"No Easy Day" by Mark Owen (a pseudonym) is published by Dutton Adult. It is the story of a Navy SEAL, an elite special operations warrior with its climax in the story of the raid and death of Osama Bin Laden. Immediately striking is the author's ability to picture himself as a real, flawed person. He shows appreciation for others in his line of work without painting them as either unbelievably superhuman or as some kind of fringe military extremists. The characters are revealed to be dedicated to an intense level of self-dicsipline and while admitting to errors in performance, they have the persistence to improve their skills at the highest levels of military training and preparation in the world today. It is the very humanity of the characters that brought me into the story. It's a book about struggle and those who find the work-arounds to defeat. There is nothing in my reading of this book to signal the author is being deceitful or embellishing his role in warfare for personal gain. The author was straightforward in the introduction by informing the reader that he has taken necessary precautions for preventing the inadvertent release of classified information. He neither sets himself up as a some kind of national hero or as a potential platform for a future political career. It is smoothly written without being crass or overly graphic. It reads with the smoothness of Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War or We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam without the focused, constant intensity. As becomes evident, the author is motivated out of a desire to positively influence other young men to pursue their dreams regardless of whether it works out as military service or not. Owen's personal tale begins as a young man who was profoundly influenced by the reading of a book about a special operations predecessor. The author, if the story is to be believed, wanted nothing more to hone his skills and to experience the most he could by overcoming his weaknesses with the help of others. Indeed, iron sharpens iron. I have known similar men (Hal Moore and William Wingett, for example), with whom I've disagreed with their refusal and reluctance of being called "hero." One theme that runs through my discussions with them is that even though the story is about their experience, they are more excited to describe the successes of those around them. They don't boast about themselves, but about camaraderie, struggle and the willingness of those around them to take on the most hazardous experiences with the sole determination of overcoming any obstacle. They show their heroism by stressing the success of others. And those of us who come after them learn we can achieve the seemingly impossible, because, quite simply, these guys have done the same and more. Overall, this book has provided me with great insight into how courageous people behave and think. This book provided me with a number of opportunities to reflect on what I perceive as heroism. This book by Mark Owen was inspirational.

Good, quick read. Story is as advertised. Hard to think anything other than "glad there are guys like this on our side."

My favortie part of the book was when he compared a war scene to looking like, "a Bloom' Onion at Outback Steakhouse." I knew right then and there this book was destined for American greatness. To my surprise, the entire book wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was a very easy and quick read...that I didn't hate.