Marcus Luttrell

The title Lone Survivor immediately references Lady Butler's famous painting "The remnants of an army" which shows assistant surgeon William Brydon returning as the sole survivor from the British retreat of Kabul in 1842. The US action in Afghanistan was less costly. Marcus Luttrell was part of a four man Navy SEALs team that was wiped out in Afghanistan during Operation Red Wings. The heavily scrubbed Wikipedia entry classifies this operation as a "temporary U.S. Pyrrhic victory; Long-term show more insurgent victory". With a 100% US casualty rate and not a single goal achieved, this assessment is only sustainable if one either takes Monty Python's Black Knight as a role model or considers the Alamo as a US victory. In reality, this minor action was a clear defeat, caused by bad US leadership both strategically down to the tactical level. Luttrell is not the man to understand complex matters. His memoirs about his time in Afghanistan nevertheless can serve as good data for two analyses.

Firstly, Luttrell offers a postcard introduction into the mindset of an authoritarian follower (and Republican voter). His mind effortlessly tolerates to hold hugely contradictory opinions and facts. While he is easily (and often wrongly) offended by accusations and actions of others he puts in one out-group (the liberal press, Europeans, liberals, Muslims, ...), he resents their undifferentiated portrait as a religious redneck, Texan, American, SEAL, soldier (his main in-groups). The out-groups seem in his mind to work together to crush his in-group and deserve to be punished. Thus, he thinks the torture at Abu Ghraib justified by 9/11 as the suicide terrorists as well as the Iraqi torture victims are both Muslims. Killing Afghanis is ok, because they are all Taliban, even if he owes his survival to a brave Afghani who protected the wounded Luttrell from certain death and risked his own life to save the American. Lutrell holds a special disdain for the Geneva Convention despite the fact that his survival is in accordance to its principles. It is truly an authoritarian madness to fight forcefully against something that improves everyone's (including their own) lives. The book does not make it clear whether the Rambo Jesus worshiping Luttrell has understood that his Muslim savior acted in the best Samaritan tradition as promoted by Jesus. He bound his wounds, took care of him and delivered him into the safety of American troops. If such an act did not open Luttrell's mind, what possibly could?

Secondly, the book can serve as a good case-study of failures in decision making in an isolated small group. A parallel read of Norman Maclean's Young Men and Fire and the analysis of the Mann Gulch catastrophe by Karl Weick is especially recommended. The failure of the SEAL team can be tracked back to their training. They lacked decision patterns what to do once detected. In their SEAL training, a blown cover meant "game over". In reality, it was the beginning of a far more dangerous chain of events. Not having decision patterns available to select from. the officer in command of the SEAL team had to improvise. Any mistakes would and did prove fatal. Once they were detected by goat herders, the SEALs pondered the wrong question (Should we shoot them?) but arrived (barely) at the correct answer because they didn't see a way to also dispose of the obvious goat herd around of them. Instead of aborting the mission and holding on to the goat herders, they let them go and failed to inform their HQ that their cover had been blown. The SEALs had handed over the initiative to the Taliban who only had to bag their hunters turned prey. The SEALs made their position even more awkward in moving towards the valley, letting the Taliban occupy the high ground. Thus, when the fire started, the Taliban didn't need much numerical superiority. The books speaks of hundreds of Taliban while the author's own more realistic after action report talks of about thirty Taliban. The Taliban outfought the SEALs because they were more mobile and had a clear mission. The Americans lost valuable time in shifting between defense, seeking to establish communication and flight. A drastic description of being on the receiving end of the enemy's superior OODA loop. HQ compounded the mistake and casualty list (19 KIA, 1 WIA) by sending a troop-carrying helicopter in which the Taliban promptly shot down.

As Luttrell himself mentions, the selection and training of the SEALs is to accomplish waterborne missions. The burly SEALs are at a disadvantage in the steep Afghanistan mountains which require scrawny climber physiques. The SEALs were also bogged down under bundles of equipment and ammo, while the Taliban traveled light with dedicated ammo and water carriers. The inhospitable rocks furthermore tore much of the SEALs' equipment off during their hasty movements. In the current glorification of the Special Forces, it is often forgotten that these aren't super soldiers but men specifically trained for certain missions ("special"). Using them like Swiss pocket knives is wasteful and ineffective. In contrast to the supposedly high language skill component of Special Forces soldiers, Luttrell went into action without knowing even basic words such as "water" and had to rely on the English language skills of the Afghanis to help him out. Luttrell was lucky to survive, meeting his own Samaritan. He does not seem to have learned much from this sorry affair though. show less

Hard review to write... In one sense I loved this (audio) book - it's reads like a modern day Louis L'Amour adventure tale, full of action and gun-totin', fun-lovin', wise-crackin', ever-so-intelligent good guys doing their best to catch the evil ugly stinkin' loathsome sneaky bad guys and it's so very easy to distinguish the two. Why, don't-cha know? one wears a "Texas patch" and the other a turban. Life is easy.

