Service: A Navy SEAL at War
Marcus Luttrell spent more than a decade as a member of the US military’s most elite fighting force, the Navy Seals. He was deployed to some of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan and Iraq and tasked with repelling insurgents. He relates his most memorable adventures in his second book and the tales do not disappoint. There is danger and heroism in abundance, along with heartbreaking loss. Most of all there is the reminder that the men and women of the military and their families sacrifice a tremendous amount for our country. They do this so that the rest of us can enjoy our freedom and go about our lives unhampered by worries that those freedoms might ever be curtailed.
Luttrell’s battles are emotional as well as physical. This rock hard, fierce, deadly soldier has a deep love of God, country, and his fellow service men and women and their families and this shines through in his touching descriptions of the hardships and death that befall his comrades and ripple through the Navy Seal community. When he retired from active duty, Luttrell set up a foundation to help service men and women with post traumatic disorders and other psychological and physical injuries.
The author gives the silent heroes of the US military a voice in this moving memoire. And he makes a point of, wherever possible, naming the comrades who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and he urges readers to never forget these people who gave their lives to secure the abundance and blessings that most Americans enjoy. Luttrell’s example of dedication to God, family, and country is inspiring precisely because he balances his fierceness as a warrior with a kind and gentle heart. When he recounts the time that he spent alone and injured in the Afghan wilderness awaiting rescue, he dedicates several pages to a touching tribute to an Afghan tribesman who sheltered and hid him from the Taliban, saving Luttrell’s life at great risk to his own life and those of his family.
This book will make you proud of the men and women who stand ready day and night to keep us safe. They serve with honor, dedication, and great love of God and country; they don’t seek fame or fortune; they endure the hardest imaginable circumstances so the rest of us can live the American dream.
