"Lone Survivor" Plus

Movie Poster

The world perhaps should be spared another review of Marcus Luttrell and Patrick Robinson's Lone Survivor, but I have read too many reviews that do not tell it like it is and I am going to do that.

In the first place, the reader should be advised that the first 160 pages of this 380 page book are a somewhat self-aggrandizing biography of the young Marcus Lutrell -- perhaps a luxury we tolerate in the young -- as well as a detailed (boring?) description of the training of Navy SEALs -- the best warriors in the history of the world according to Marcus. In addition, these pages are loaded with right-wing propaganda which could have been written by Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney. Luttrell wants us to believe that Iraq must have had weapons of mass destruction and was allied with al-Qaeda. Really? Not even George W. Bush believes those lies. At one point he even suggests that the abuse of prisoners at Abu-Graib was not a serious problem until the US press and Al Jazeera blew it out of portion. He also uses this part of the book to attack "liberal" politicians and press, although he never bothers to identify either. Probably for good reason, because there were few politicians or members of the press who had the balls to question the invasion of Iraq.

Also, young Mr Luttrell  questions our government's ROE (rules of engagement) and certain provisions of the Geneva Convention. He believes that these bleeding-heart, civilian, liberal-sponsored regulations are a hindrance to the efficiency and efficacy of his beloved SEALS. Perhaps Marcus is too young to remember the massacre at My Lai as well as other atrocities in Vietnam. In fact, he goes so far as to suggest that the rules of engagement were responsible for the deaths that occurred in Operation Redwing.

Another interesting conflict for Marcus is that in the beginning of the book he comes across as being extremely critical of Islam and Muslims, but at the end of the book,  after he tells us how Pashtun villagers endangered their own lives to save him, he is of course very grateful to these Muslims.

However, the real story of the book, "Operation Red Wings," is an amazing story of heroism, courage, and endurance on the part of SEAL Team 10 on the mountain border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. If the book had focused exclusively on this story, it would have been an excellent book. It is unfortunate that Luttrell felt compelled to use his story to preach his gospel.

I have yet to see the recently released Peter Berg movie version starring Mark Wahlberg, but I would hope that it tells the story of the ill-fated mission to capture or kill the Taliban leader, Ahmad Shah, and avoids those parts of the book not directly related to Operation Red Wings and its aftermath.

(For those who pay attention to such things, the movie was nominated for two Academy Awards -- Best Sound editing and Best Sound Mixing.)