Navy Seals

November 17, 2014
Despite the title, much of what former SEAL Couch (Sheriff of Ramadi) and historian Doyle (American Gun, with Chris Kyle) cover has been shared elsewhere, but they fill a niche among the voluminous, recent accounts of Navy SEAL operations by linking the pre-9/11 history of the SEALs to the extensive combat operations conducted since. The authors claim that this is the only history of the SEALs that covers the entire period of the SEALs' existence, and they tell the story through a series of vignettes selected to capture the essence of the SEAL combat experience. Beginning with the SEALs' WWII predecessors, the Navy Underwater Demolitions Teams, Couch and Doyle present personal experiences of individual SEAL unit veterans, often through interviews with the authors. The authors also highlight historical aspects of SEAL operations and training that continue to be important today, such as explaining the origin of the relationship between SEALS and the CIA. Though serious students of special operations warfare will find little new material here, it is an entertaining and informative read for a general audience.

November 1, 2014

Billed as the complete history of this special forces group, retired SEAL Couch (Always Faithful, Always Forward) and historian Doyle (coauthor, American Gun) detail the evolution of the SEALs from World War II through the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan with stops along the way in Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama. Told chronologically, the work reads more like an oral history than a complete chronicle. The authors provide little analysis and don't spend enough time contextualizing events within a larger framework. Nevertheless, once the narrative moves toward the present, their writing gains focus and the text is more compelling, if at times still choppy and disjointed. Couch and Doyle do an admirable job in portraying the demanding training, highlighting the wide range of hazardous situations, and underscoring the bravery that Navy SEALs have engaged in with each operation. VERDICT Published to coincide with a PBS documentary of the same name scheduled to air on Veterans Day, this title will be essential reading for military buffs. Documentary watchers and interested general readers will also enjoy this work. [See Prepub Alert, 6/2/14.]--Chris Sauder, Round Rock P.L., TX

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2014
Developmental narrative of the esteemed Navy SEALs, co-written by a former member.Couch (Always Faithful, Always Forward: The Forging of a Special Operations Marine, 2014, etc.) and Doyle (A Soldier's Dream: Captain Travis Patriquin and the Awakening of Iraq, 2011, etc.) co-authored this book as a companion to a PBS documentary: "It is our effort to tell the story of a remarkable elite fighting force and its ancestors." The SEALs' legendary improvisational toughness, write the authors, started with the underwater demolition teams in World War II. The UDTs were hasty responses to the horrific Tarawa landings and played a significant role in both theaters, clearing Axis beach obstacles under fire. The SEALs were formally established in 1962, after President John F. Kennedy "encouraged the Pentagon to beef up counterinsurgency and Special Operations forces." Couch narrates his own tour-of-duty experience during Vietnam rescuing POWs from a prison camp, terming such missions "a tribute to the professional culture that was emerging in the SEAL Teams in the late 1960s and early 1970s." Yet the SEALs' fighting autonomy caused controversy; as one recalled, "part of the Navy saw us as some sort of quasi-criminal element." The counterterrorism-oriented SEAL Team 6 formed in 1980 and fought in the Grenada invasion, the chaos of which led to the consolidation of the U.S. Special Forces Command. After this, "they morphed into professional, well-drilled, experienced, responsible operators" who were ready for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. Couch and Doyle precisely depict many missions, including the famed rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips and the killing of Osama bin Laden. They focus on SEAL history and tactics and their embrace of obscure technologies and weaponry while emphasizing that in the Special Forces, "Navy SEAL training is the longest and, arguably, the most difficult." Entertaining, no-nonsense balancing of legends and martial reality.

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