Thomas F. (hardtack) - , reviewed on 7/31/2016 + 2700 more book reviews

I give this book only one star, and admit I only read the first two chapters. Frankly, I got tired reading about their egos. This is not to say these men didn't perform heroically, doing something most people would consider to be extremely foolish. Perhaps it was just the author, building these men up to be superheros. But, at the same time, it is my understanding these men reviewed the material to ensure its validity. And did we really need to be told about their tattoos?

In one early scene, one American arrives at the airport in Benghazi. As he enters the area where the luggage arrives, he sees another American leaning against the wall, who ignores him. Although knowing this guy is there to pick him up, he also ignores him. The author makes a big deal out of this, making the point the two guys don't want all the Libyans to know they are there to meet each other. Duh! Maybe that would work if it was a New York airport luggage area, but not in Benghazi! Seeing the only two Anglo-Saxon types in a Libyan airport ignoring each other would be proof they knew each other and were simply playing a "spy game." I immediately knew the author planned to continue to insult my intelligence with his "G.I. Joe Action Figure" stories.

As a former officer in the Marine Corps I knew men who had performed heroically, accomplishing deeds that seemed impossible. Almost all of them didn't write books about themselves. Or, if they did, also wrote about their mistakes, their weaknesses and their failures.

While certainly not a "great combat hero" myself, I learned early on not to tell people about things I did. Even my family and the friends I grew up with used to tell me, "Come'on, Tom, you're just making that up." So I stopped talking about my experiences.

Most people judge you by their own experiences. And if their experiences are going to school and then getting a safe, 9 to 5 job, they don't believe you, even when you are simply telling true stories about your basic Marine training.

For example, the hardest thing I did in my 33+ years at a university was to listen to university administrators tell me I had no idea how much responsibility they had, without laughing in their face. If I had told them what I did daily as a 24-year-old first lieutenant in Viet Nam, they would have accused me of lying to them. And, as I mention above, I wasn't a 'fighting' hero.

If you ask me, when the author began writing this book, he was writing it with a view to making a lot of money selling the movie rights to it. As far as I am concerned, this is just another example of one of those standard NYT "best sellers:" short chapters, large print and lots of white space.

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