No Easy Day: The Autobiography of a Navy SEAL, The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, by Mark Owen (pen name) with Kevin Maurer (Dutton/Penguin, 2012, 316 pages, $26.95) A USA Today’s number one best-seller.
No Easy Day was reviewed in the immediately preceding blog: this blog continues reviewing the book as read by a group of military veterans in Columbia, Maryland – a Veterans Book Group* (VBG).
The VBG met in a Zoom meeting during COVID-19, which was quite successful. (It seems the country is learning how to communicate by Zoom with fewer and fewer glitches.) In addition, the group came to a consensus on the major points depicted: this is always comforting to the individuals involved.
For example, authors Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer may have mistitled their book in that they lead one to believe the book is primarily about the Osama bin Laden (UBL) raid (white it comprised only the final third of more than 300 pages). The group agreed Owen wrote a memoir of his life, emphasizing his entire Navy SEAL career including his training and previous deployments which merely culminated in the bin Laden take-down. Although we agreed the entire story was simply fascinating, the sub-title of The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden implies that more than just a third would be devoted to that mission.
Of course, this reviewer, being a dog trainer and Afghanistan veteran, knew the entire story of the raid and hoped for more information about Cairo, the dog who took part in the mission and whose photo has appeared everywhere.
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| Next on my Reading List |
As stated in the previous blog review, several military weapons were mentioned with no glossary (but the detailed graphics of the raid were exemplary). One veteran ended up ‘googling’ many of these weapons (that he mistakenly called guns) while others just glossed over them as non-veterans probably did as well.
Who Should Read No Easy Day
The book group leader suggested No Easy Day might be a good candidate for required reading by all military leaders – it follows one enlisted man’s career in a highly-specialized and highly-trained career path and implies modern leadership’s indecisions and micromanagement. This practice was begun during the Vietnam Conflict when commanders flew in helicopters above small battles and gave orders to the lieutenants on the ground: we felt that those on the ground had been well-trained and should be left to do their jobs. After all, they are the pro’s. This group of SEALs had been well-trained for this mission and yet had to wait several days for the go-ahead from the president who then watched the mission unfold as it was happening!
Death on Your Shoulder
As the only combat-zone veteran in the group, I was asked about the concept of ‘death on your shoulder’ which author Owen implies right from the beginning. I remarked on the extensive planning the military provides for deploying soldiers, from having them make out wills to educating them on the event of their being taken prisoner and what will be done behind the scenes to rescue them. Therefore, prior to my deployment, I was aware I might not return but it was not a major concern for me.
Work Hard, Play Hard
Another theme in No Easy Day concerns the “Work Hard, Play Hard” experience of specialized troops. They spend many overtime hours together and must learn to trust each other. They become a family, a unit of one. Perhaps a third of their time is spent training and planning, another third (though a smaller third) is spent carrying out the mission, and the third third on leave with their families. These men have two families and when they are with their actual family, the military is always on their mind. When they are with their military unit, there is no time to think of their actual family – so planning and trust play a major part once again.
The CIA Agent
And finally, one veteran spoke of the emotional CIA agent after the mission was complete. I explained she was an academic, a collage graduate, and had just spent five years trying to locate UBL - this was the cessation of that part of her job. In addition, she was a desk analyst not a soldier so she had not been exposed to military casualties and may not yet have experienced death in her young life.
All in all, our group felt No Easy Day might become a recruitment tool for special forces even for those who, in 10 years, will not know much about the Battle for Bin Laden. Leadership will also gain from reading this book.
And so will you!
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Caveat: *This book was a selection of the Veterans Book Group at the Howard County, MD, library, a 6-month program.
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