An engaging, honest and human account of the life of a SEAL during the 80s. Interesting to learn how even SEAL teams are subject to organizational politics, big org bureacracies and the tedium of routine even as they put their lives on the line every single day whether in training or real-life combat. Must-read for anyone with an interest in Special Forces.

The author wrote mostly about Lebanon. Perhaps this was his only military experience and wanted to hype it up bit. At any rate it gets boring reading about his trip to Lebanon.

Read this book page to page in a couple of weeks. Great stories and good input into the personality of the Navy and the Teams. Would highly recommend to any avid reader of military books.

These were my recent when-reading-does-not-otherwise-require-serious-concentration books. I'll review them together since they have considerable overlap and then cross post this review.

Why one might want to read these books together, or in quick succession, is that they cover Spec Ops, particularly counter terrorism, from the late 1970's to about 2004 and do so in a complimentary manner. For example:
- Mr. Pfarrer did 7 months in Lebanon and covers some of the complexity on the ground there. While Mr. Haney only did one (successful) counter sniper mission there, Mr. Smith gives a detailed account of the politics behind the whole mess.
- Mr. Haney did combat time during the invasion of Grenada, Mr. Pfarrer only heard about it from others and Mr. Smith again gives us the politics behind this operation.


Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarrer - 4 stars

At first I was having feelings of regret over purchasing this book. The cover has a cheesy Hollywood photo of a Rambo wanna-be and the opening chapters have all the hallmarks of "military jock blows sunshine in ego inflating tall tale telling". Certain facts are a bit suspect. Take the following quote from the Author's Note, first page; "No SEAL has ever been captured, and not one teammate or body has ever been left in the field". I used to work with a guy who completed two combat tours in the Vietnam War as a Navy SEAL. He talked about the war on perhaps two occasions. The one I remember is the comment he made to another coworker about mining Haiphong Harbor at night and there was a relatively small but deadly explosive mishap underwater. Two SEALs were left in the water that night after the effort was made to recover the bodies. Given the extreme danger and great number of missions performed by SEALs I simply cannot believe others have not been unwillingly left behind under equally distressing circumstances.

By about chapter 4 ("Operator 156") Mr. Pfarrer gets into his own as a writer and the book flows rather seamlessly from then on. The author does a great job of relating the attitude/culture and abilities of the SEALs. Unfortunately, but by necessity I think, the facts not involving the author's personal life have a high degree of gloss. Operationally we get a good idea of what SEALs are capable of but not really how they go about fulfilling those capabilities.

One criticism of BUD/S comes to mind and if anyone reading this has an answer please feel free to leave a comment on this review. Training, particularly Hell Week, it seems to me, weeds out those less willing to suffer but also takes out a fair number of perfectly capable men. Sure training needs to be harder than combat but as the author himself points out some of the training crosses over the line from hard utility to plain stupidity. Washing out an entire boat crew because one or two members ring-out ends up removing one or more men who would otherwise have made a fully competent member(s) of the Teams. I guess maybe these guys are superstitious and if one is "unlucky" enough to get assigned to a wash-out prone boat crew then they don't want you or your bad luck on the Teams. To say the current system works well enough is to say `lets not find out if it can work better'.


Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney - 3 Stars

One thing I'll say for Delta Force members is that the mental stability of the men who are accepted into Delta is unrivaled. The SEALs are mostly crazy but have one redeeming mental quality - they can shut off the craziness to get the job done. Off hours there is no such restraint. And SEAL Team 6, the direct counterpart of Delta, is by far the craziest. Mr. Marcinko (founder of SEAL 6, known as "Mob Six" under his command) was Class-A egotistical bonkers and an insatiable thrill seeker. Just read his books if you don't believe me.

Because the war on terror (war against extremists) is ongoing, neither of these first two books gives us much insight into specific techniques and/or training. I suppose that is a necessary element since, even though much of that can be found out on the web, one can never be sure about the accuracy of strictly web-based information sources.

