2008-06-17 Lone Survivor

Marcus Luttrell is a Texan and he is as proud of that as he is of being a US Navy SEAL, Marcus story follows the usual military formula from young boys interest in the military through basic and Special Forces training and on to the ill fated mission in Afghanistan in 2005.

The mission itself was the largest single loss of life of US Special Forces in one action so far, not only did the other three members of his Team die but so did the QRF dispatched to their rescue. He survives just, crawls seven miles through the mountains till found by a Pushtun tribe who risk everything to protect him form the Taliban searching for him.

All good boys own stuff, what marks this book out from other similar Bravo 20 types is the pain in Marcus writing as each member of his team, his friends, dies you can feel the agony on each page, as he finds himself alone it's the thought of his dead friends who keep him going, true heart rending stuff, there is a heavy slice of survivors guilty in this book, and his trip post the mission across the US to meet the relatives of all those who died is no less powerful for it.

Also Marcus has some very relevant things to say about rules of engagement, how do you tell combatant from non-combatant, when does a combatant become a non-combatant and vice versa, many questions that soldiers are probably asking in Iraq and Afghanistan right now, as they did in N.Ireland, Aden and Malaya before that. He also has hash words for the liberal establishment and media, Marcus is a Texan and there is no doubt in his mind that the US is on a rightful mission to avenge 9/11 and all those who threaten the US way of life. The difference from the European [and British] view of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is laid bare, a large portion of the US are in a fight and it's a fight they intend to win, have we or the Europeans got the stomach for such a fight?

So it's a tragic story, a story of comradeship and also a view of the War that probably would not have been written by a British author and is more the interesting for it.