View Full Version : Going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow...
sickle
06-10-2008, 10:00 PM
And I'm thinking about buying a couple books, I don't want to spend more than ~$40 bucks. I'm kind of looking for books about SEAL training or maybe a book about someone's SEAL carrier from BUDs to retirement. I was thinking The Warrior Elite and Lone Survivor. Suggestions?
jjrjr
06-10-2008, 10:04 PM
I just finished The Warrior Elite a while back and thought it was amazing. It pretty much settled the personal back and forth I had between pursuing a career as an enlisted SEAL or as a commissioned officer (not NSW). Its one of those books that will both motivate you and give you a HUGE reality check. Planning on reading Lone Survivor after I get my next paycheck.
JR-
leisten11
06-10-2008, 10:14 PM
I'm currently in the middle of The Warrior Elite, great book. I also just finished reading Suffer in Silence and even though it is fiction, it was still a pretty good read. I'm planning on ordering Lone Survivor soon from amazon.
Both The Warrior Elite and Lone Survivor are excellent and definitely worth buying and reading. If you want memoirs of SEALs from their days at BUD/S to retirement like you say, I would recommend Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarrer and One Perfect Op by Dennis Chalker. I just started reading Combat Swimmer by Robert Gormly which so far is great too. If funds are low, you could always check these books out at the library.
mikev
06-11-2008, 01:34 AM
One of my favorite books has always been Rogue Warrior by Richard Marcinko, but no one ever seems to talk about it/him. Is he looked down upon in the NSW community? Also, I have read all of **** Couch's books and thought they were great, so definitely recommend those.
navcom
06-11-2008, 03:44 AM
Also check out Couch's "Down Range", just got it off amazon for next to nothing, so far its very good. All of those listed above i would recommend, several of which are still on my to get list.
Just remember, one can still purchase several of those books from this site, and when you do [Quote]: "you’ll be supporting the families of those SEALs who have made the ultimate sacrifice. We donate 7.5% of our net profits to the Naval Special Warfare Foundation. Every purchase you make becomes a living tribute to the supreme offering these brave men made to the cause of freedom".
kaleigh
06-11-2008, 06:08 AM
You may also want to look at ebooks, you generally get more book for your buck seeing as they are usually half the cover price, and the reader download is free. Here is a site that sells most of the books mentioned above. http://www.ebooks.com/ The only down fall with ebooks that I have found is that if you don't have a laptop you are stuck reading at the dest top computer.
bigv123
06-11-2008, 12:06 PM
Capt. Couch's "The Finishing School" was excellent and will give you a look inside SQT.
V
mikev, I totally forgot to list Rogue Warrior by Richard Marcinko which is also one of my favorites. In fact, Dennis Chalker (aka "Snake") is in that book as well as Macrink's Red Cell. I have heard people say that he wrote his book while he was in prison to make money for his legal fees so he has sensationalized the book a bit for more profits. I am not sure how much of the book is sensationalized but it sounds like there are mixed feelings about him for sure in the NSW community. In fact, Chalker says in his memoir that he wanted Marcinko as his retirement and that it took a lot of pulling of strings for him to be able to attend. I think Robert Gormly may mention Marcinko in his memoir Combat Swimmer because he took over SEAL Team 6 from Marcinko. I will let you know once I finish reading it. Hope that helps.
sickle
06-12-2008, 10:50 AM
Cool, thanks everyone for their feedback. I didn't go yesterday because I was busy, I'm going to check out those Ebooks kaleigh suggested.
jffay
06-12-2008, 11:38 AM
Read all of cpt. Couch's books and I agree with what everyone has said, they are very good. Warrior Elite is by far the best but you can't go wrong with any of them. Also you have to read Lone Survivor, have to.
~JF
beardch
06-12-2008, 08:22 PM
As others have said, I would highly recommend D*** Couch's The Finishing School and Down Ranger, both excellent reads, I have read both at least twice, and always pick up something new and interesting I missed previously.
future frogman
06-12-2008, 08:28 PM
A really good book I just read is, The Finishing School. It is written by a retired Navy SEAL, D!ck Couch. I thought it was amazing, it talks mainly about all the schooling after BUD/S the New SEALs go through before and in the Teams! Might check that one out...
akrock2001
06-13-2008, 01:03 PM
A really good book I just read is, The Finishing School. It is written by a retired Navy SEAL, D!ck Couch. I thought it was amazing, it talks mainly about all the schooling after BUD/S the New SEALs go through before and in the Teams! Might check that one out...
The Finishing School is about SQT(SEAL Qualification Training) hence, they are getting qualified to be SEALs. They're not SEALs or NEW SEALs yet. There are times when SEALs leave the Teams but decide to come back. In these cases, NSW will send them through SQT to get them back in the groove.
Must Reads For any SEAL wannabe:
-The Warrior Elite
-The Finishing School
-Down Range
-The Lone Survivor
*** While I was in Iraq, my buddy was flying out of BIAP when he ran into D*ck Couch. Mr. Couch said he was there following a SEAL Team in Iraq for a new book, so keep an eye out for it.
beardch
06-13-2008, 05:00 PM
*** While I was in Iraq, my buddy was flying out of BIAP when he ran into D*ck Couch. Mr. Couch said he was there following a SEAL Team in Iraq for a new book, so keep an eye out for it.
The new book is called, The Sheriff Of Ramadi: Navy SEALs and the Winning of Western Anbar Province. It's due out in October, personally I can't wait to read this, all of his stuff is great.
For more info go to this site...
http://www.usni.org/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=1695
future frogman
06-13-2008, 05:55 PM
akrock2001, My bad, I realized that I said that wrong after I posted it...then I lost this forum so I could not correct it!
gordonalways
06-21-2008, 11:55 PM
And I'm thinking about buying a couple books, I don't want to spend more than ~$40 bucks. I'm kind of looking for books about SEAL training or maybe a book about someone's SEAL carrier from BUDs to retirement. I was thinking The Warrior Elite and Lone Survivor. Suggestions?
I have read many SEAL books and many SF and other SOF books. Richard Marcinco's book Rogue warrior was great. Down Range by **** Couch was good at being informational but not a good book if you are looking for war stories. Diary of a Navy SEAL was an excellent book by Gary Smith. Combat swimmer by Robert Gormly and Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarrer are both books I highly recommend. Good To Go was another good book (forgot the author..it wasn't my book).
My Favorite book BY FAR was Reflections of a warrior by Franklin Miller. He was a Green beret in Vietnam and he cuts out ALL the BS and gets straight into his war stories. He casually talks about his adventures and firefights in Vietnam and about the natives he worked with. He also won the Medal of Honor, silver star, and two bronze stars (if I remember correctly [I lent that book out to a friend]).
Thanks for reading,
GordonALWAYS