I have to admit that I read this book a very long time ago (more than 15 years) and so this review will be short on specific detail. However - it did leave enough of an impression on me that I remember it being a very good read. A large, initial part of the the book covers the author's selection course for the US Navy SEALs, and then goes on to recount his experiences during two tours of Vietnam.
The SEAL selection course was as arduous and exacting as any other course for other of the world's notable special forces - including the SAS and even the Selous Scouts. It is absolutely brutal and utterly uncompromising. Volunteers, I think at the time, were drawn from regular US Navy personnel and underwent the usual physical and mental trials and challenges with a particular emphasis on an endless marathon of swimming and small boat handling tasks. The culmination of the selection course (which weeds out a massive proportion of the initial hopefuls) is 'Hell Week': this includes, after 48 hours of no sleep and freezing swims and boat marathons, the surviving volunteers are forced to lie down on a football pitch...if they fall asleep, they're OUT!
Needless to say our author made it through, and goes on to tell us about the SEALs operations in Vietnam - and these are every bit as hairy and amazing as you'd expect. I can't remember the style of the author - his writing style, how intimate or thoughtful his accounts were, rather I remember more the details of his operations. To be honest - impressive and courageous though the operations were - they weren't all a great credit to the SEALs, and some were in fact disastrous and even farcical in their planning and execution. Nevertheless the VC learned to fear and respect the SEALs who they referred to, as far as I remember, 'green ghosts' or similar. So great the SEALs became at junglecraft - they could literally hear the 'silence' of their enemies: they could detect from a long way off the zone of silence in the natural noises of the jungle wildlife which surrounded the presence of the enemy.
There are some good insights into the details of (6-month) SEAL tours in Vietnam: they wore blue jeans, taped up the bottom of their trouser legs with PVC tape to keep out the leeches, kept their Stoners clean with the much sought after WD40, developed some great tactics and kit etc.
This is a very entertaining and impressive read for those interested in special forces in Vietnam, or special forces selection.
