in northern Afghanistan for the mountainous Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less then twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs remained alive. This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing, and the desperate battle in the mountains that led, ultimately, to the largest loss of life in Navy SEAL history. But it is also, more than anything, the story of his teammates, who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left-blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing. Over the next four days, badly injured and presumed dead, Luttrell fought off six al Qaeda assassins who were sent to finish him, then crawled for seven miles through the mountains before he was taken in by a Pashtun tribe, who risked everything to protect him from the encircling Taliban killers. A six-foot-five-inch Texan, Leading Petty Officer Luttrell takes us, blow-by-blow, through the brutal training of America's warrior elite and the relentless rites of passage required by the Navy SEALs. He transports us to a monstrous battle fought in the desolate peaks of Afghanistan, where the beleaguered American team plummeted headlong a thousand feet down a mountain as they fought back through flying shale and rocks. In this rich , moving chronicle of courage, honor, and patriotism, Marcus Luttrell delivers one of the most powerful narratives ever written about modern warfare-and a tribute to his teammates, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country..… (more)
Media reviews
Except Lone Survivor is a bad piece of writing, and I hope it
User reviews
Firstly, Luttrell offers a postcard introduction into the mindset of an authoritarian follower (and Republican voter). His mind effortlessly tolerates to hold hugely contradictory opinions and facts. While he is easily (and often wrongly) offended by accusations and actions of others he puts in one out-group (the liberal press, Europeans, liberals, Muslims, ...), he resents their undifferentiated portrait as a religious redneck, Texan, American, SEAL, soldier (his main in-groups). The out-groups seem in his mind to work together to crush his in-group and deserve to be punished. Thus, he thinks the torture at Abu Ghraib justified by 9/11 as the suicide terrorists as well as the Iraqi torture victims are both Muslims. Killing Afghanis is ok, because they are all Taliban, even if he owes his survival to a brave Afghani who protected the wounded Luttrell from certain death and risked his own life to save the American. Lutrell holds a special disdain for the Geneva Convention despite the fact that his survival is in accordance to its principles. It is truly an authoritarian madness to fight forcefully against something that improves everyone's (including their own) lives. The book does not make it clear whether the Rambo Jesus worshiping Luttrell has understood that his Muslim savior acted in the best Samaritan tradition as promoted by Jesus. He bound his wounds, took care of him and delivered him into the safety of American troops. If such an act did not open Luttrell's mind, what possibly could?
Secondly, the book can serve as a good case-study of failures in decision making in an isolated small group. A parallel read of Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire and the analysis of the Mann Gulch catastrophe by Karl Weick is especially recommended. The failure of the SEAL team can be tracked back to their training. They lacked decision patterns what to do
The right-wing,
I have read enough about Iraq, ...more As a blood and guts, one man against the impossible odds type of story, this book was great. This guy is tough as nails and proves it. SEAL training sounds like hell on wheels. The sacrifices he and his comrades made are real, admirable and deserving of respect from the country.
The right-wing, kill 'em all and let God sort them out aspects were ridiculous. The central decision of the book (and I won't spoil it) is blamed upon the liberals.
I have read enough about Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam to recognize the difficulties in wars of this type - lack of clear directive, the inability to distinguish friend from foe, civilian from combatants. BUT, blaming the "liberal media" and "left-wing politicians" for these difficulties is clearly ignorant, given the deeply misguided policies of the Bush (version 2.0) administration put these soldiers in the situation to begin with.
Luttrell even goes as far as to praise Bush (the younger) for putting us in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know Luttrell is trained for war, and perhaps having any question as to the validity of his mission(s) is asking for injury or death, but having a total and complete lack of perspective is deeply strange to me. It's obvious the lack of questioning is necessary for these guys, but this book is written retrospectively, and so to continue to have this lack of hindsight makes it even more bizarre.
The book definitely felt alien to me, given my own political leanings, living in the liberal bastion of NYC, but I am glad I read it.
OTOH it's (mostly) cringe-inducing, pathetic drivel: the author clumsily writes about his incredibly "intelligent" SEAL friends and spouts rah-rah shoot-em-up "we're #1!" trite-isms from start to finish. I can only exclaim "Well, bless his heart, he certainly deserves an gold star for effort". The book is so shallow, so UN-insightful, so plain ol' stupid... I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Oh man... BBooks like this, and American Sniper, make me sad - we as a country are not going to get anywhere until we get past "poster patriotism".
You won't miss a thing skipping this book.