On the negative side Mr. Haney does not have the writing acumen of Mr. Pfarrer which interrupts the flow of his book. In his defense Mr. Haney has far less popular writing experience than Mr. Pfarrer (several major movie scripts) and, relatedly, may also not have had access to as talented an editorial group as someone with Tinsel Town connections. For example when Mr. Haney describes his encounter with an Army shrink; "`Haney,' he began in a sibilant voice". Seriously now, who, besides a parseltongued adept at Hogwarts, can reasonably be described as using a sibilant voice? People whisper when they talk sometimes but sibilance went out of the common parlance shortly after the days of Jane Austin. This type of airy language is used in conjunction with; "How dare that fat bastard speak to me that way" and the contrast is a bit distracting.

However, this book is a quick read and has a useful, if short, epilogue on the war on terror.

Killer Elite by Michael Smith - 4 Stars

This book has a dorky (if apt) title and reads like a summary report for a house sub-committee member in DC. The latter is both its strength and weakness. The book is a quick enough read and gives some good insight and back story on SEAL 6 and Delta and an indispensable treatment of the Activity. The authors' background in writing history shows and that's a good thing if you like reading history. Extensively end-noted there is enough ancillary information to keep one reading for quite some time on the subject.

Mr. Smith goes into more non-technical detail on how Spec-Ops was and is being used. So for instance we get to know just how many members of Delta, SEAL 6, etc there are at any given time (sorry but you'll have to read the book to find that out). His book also gives us some idea of the costs involved. My back of the envelope guess is that the major terrorist targets are costing our government (us taxpayers) somewhere around 5 billion each to track and put out of commission. That adds up to half a trillion dollars in just a few years - not a sustainable pace I think.

Taken together these books give a good picture of what kind of effort the US and a few allies (most notably the UK and Australia) are throwing at the War On Terror. These books might accomplish the proverbial help in sleeping at night except for one tiny little fact. Osama bin Laden is still a free man. Not as free as he would like to be but still free and he must be the most hunted man on Earth in these days. I find it more than a little disturbing, after reading these books, that we cannot bring him to justice.


And a couple of after thoughts:

Another facet of modern Spec-Ops warfare not directly addressed is suicide bombers. While it is clear that the most effective means of combating them is to target and take out the leadership* there does not seem to be anyway to stop the bombers proper except by happenstance. Terrorists that want something can be delayed until taken out but a suicide bomber just has to get close enough to the intended target and (boom) in no time the task is complete (*the leaders aren't too crazy or dumb - that's what the bombers are recruited for because they're too dumb to scratch together a coherent bombing plan or build suicide/homicide vests).

Lastly, there also seems to be no plan for building economies that breed people of responsible global citizenship. Not that this is a task for Spec-Ops but what good is it to chase and kill the current terrorist mastermind while waiting for the next one to show through some horrendously spectacular event?

The author's oddosey from deliquent highschooler, to military school, through college, ocs, BUDS training/elimination and then advanced training is facinating. The book profides a sustained view inside the soul of a true band of warriors. Young MBA's could learn a lot from study of leadership and organizational structure in the teams.

The operations were interesting although obviously limited in their selection and description due to restrictions. Others have complained of the lack of discussions of many operations, however, my feeling is that the author more than makes up for that in the depth of the detail and of the many sub operations as part of the long deployment in the middle east.

The discussion of the transformation of Seal Team 6 from its original personality cult into something close to the other teams was enlightening.

Where Pfarrer really distinguishes himself is the weaving of the story of his personal life into the book. His transformation from near dropout to military school and the associated change in his behavior was great. His descriptions of his loves and breakups are told with real time passion. He cuts himself no slack as to his personal failings although one wonders how much can be attritubted to living a random, high adrenalin life, often alone, far from home and surrounded by women seeking adventure with the worlds few true warriors.

The Seals must train like tomorrow might bring the Super Bowl, Olympic High Diving Finals, mother of all marathons or shootout at the OK corral in some randomly selected place from Holidays In Hell. However, with the addition of Roman tradition that the loosers are eaten by the lions. Team 6 required further separation from his "brothers" in the other teams. Further adding to the adrenalin shocks is the randomly jerked leash associated with the micro management of war by the flotsam and jetsam found high in the halls of power in DC.

The book is well written although some editing errors still remain. It is written as a first person account, not a top down history of the events. It excells in achieving its goal, telling the life of a warrior soul in today's world.

