IGX

Just finished Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell. He was a Navy Seal who was involved in Operation Redwing and lost three of his buddies in Afghanistan. I'm a civvie, but this is an absolutely excellent book. It's part biography, part training description, and part mission play by play. He interjects a good bit of political conservatism, which is of korse OK with me, and his personality meshes with the SF friends I've had. Very good read about a genuine hero.

I loved the part where he got rescued by Rangers.

...Seriously, it was a good read written by a brave man. May his fallen brothers rest in peace.

Also, it was interesting to read about the team's decision-making process when they discussed taking out the goatherders...very democratic, didn't fit the militaristic image that most people have.

I just finished this book, and I agree that it's a great read. I'd never read a first-person account of a gunfight, and knowing that the events recounted happened only five years ago makes for a compelling read.

The one thing I didn't understand about Luttrell is the way he opines over letting the goatherds go instead of killing them on the spot. He says he's got a Christian heart, which urges him not to kill. On top of that, his team decided as a group that it would be unwise to simply kill those goatherds and leave their bodies to be found (which they would have -- trailing those men were over a hundred goats with bells). But what Luttrell emphasizes as being the biggest obstacle are the rules of warfare and the Geneva convention, which prohibited his team from killing those goatherds outright. He really carps on this a lot, even in the opening chapter of the book if I recall correctly, while he seems to give lip-service to his Christian morality.

I'm not knocking Lone Survivor or Luttrell, I just found these seeming contradictions interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's even a little interested.

A similar incident happened to an SF recon team in the first Gulf War, but IIRC, all in the team survived, thanks to close air support. IMO, there's no way to live through that without conflicts between your desire to survive and your moral code.

Along with the Geneva Conventions, I think this type of scenario should be covered & discussed in training. It shouldn't be decided under extreme pressure, with only a minute to spare.

I know one person who would have cut open the stomach of the goat herder to get the mobile phone sim card he swallowed.

Johno, that was CWO John "Bulldog" Balwanze(sp) wasnt it, and his ODA?

Bravo Two-Zero, about the Brit SAS team that escaped and evaded around Iraq, started out with a similar dilemma. Shoot the kids or not.

Great book

tough old man wrote:Johno, that was CWO Bruce Balwanz(sp) wasnt it, and his ODA?

tom, I don't know any names of those involved. I saw a documentary about it, and the boys took on about a company of Saddam's army. Their sniper/marksman took out a lot of the enemy & bought them some time before close air support came on target.

Just orderd" Lone Survivor".Looking forward to reading it.

Just finished this book. "Where men win glory" made me angry. "Black hawk down" made me depressed and angry. "Lone Survivor" made me proud to be an American. An epic story of heroism.

Note that there's a new book out about Lt Michael Murphy, the team leader in Operation Red Wing. Ordered but haven't read yet.