While some individuals may dislike his reasoning, he does make a compelling argument against the folly of having politicians mandate rules of warfare and engagement for combat soldiers. (With numerous friends and relatives that have served, and are serving, in the armed forces, I already held many of Marcus' opinions on how to keep our soldiers safe and bring as many as possible home alive.) Others may take a dim view of his frequent diatribes denouncing the many flaws and facets of liberal politics, but having lived around the world in countries in various states of economic progress (first, 2nd & 3rd world conditions), I view his opinions as cogent, comprehensive, concise, and completely sound -- any that disagree with him need to travel more, and stay far away from tour guides and tourist traps. Marcus points out that the fluff that passes for politics and "statesmanship" of today is primarily superficial, inconsequential, and counterproductive to spreading democracy and freedom to the furthest reaches of the globe, as well as totally unprepared for (and incapable of resisting) the fanatical terrorists that are so eager to bring the west to its knees.
This book is a fitting memorial to his fallen colleagues. It's well-sprinkled with humor, but no punches are pulled, no losses are white-washed, and no "rough edges" are blunted to please or appease anyone. While I would probably hesitate to give this book to a very young child (because of the language), it would be great if were required reading for every registered voter, as well as every high school and college senior in the USA. "Lone Survivor" has renewed my appreciation for the soldiers and their spouses that have sacrificed (and continued to sacrifice) so much for our great nation.
I would make this book required reading in high school.
Why would any person go out and do the things that Navy Seals do? To protect the freedom that we have in America.
This is not about oil, it's about blood and pride of
I had trouble reading this book on a flight, I was crying and feeling the loss.
This is real, this is what's happening and this book helped me understand more.
Other then that minor quibble, the story needs to be read.
Now, to the book. This is a non-fiction work, detailing the events which led to death of the author’s SEAL team mates during a mission in Afghanistan. It contains much interesting material on the nature of SEAL team operations and many individual missions and SEAL team members. In that respect it is beneficially educational and at times enthralling.
I would be remiss, however, if I did not address the heavy political baggage that the author brings to the table. He is a rabid conservative Republican who frequently expresses his admiration for George Bush while repeatedly making venomous attacks on “liberals”, most especially the “liberal media” and “clueless liberal Democrats”, for whom he blames most of the deaths suffered by his compatriots. Perhaps, were I in his shoes, I would feel the same way. Lacking his perspective, I am left somewhat irritated by his non-stop, increasingly strident political pronouncements as the book progresses.
While the book is in the words of Marcus Luttrell, the sole surviving member of his SEAL team, he was assisted by a co-author, whose role in the book is unclear to me. The writing itself is not very high quality, as you might expect from a non-fiction work penned by a SEAL team member (or any non-writer). If the co-author was hired to take Luttrell’s recollections and craft them into a finished product, in my opinion he failed miserably. The book is not terribly well organized or crafted. The story is certainly one well worth telling, but should have been told more effectively.
The author is proud of his membership in the SEALs and deservedly so. However, the author ceaselessly informs the reader of his skills, superior training and all around greatness and that of his teammates. He does this over and over again, to the point that it begins to grate. Again, I concede the point. I don’t think anyone would argue, so why the necessity of repeating it over and over and over again. This is an area where his supposed co-author could have been of assistance. By their nature, elite combat troops must carry this attitude so it is hard to fault him for his arrogance. His co-author or editor should have been of assistance here.
Roughly half of the book involves a running fire fight between Luttrell’s SEAL team and a far larger Taliban force in the mountains of the Hindu Kush. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why there are no maps or diagrams to illustrate the very descriptive account of the battle. The topography and headings of the team’s journey are set out in prose in great detail, but a simple diagram would have been invaluable in tracking the SEAL team and then Luttrell himself as he flees his Taliban pursuers.
Again, kudos to the Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Green Berets and all other members of the United States Armed Forces. This is a great story, about many great Americans, but simply not a very well written book.
The book does meander back into the author's training to qualify and graduate as a Navy SEAL, as well as his time as a youth doing a sort of premature SEAL training. As such it is as much a memoir of being a SEAL, and these excursions may annoy some readers looking for an in-depth look at the specific Operation Redwing. On the positive side, the book has pictures of participants and a map, which help give a 360-degree view in imagining more of the context. Further, the author is truly not an annoying, over-confident, Texas-loving cowboy with too much testosterone, but clearly a reasoned, committed soldier with a real suite of amazing physical and mental attributes that should make any reader understand why they are probably, even at their best, not likely to ever become a Navy SEAL. Unlike Into Thin Air, the author kept his personal emotional grieving process around his decisions (and the concomitant feelings about the likely fatal role of media and Congress-driven rules of engagement) to a reasonable minimum so it did not overwhelm the story. Truly a tragic tale that should make the reader appreciate how sophisticated and valuable our SEALs are and how they can be hamstrung by political factors at home during a deadly struggle.