I loved this book so much that if I could, I'd join the CIA or FBI so I could work with the SEALs. Masterfully written, laugh-out-loud funny, soul-baring, and so much more. Boy, do I love Alpha males. Chuck, I think I'm in love with you! Will be reading "Killing Che" soon. Keep on writing. You have a secret admirer. Leave it to us half-Irish to tell a good story. Instead of Hoo-Ya, I'll just say what a hottie!

A crisp and informative account of one SEAL's career. Authentic and written by a (now) professional writer and screenplay author. So much written about the SpecOps community has been pumped up, selfserving ego tripping (Rogue Warrior et al) that it is refreshing to read an interesting and factual (I believe) account of SEAL operations and training. This book is more than sensational glorification of a violent and dangerous profession; it emphasizes the dedication and self discipline needed to endure physical and mental hardships almost beyond belief. The Kindle edition was well formatted with only a few minor hyphenation mistakes and the included photographs were pretty good. One thing that comes across loud and clear in this account is that SEAL operators are usually intelligent and resourceful, not just tough. We are blessed as Americans to have such men standing between us and evil.

Overall, I was pleased with Chuck Pfarrer's autobiography. I felt this is a good book which focused on the man rather than a high profile SEAL. Chuck takes us through his childhood to his combat tour at Beirut and the tragic bombing of the Marines barrack to his short time at Team Six. I felt he explained everything quite well.

I felt some parts were left blank. For example, he cheated on his wife several times, and even more so I wonder why Chuck did what he did. He explained several times how bad he felt about his cheating, but I didn't felt like he explained it well enough. Also, the part with Sam (I don't think I got that name right) in Beirut and how scared Sam was and how Chuck called him a chicken and how no one liked him. I was surprised by this and even more so, later on after the bombing, Sam actually volunteered to go on the mission to spot for the French fighters who bombed the terrorist's bases. Why did Chuck left out many of the details on him?

I recommend this book to anyone interested in just Military stuff, not only SEAL stuff. I think the book is well written enough so that you understand the person behind the SEAL, instead of just the SEAL.

On a side note, about the cover, I thought I recognized it from somewhere and I think I found it. It was the cover used for a early 1990s computer game called SEAL Teams. I felt that was kind of cool and I believe the front cover is a man during the Vietnam era.

Although this book provides a glimpse inside the Navy Seals from an team leader's perspective, it was generally dry and drawn out ,spending a lot of time on Beruit and providing a lot of background information and editorials on the politics etc of that event that I am not interested in. This guy is a stud- no doubt, but I found myself skipping through the pages to find something interesting.

Seriously, this was an AWESOME BOOK. Reading the stories I was amazed at what kind of sh.. Mr. Pfarrer got himself into. From BUD/S to Beirut to Banana Republics to Cancer.. he's been at the front row of many key world events, as well as personal ones. (And I'm sure there's a few more that haven't been reported)

The book was very compelling. And he did a great job writing. I really had a tough time putting it down. I always wanted to read "just one more story".

I also enjoyed how it didn't glamorize, but also wasn't falsely modest. Chuck seems like a solid human being--and certainly went above and beyond in his service and in life. And he shares much of his experiences through the book.

Anyhow, thank you Mr. Pfarrer!

ps: and remember, it's "air-BORNE!!"

An excellent account of SEAL training and operations. Chuck Pfarrer is a veteran of the Beirut war and a witness to the car bombing called the first act of terrorism by our current enemies. He is a combat veteran and a former Naval officer. His Navy experience is important because he recalls the beginning of the war on terror , namely the situation in Beirut. This is an important book.

I would never have guessed that this book was written by a purely military man and not an actual writer.

My son is a navy seal, and though I was in the Marines, I don't know too much about them, so I try to read everything I can when I get the chance to try and understand what they go through. Why a lot of them join, why they go through the training, why the training is they way it is. This book hit all those points spot on. Although I as well as everyone am aware there is nothing in the world like Navy seal training, this book does give us probably the most in depth view into the world that I've come across as of yet. It will leave you with a sense of awe at what a human is capable of physically, mentally and emotionally. These are men amongst men.

