The Sole Survivor

[jcustis]

I've had the book in my queue for some time, and finally cracked it open this weekend. I'm about 100+ pages in, and to be honest, already pissed off.

I understand that this book is written for a specific audience, but I'm having a tough time coming to grips with the fact that one of our supposedly best-trained special ops warriors would write such ignorant babble about our ROE, where it originates, and the purported "fear" it creates in every young servicemember. Give me a break...

After I read that particular passage, I skipped ahead and read up on the communal "decision" about the compromise. Seems Luttrell (remember, in my opinion) was setting this issue up throughout the whole first part of the book, with the repetition about mortal danger, fanatic jihadists, and "fighting for each other".

If this is Luttrell's true point of view, then I sense some sort of disconnect between a SEAL's "high level of training" and the application of that training. I'll be up front that I have my prejudices, as I have watched team members shooting in live fire (with horrible marksmanship), watched small unit leaders brief a poor MEU-level mission plan, and knew the same embarked element to be compromised twice due to poor fieldcraft. I don't drink the Kool-Aid I guess, even though I wouldn't dare mess with a SEAL in the water.

Does the book (please don't drop a spoiler) at least get better further along?