No Easy Day

Several weeks ago I was able to make a quick trip to Durham to visit my mother, who just got done having her second cataract surgery. I went to the library and checked out several books on CD to listen to on the 13 hour drive there and back, one of which was the autobiography No Easy Day. It's the life story of one of the Navy Seals who took down Bin Laden.

I'm not one to get into war novels per se, but I had actually seen this guy interviewed on 60 Minutes when the book came out, and heard him relate, first hand, how the mission went. I also saw the movie "Zero Dark Thirty" about the intelligence officer who tracked Bin Laden for 5 years before pinpointing his location. Both of those accounts had seemed pretty intriguing so I thought I'd listen to the book.

The book doesn't start out with the Bin Laden raid. It gives the back story of how the author joined the Marines and what it took for him to get on the special forces team (known as the "Green Team"). He goes into quite a bit of depth about the culture of the unit, the camaraderie, and the interactions between him and the rest of his team members.

Since he joined special forces shortly after the war with Iraq had begun, he explains how missions were carried out in the early days (hovering a helicopter over a target and releasing two teams... one on the roof, one on the ground, to converge on a building and take it over), then how missions evolved in Afghanistan over time (dropping off forces several miles away and sneaking in quietly as to keep the element of surprise) and finally in the latter days of the troop withdrawal when they had to exercise what he termed "catch and release" of the insurgents.

During the course of his time with the unit, he took part in more than just the Bin Laden take-down. He was also there trying to free Captain Phillips when his ship was taken over by Somali pirates. It was interesting him talk about some other fairly high profile raids he took part in. I have to admit though, by the end, I got a little sick of the "shooting up the bad guys" type mentality. He gets exasperated that he isn't allowed to kill Taliban guys but has to act more like police do in the U.S., where we arrest someone instead of shoot them. And he shows great contempt for President Obama at the end, claiming that Obama was going to take all the credit for what everyone else actually did.

Although the preface to the book goes to great lengths to explain that the author (a pseudonym) has secured a lawyer to make sure no classified information is revealed, apparently he never got the book vetted by the Department of Defense and he ended up having to settle with the government for something like $4.5 million dollars. The guy has been essentially hounded by the government ever sense. He also allegedly got several of his buddies to all contract with a video game company, where they released classified information, so he's been in trouble for that, too. He just released a second book, "No Hero".

That all being said, I found it to be a gripping read. It's truly amazing when you release the smarts, the planning, the equipment, the training, the strength, and the ambition that these operators utilize to get the job done. It did make me really admire these guys who put their lives on the line on such a regular basis, and happy I live in a country with such amazing resources at our disposal.