Now this was a great memoir/biography of a Navy SEAL, one that showed what the SEAL went through for selection, training and operations. Pfarrer is an accomplished screenwriter and his account of his SEAL exploits in Warrior Soul definitely make him an accomplished and more rounded writer. Through his writing we are given vivid images that allow us to put ourselves in his shoes and see and experience what he went through. We, of course, will never know how it truly feels and the pain and endurance that they go through, but we at least can understand.

Pfarrer does wonderfully in the beginning in describing what he went through as a SEAL in Team 4. He painted a picture of his childhood through his college years, letting us track his path in becoming such an elite soldier. We are treated to a brief operation in Latin America before spending the middle of the book on his exploits in Beirut. I for one was not aware of how bad Beirut was and Pfarrer did such a great job in describing his day to day life that I felt as though I could understand what was going on in that war torn city. Pfarrer spent a good deal of time on it, and rightly so, because of the profound affect it had on his life.

The latter few chapters were devoted to Pfarrer's stint as an officer of SEAL Team 6, the Black Op Team that was even more tough and hard to get in to and performed much more specific and dangerous tasks than the normal SEAL. Through this we get to see some of his training and what he went through before and after, as well as a decent section on some of the history behind Marcinko, Gormly and the formation of Team 6. We don't get to see too much of the action of Team 6 because of the nature of the missions, but we did get to see a few of the more publicized missions they went on, such as the hostage situation on the cruise ship Achille Lauro.

Despite not seeing too much of what went on in SEAL Team 6 we are treated to a great account of an officer in the SEALs. Where Marcinko's account had a lot of character from the way he wrote, Pfarrer's account is much more polished. I would definitely recommend Warrior Soul to anyone looking for a good military history.

5 stars.

I really liked the style the author brought to the table. Sarcastic yet to the point and no bs. The knowledge Chuck has on the subject of SEALs is evident as he takes you though tours of "The Root", his last official jump from an airplane and many other great adventures and actions. I have read a handful of SEAL books and this one sticks out in my mind as being one of the best depictions of being in the teams in and around his timeframe. There is actually a great amount of history to be learned in this book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

I enjoyed the storyline and the technical information regarding ST 4 and ST 6. Chuck definitely has my respect.
The last chapter, however, was non-sequitar and did little for the book. I am sad to hear about his current medical problems, but I failed to see how he applied his "warrior soul" to this new set of challenges.

I would love to see another book by him.

This is probably the most complete book I have ever read on the SEALS, out of many (the only exception is Lone Survivor below---it was as good or better in some ways----read them both). I find a LOT more facination with a book that is non-fiction, because these are events we can all relate to-----and this book is autobiographical in a true sense---as is Lone Survivor.
The tales in this book reflect major international events that have affected the U.S. in the reasonably recent past. The author was/is cleary a very hard man with his life----and the lives of others----on the line as is described in this book in enough detail to make it hard to put down.

I was able to read this book in one sitting. I really enjoyed Mr. Pfarrer's writing style and humor...yes humor was acheived in this special operations memoir.
What was most compelling to me was his description of Lebanon in 1983. It gives a vivid picture of what we're embroiled in right now in Iraq.
Thank you Mr. Pfarrer for the history lesson and I hope you're doing well after your bout with colon cancer.

Inside the tight special warfare community. That is where author Chuck Pfarrer takes in you Warrior Soul. From the early days in Nicaragua to Beirut. Pfarrer is honest in his writting and gives you a history lesson as he tells the story of conflict's through the 1980's.

Corey Cotta, Author of All of Yesterdays Tomorrows.

The title is the key to really "getting" this book. It is a memoir and not intended to be an action thriller about SEAL missions. That said, there are some tense moments that really make you feel the stress of being there. Pfarrer is an excellent writer so the book flows well. He is also quite honest throughout and that makes his toughness easier to take. I felt like I was getting to know the real guy, not just the tough guy he was some of the time.

The Warrior Soul is a great read on many levels. Although I believe he was somewhat reserved from describing the "real" missions of his time in the military, I still found Chuck Pfarrer's writing to be open and honest. He details a few of his most important missions and brings the reader along as if they were on his SEAL team. He interjects bits about his personal life and creates a smooth storyline that will keep you interested until the end.

I am fascinated by the rigors of being a SEAL, so it's safe to say that I'm a sucker for this book. If you are hard-core military, then you'll be left hungry for the deeper layers (actually, the juicy details) that he assuredly experienced in his missions. But even without them, you'll enjoy learning about his life's path as a Navy SEAL.

