Book Review

Today I’ll be reviewing the book, “Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10” by Marcus Luttrell.

This is the true story of four US Navy Seals in a fight to the death against 150 Taliban warriors in the mountains of Afghanistan in June of 2005. I won’t give away the whole story, but this group gets dropped in the middle of enemy territory in the hopes of capturing bin Laden’s right hand man. It’s a story about the amazing training regimen of our special forces soldiers as well as a story of courage under fire and in the most extreme of conditions.

The action flows like a fast paced thriller and I found the book difficult to put down. Its gut wrenching, it’s emotional, it’s humbling and it’s a tribute to our fearless soldiers. The camaraderie and brotherhood of the soldiers and their families and friends just oozes out in the story.

There is a tipping point in the book that involves a difficult and ethical decision by the group. I don’t know that I would have done anything different than they did with the info they had at the time, but it sure changed everything that followed.

I had read this book a couple of months ago but saw an article in yesterday’s paper that Lieutenant Murphy was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor – and I think it was well deserved. The book is only available in hardcover right now but will be coming out in paperback in March. It was my favorite book of 2007.