Lone Survivor was a true story about how a brave U.S. SEAL who fought through all obstacles to survive in the high Afghan Mountains when all hope was lost. The part of this book that was so interesting was how you would think how imaginative the author was because the plot seemed to
The Afghan mountains where the story takes place and I thought gave the book itself a perfect feel. I felt as if the fire hot temperatures in the day and the freezing cold barren nights, the lonely desolate landscape filled with hatred gave the story a perfect mood. When I put myself in the characters shoes just thinking about the setting just gave me a total changed the way I read the book.
The message of the book was probably the most difficult to understand and most interesting part of the book for me. I thought it was difficult to get the message because it was a true story so it wasn’t made to relay a message but throughout it all everybody got something out of it. I believe the message was that we should stop contradicting ourselves and get something one by supporting our troops. I know that’s not really a risky message given that over half the population wants us out of the foreign lands. That’s the interesting part to me because the author was the SEAL and he wrote the book from a very Republican point of view. He was constantly attacking the liberal media and the extreme human right activist throughout the book which gave me the reason I got the message I did. Maybe somebody with a different political stand point would’ve thought the message was telling the story of lives lost because the U.S. is in the Middle East.
It just seemed so intriguing that he would write something many people wouldn’t agree with. I guess that was half of my interest in the book.
Maybe he should look at an American foreign policy that decided to attack Iraq before the work was done in Afganistan. Maybe by attacking Iraq, the U.S spread itself too thin. Maybe by relying predominately on air power which led to collaterall damage by killing innocent civilians and thus turning a populace that was happy to see the end of the Taliban into supporters of the Taliban, the Coalition may have lost the war.
Not withstanding this criticism, this a great tale of one man's story of overcoming extreme adversity.
However, what does become clear is just how effective the selection process is. Part of SEAL training is just that: training. Another part is weeding out those who do not have what it takes. And what it takes is an absolute refusal to quit. As Luttrell makes clear in his memories of BUD/S, the men who wash out are not necessarily weaker or slower than those who perservere, although some are. Those who remain are massively determined, even obstinant. They would rather die than quit, and in fact will remain alive on sheer willpower long after another man would lie down to die.
Operation Redwing demonstrated this. The other three SEALs on the ground with Luttrell, Michael P. Murphy, Danny Dietz and Matthew Axelson continued to fight after being horrifically wounded when they were ambushed and enfiladed. Luttrell was saved by being blown off a cliff by an RPG, preventing his enemies from locating him.
The last third of the book has an excellent description of the reality of village life in the Hindu Kush, and the kind of ancient rights and privileges that persist in that part of the world. Luttrell's life was saved by Lokhay Warkawa, which we might think of as sanctuary, granted by the headman of the village he stumbled into. Like the Clameur de Haro, it was impossible for the Taliban to ignore this protection. They did take the opportunity to abuse Luttrell further, but they could not take him as they wished.
I would have liked to know what the results of the final debriefing of this mission were. This was clearly a monumental Charlie Foxtrot, especially the ill-fated rescue attempt that cost the lives of the rest of the SEALs at his base, including their commanding officer. The SEALs have a principle that no man is left behind, but I am certain they are hard enough on themselves to see the rescue attempt cost more lives than it should have. If I find out what happened there, I will let you know.
The next third is a detailed description of Seal training, most of which I was familiar with and,
At long last, Marcus begins the real story of his first real battle in Afghanistan and it is quite a tale. I found it a tad unbelievable. I mean, how many thousands of feet can you slide down a muntain and still keep your skin attached? And to always find his rifle beside him? He repeatedly thanked God for that, which I found a bit absurd. Unless you are one of those that believes God takes sides in man's efforts to kill other men.
The real story of war and loss was a thrill ride and I would not have wanted to share that experience, but I did apprecate the visceral adventure. I assume this is a true tale, but it did feel like it was well crafted fiction.
While Marcus and his buddies were fighting for their lives, his folks and supporters were holding a vigil at the family farm. Again, I asume what was written was true, but seemed unbelievable. But then, I never moved among the elite of our military forces. I was a nobody avionics tech/door gunner in a Marine chopper squadron in Vietnam.
Overall a good read, but overly long and far too detailed in many ways. I found myself wanting to hurry the read along, but also didn't want to miss anything. At least once I got past the first third of the novel.
For those who love this kind of stuff, this ought to be a great read.