Have fun,

David Tobias
Redondo Beach, CA

This book takes you where no one will go and where few have been; the past of a SEAL and the men whom he knew. It does so in a way that is exciting and at the same time sad and frustrating. Here I saw how politicians keep this elite members from doing their job the way they learned; with accurate effectivennes. It also shows the personal sacrifice these men go so we can sleep well. Wanna be Special Forces, Delta, SEAL's and politicians must read this.

If you are looking for a book full of special operation missions that end up engaging the enemy, this is not the book.

This book follows the life of the author's effort to become a Navy Seal. Then it gives you a mission here and a mission there. I think there are around 4 missions throughout the book, and only one or two of them had some kind of fire exchange.

One thing you get a lot of is hours and hours of the author being in Beirut where you get some kind understanding of what it was like being there during their civil war, where he spent most of the time inside a American beach base trying to live as constant mortar and RPG fire keep falling around him and the marines on the base.

And then you follow the author life as a civilian while he moves from here to there and he tries to make it as a Hollywood screen play writer.

This book had a lot of long dull parts for me, because what I was after in this book was more about Special Forces missions and less about the personal life of this guy. If you want to read a book that is full of special forces mission from beginning to end read "SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam -- by John L. Plaster" instead.

I loved this book. I couldn't help but skim past the missions onto the love scenes. The detail is great. But my only complaint is that thanks to you Chuck I threw away my option at getting a bs in Molecular Biology for Psychology(which is easy) at UCSD, just because I thought I was getting old and I have 2 little ones in preschool. Bad decision to give up on research. I'm going back to school to make myself useful when I am happy in a relationship because I like to cuddle. I married someone that didn't share the same interests as me. And when we met I asked him why he didn't try out for the SEALs. I guess I felt shy when I was down there on the island trying to hook up. Thanks for the tips on working in the chow hall well I think that was in the other guy's book and that's a good idea. I hope they hire me.

Overall this is the most compelling book on SEALS. I think there needs to be more dating networks for people in the SEAL family--me personally-I feel really isolated and can't connect with other people who don't understand what we're all about. I don't mean to sound negative I just want to hook up. I'm a very positive person and affectionate

I loved this book. I couldn't help but skim past the missions onto the love scenes. The detail is great. But my only complaint is that thanks to you Chuck I threw away my option at getting a bs in Molecular Biology for Psychology(which is easy) at UCSD, just because I thought I was getting old and I have 2 little ones in preschool. Bad decision to give up on research. I'm going back to school to make myself useful when I am happy in a relationship because I like to cuddle. I married someone that didn't share the same interests as me. And when we met I asked him why he didn't try out for the SEALs. I guess I felt shy when I was down there on the island trying to hook up. Thanks for the tips on working in the chow hall well I think that was in the other guy's book and that's a good idea. I hope they hire me.

Overall this is the most compelling book on SEALS. I think there needs to be more dating networks for people in the SEAL family--me personally-I feel really isolated and can't connect with other people who don't understand what we're all about. I don't mean to sound negative I just want to hook up. I'm a very positive person and affectionate

This book was a great read. I really enjoyed chuck's sense of humor. His writing made me feel like I was right beside him; ducking fire from a water skiier on the streets of the root. I think it's amazing what those guys do and I think Chuck did it with great humility and vigilance. I highly recommend it!

Warrior Soul will truly reaffirm every patriotic feeling. Chuck's agility with the English language allows the reader to experience from a unique vantage point what it is like to be in harms way. I enjoyed the opportunity to educate myself further on what occured in past decades with our troops in Beirut. Warrior Soul reads between the lines for you of what it was like. Chuck is not only a Warrior Soul, he is an old soul as well to have had such fortitude.

This is a well written book with good action but lacks anything to make it truly great. For a book about Navy Seals it is surprisingly filled with long somewhat boring sections. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Seals or other special forces but can't recommend it for the casual reader. I think this book is a little better than the three stars I gave it but I could not bring myself to give it four based on the books ending. Like so many other writers of nonfiction Chuck Pfarrer decides to end his book with his own personal morality lesson with little relevance to the rest of the book.