Sea Stories My Life in Special Operations Book Review

Past Admiral William McRaven

Reviewed By Captain Alexander Monroe, USN (Ret.)

HRNM Docent and Contributing Writer

In Body of water Stories,Admiral William McRaven has written a well-organized, powerful book in which he performs a number of valuable functions. The championship Sea Stories is misleading because it has a connotation in the patois unique to the Navy, which means the story is embellished to see the intent of the teller. The admiral's stories are, past contrast, real. He shows his personal sacrifice and interest in his arduous initial preparation as a SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) special operations officer, an feel shared by all SEAL personnel, officer and enlisted. He describes the wide diversity of situations in which Special Operations forces employ their training. About important, he provides an inspiring itemize of events worldwide which, taken together, show the Navy's institutional response to the novel challenges of unconventional warfare where one fights against often un-uniformed nevertheless dangerous adversaries. The book gains meaning because of his personal interest in many of the evolutions of which he writes.

McRaven immediately engages the reader's attention by linking his personal growth and testing equally a nascent loftier school rails star to his indoctrination as a special operations officer. The mutual thread in the experiences is the necessity for overcoming the hard aspects of a situation under pressure. He notes doing this through the intercession and encouragement of a devoted charabanc, Jerry Turnbow, who inspired him to greater attempt to break a school record in the i-mile run. He was later inspired by the often profanity-laced exhortations of instructors in BUD/S (Basic Underwater Sabotage/Seal) training, reputed to exist the well-nigh strenuous indoctrination syllabus in the military. He describes what he considers the about important objective of BUD/S indoctrination: to push trainees to their limit and across, "to eliminate those unsuited for the world of the special forces operator." It entails giving encouragement to others equally team players in the final stage of a seemingly insurmountable job: surviving Hell Week, the capstone of initial SEAL training.

The book is a rendition of operations in which the United states Navy, often in cooperation with other nations, has applied military ability to accomplish goals to include ensuring national safety, if not survival. McRaven uses diverse situations requiring rapid response to emerging threats too as those requiring complex, highly sensitive preparation. An instance of the first performance is the seizure and inspection of SS Amuriyah, a hostile merchant vessel idea to be carrying contraband to Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Supported by USS Ogden (LPD 5) and USS Brewton (FF 1086), a team fast roped onto the transport, stopped it, and subdued a bellicose master and hostile crew. The operation, fashioned in nigh 72 hours, was a success because of total dedication of the SEAL team to mission completion, though it could not be ascertained beyond all doubt that no contraband had been found. McRaven notes in justifying abandoning detailed R2P2 (Rapid Response Planning Process) planning that, "all the staff work on the world doesn't become you better results than what the experienced officer knows intuitively." The operation was executed "without any major injuries to either Americans or Iraqis. He later emphasizes some other key ingredient in carrying on unconventional operations exemplified in dealing with pirates who seized the SS Maersk Alabama. That is: "factors unfold rapidly—you lot requite authorisation to the ground commander and promise that will win the 24-hour interval." A second type of operation, shown in the endeavour to remove Osama Bin Laden, known as Functioning Neptune's Spear, requires planning of a detailed sensitive nature involving the same considerations. Operators must take risks to accomplish the mission.

Admiral William McRaven (Official U.S. Navy photo)

The most moving chapter of the book, "The Side by side Greatest Generation," describes his visit to the U.South. Army Infirmary, where he visited special operations personnel wounded in the line of duty. Some of these gallant soldiers required intensive hospital care to survive the long journey to CONUS medical facilities. His clarification of the injuries sustained by ane young soldier, who is continued to a multitude of life support appliances, is devastating to the reader and clearly affected the admiral. It renews his admiration for their "tremendous sense of determination, ebullience and lack of self- pity" in facing catastrophic injuries. The abiding lesson for the nation, made at various points in Sea Stories, is that its citizens, like special warfare operators, must exist "imbued with an dogged spirit, a true belief that tomorrow will be a better day—if merely they fight and never give up."

Certain aspects of the book may exist distracting to the reader unfamiliar with military patois. The use of coarse language throughout, though sometimes good natured, may exist offensive and dull; however, it gives it authenticity that is required. The author generally strives to ascertain unique military/Navy terms and acronyms. It might, however, be useful to accept a separate glossary of terms and expressions non known to the non-armed forces reader.

In summary and then, Admiral McRaven has fashioned an engaging volume well worth the reading. It clearly shows what he quotes from Helen Keller in the folio immediately preceding the table of contents that, "Life is either a daring adventure or zilch."

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