I have found a genre of book that I absolutely love to read. After having read non-fiction leadership, self-help (working on marriage, kids, and money), and classroom (Masters in Christian Leadership) books for the past four or five years, I first found Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell. Check out my review on that one. I surfed the Amazon website and cross-referenced Lone Survivor to find a few others that sounded interesting. I just finished Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior and have nothing but good things to say.

Where Lone Survivor explained the Navy Seals training and then Lutrell’s moving explanation of a Navy Seal mission, Chosen Soldier covers a short history of Special Forces then dives into the comprehensive training that makes these guys “heroes” in my eyes. In fact, at one point I told my wife that I missed my calling before confessing that there was no way in the world I’ve ever been tough enough physically or mentally to be in Special Forces. In today’s world, our kids are following well paid actors, sports stars, and musicians when the real heroes are silently risking their lives in the service of United States. Those heroes are in the U.S. military and the Special Forces are in the heart of dangerous territory.

Dick Couch (a former Seal) lived with these guys from recruiting into the X-Ray program (for guys with no military background) all the way through the final Robin Sage testing event. If you have ever seen the Navy Seals series on the Discovery Channel (Training of BUDS Class 234) and enjoyed it, then you will absolutely enjoy this book. The initial preparation and selection processes sound intense physically and mentally which I know a guy like me wouldn’t survive. However, when they get into the tactics and MOS training, I was looking up Special Forces on the Internet and looking to see if they had an over-the-hill X-Ray program (for out of shape old guys). Couch covers each MOS in enough detail. The 18 Bravo – Weapons sergeant – check out the list of worldwide weapon systems that they must know. The 18 Charlie – Engineer sergeant – closest to my old National Guard MOS of Combat Engineer. The 18 Delta – Medical sergeant – they have 12 months of training which is much longer than any other MOS. The 18 Echo – Communications Sergeant and finally a large chapter devoted to the 18 Alpha or Detachment Commander. This book explains all the hard work and dedication required to be Special Forces.

Even if you haven’t been in the military or aren’t planning to be, this level of coverage just makes you appreciate the intelligence and toughness required. When Couch covers the plan briefing with a hundred Powerpoint slides to be presented to the Commander….I felt a slight business parallel. However, when deployed, this training results in life-or-death decisions.

When my boys are old enough to read, I’ll put this book in their hands rather than Harry Potter or the Twilight series. Real world. Real heroes. Don’t get me wrong….not saying they are joining or anything like that (though I’d be proud if they did). I just want my kids to know where the real heroes are. While we are watching millionaires chasing millionaires for 3 hours and million dollar commercials in the Superbowl two weeks from now, our U.S. military is out…..there protecting our freedoms.

Language is much cleaner in Chosen Soldier compared to Lone Survivor making it a lot easier to recommend to teens.

For the Amazon stats, Chosen Solider has 42 reviews and a 4.5 star rating. Cost is $10.17 brand new (or somewhere around $5 used), although this certainly could be picked up from the local library.

While visiting in Maine, I stopped at a Borders bookstore. Reading the back covers of many books, I found 15-20 books that sounded interesting to me. Since I don’t have much free time, I always research a book before I read it. If it’s not getting at least 3 stars on Amazon, then I don’t want to waste my time with it. Typically, books have 30 or 40 ratings and even a really good book might just have 200 or so.

Imagine my surprise when a military book called Lone Survivor had over 750 ratings averaging 4.5 stars out of 5. I stopped down at the library and checked it out. I finished reading it in 4 or 5 days. When I say this is a good gift for a guy, I’ll just say that it is strictly one man’s true story of the military (no romance or non-military action, the only female in the book is Luttrell’s mom). The first part of the book covers Marcus Luttrell’s experience through BUDS training. The second part covers his experience in Afghanistan resulting in him being the Lone Survivor. I could barely put this thing down. Luttrell’s experience brings out a National pride rarely felt. I used to be in the National Guard (which is a long long way from being a Navy Seal). Patriotism is exemplified through and through the book. There is a great deal of military speak (curse words) in the book, but overall I’d highly recommend this for young men and former military members. If you’ve ever watched the military channel and their Navy BUDS video series, you will absolutely love this book.

Just checked Amazon and there are now over 800 ratings. I’d also recommend this book for any boy probably over 16 years old. Yes, there is bad language….but probably nothing they don’t hear elsewhere. I actually read outloud some of the Navy Seal training to my 5 year old while editing out the language. It seemed a bit more interesting than reading Green Eggs and Ham one more time.

I can’t say that I’ve read many military books before (can’t remember any), but I put The Warrior Elite: The Forging of SEAL Class 228 and Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior (both by Dick Couch) on my Christmas list. I’ll let you know if they are as good. Or even better if anybody reading this can let me know how they compare.