Ever since reading the Lone Survivor I have been interested in what it takes to be an elite in our military.  If you have not had to chance the read that book, you owe it to yourself to pick up.  In fact, I have given it to all my friends at work and keep the hardcover on my desk to remind me that no matter how back it gets during a day… it is nowhere close to what Marcus Luttrell and his fellow SEALs had to endure.  For Christmas I received a couple of new books related to the SEALs.  I just finished one entitled Warrior Soul.  This particular memoir focused on the events faced by Chuck Pfarrer as member of America’s Navy SEALs.  Based on the reviews and book jacket, it sounded like an exciting perspective on the dangers of covert operations and nail biting suspense as he battles the evils of the world.  My expectations were not met.  I may be that the Survivor book has tainted my perspective or the government decided to restrict the juicy stuff.  In either case, I recommend passing on this particular one unless you want to read about how they were almost seen while doing a reconnaissance run, how he basically put his men into jeopardy when he was given the chance to lead, sat on a runway surrounded by Italian soldiers (nothing happened) and eventually wrote some screenplays.  I had to endure pages of his marriage infidelity, his ego stroking resistance to higher ranking military leaders who are obviously not as smart as he is and how much chicks dig him.  Fortunately, there were a few tidbits that made my time worthwhile.  Follow the jump for my list of recollections:

• Green Berets specialize in training and thus “force multiplication”.  The teach and organize  resistance units and instruct partisans behind enemy lines
• SEALs were an outgrowth of WWII and trace their lineage back to the demolition experts that cleared the beaches of Normandy and those that operated against the Japanese
• The Green Berets and SEALs were created by John F. Kennedy in 1962
• On Page 81,he refers to navigating by “dead reckoning”.  Caught my eye since that is the name of my brother’s published book- Dead Reckoning: Calculating Without Instruments
• A SEAL saying is: One is none, two is one”  I find this a little ironic since they pride themselves in being a formidable force even with one soldier
• Chief Warrant Officer John A. Walker Jr. and Senior Chief Radioman Jerry Whiteworth supplied the Soviets with Navy code keys allowing the Ruskies to decipher coded traffic sent by the U.S. Navy from ’68 until ’86.  He was arrested in ’85.
• 243 men were lost in the headquarters bombing at Beirut International Airport.
• After WWI, France was given possession of Lebanon and Syria
• SEALs do not wear rank or tridents (SEAL badges) on their combat uniforms
• A close call with a mortar apparently took Pfarrer from the ranks of atheism.  Too bad that didn’t make him more faithful to those he left behind – apparently the burst kill radius of one of these is 15 meters.
• The Beirut bomb was created by an Iranian-trained Hezbollah member named Imad Mugniyah.  It produced one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history
• An all night barrage of Syrian artillery insured that the greatest number of soldiers would be resting in the barracks the day it was detonated – 6:23am Sunday morning – only the French responded with reactionary force (our response was turned back at the last minutes)
• Apparently the terrorist takeover of the Achille Lauro (apparently a cursed ship anyway) was completely botched – although a wheelchaired American (69yr old Leon Klinghoffer) was actually killed by them.
• Strangely enough, Syrian would not allow the terrorists to enter their waters.
• They were taken into Egyptian custody and then Tunisia agreed to take them – their transport plane was forced down by Tomcat on Italian soil.  – this is where we get to read all about the standoff and how Chuckie was so bold as to take a whiz in front of the Italian army (spare me)
• The mastermind of the Achille Lauro was captured in Baghdad and is/was undergoing questioning in a U.S. military facility

That’s about it.  I feel that I can relate now that I spent the night in war with Rock Band and emerged victorious in my battle to obtain the achievement for a 100% score on a song on Expert level.  It was tough, but all that training (the sand, the pushups, the water, the sleep deprivation) finally paid off.