OTOH it's (mostly) cringe-inducing, pathetic drivel: the author clumsily show more writes about his incredibly "intelligent" SEAL friends and spouts rah-rah shoot-em-up "we're #1!" trite-isms from start to finish. I can only exclaim "Well, bless his heart, he certainly deserves an gold star for effort". The book is so shallow, so UN-insightful, so plain ol' stupid... I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Oh man... BBooks like this, and American Sniper, make me sad - we as a country are not going to get anywhere until we get past "poster patriotism".

You won't miss a thing skipping this book. show less

Three seconds after I sat at my Mac, sipping coffee, on a clear Sunday morning and began wondering how many stars I would give this book, I shook my head and rolled my eyes at my own thoughts. After finishing Lone Survivor, get ready for that to happen more than once: it’s one of those books (like Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass or A Grief Observed) that serves as an antidote to complaint, a reminder of how good so many of us have it, and a necessary corrective to one’s ego. show more Really—who cares how many stars I give this book?

Readers of Othello often misunderstand the word “honest” when applied to Iago: when Cassio and others call him “honest Iago,” some readers point and say, “Aha! That’s ironic!” It is, of course, but “honest" doesn’t mean “truthful” here—it means “unpretentious,” “down-to-earth,” “base,” “unsophisticated.” It’s a word we use to describe the songs of Hank Williams (instead of Hayden), mass produced beer (instead of microbrew IPAs), and Marvel comics movies (instead of Rashamon). The former in each case is not so much inferior to the latter as it is different. It’s a matter of kind, rather than degree. That’s why Iago is so dangerous: not only because he’s duplicitous but because part of his act is that he comes across as incapable of being so. No one faults Agatha Christie for not writing like Henry James; I cannot fault Marcus Luttrell for not writing like Homer.

Lone Survivor is honest in this sense of the word. It’s a well-structured portrayal of Navy SEAL training and the awful events in which that training is tested. It made me better appreciate many aspects of military life that I—an academic cupcake—am better for having learned.

I find it interesting that some reviewers fault Luttrell for two things: his "arrogance" and for editorializing at times about the American media and how the SEALs’ actions would be reported. The first charge is easily answered: the guy is a SEAL and part of that training is to understand that you are one of the best in the world; that kind of thinking, I imagine, helps these guys when they are facing seemingly impossible odds. And the ways in which he speaks of his fellow SEALs and country demonstrate great humility. (Of course, the arrogance of those who presume to tell Luttrell how to comport himself is never questioned.)

Regarding the second charge: if not he, who is qualified to talk about such matters as rules of engagement and our role in Afghanistan? The awful events in which Operation Redwing falls apart occur because the SEALSs—the toughest and most steadfast men on the planet—are concerned by how their actions might play on cable news and in American courts. These men who made it through SEAL training were, as Luttrell states, “afraid of American civilian lawyers.” His words on this subject are worth considering:

I have only one piece of advice for what it’s worth: if you don’t want to get into a war where things go wrong, where the wrong people sometimes get killed, where innocent people sometimes have to die, then stay the hell out of it in the first place. Because that’s what happens. In all wars, down all the years of history. Terrible injustices, the killing of people who did not deserve to die. That’s what war is. And if you can’t cope with it, don’t do it. (313)

This is not a policy wonk, a professor, a talking head on TV, but someone who has been there and can see through the op-ed pages. He knows that Americans often want to have it both ways: let's have a war, yes, but one in which only the members of HYDRA are killed and everyone from SHIELD ends up back at Stark Tower. In an era where anyone with a Twitter account is empowered to express his or her expertise about matters he or she understands wholly through other Twitter accounts, Lone Survivor is an important book. show less

Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of Operation Redwing, writes the story that includes the dubious distinction of the largest loss of life in Navy Seal history; Lone Survivor.

Luttrell’s story takes you into the brutal training and discipline required for the elite warriors, the Navy Seals. Interspersed with this detailed regimen is the story of four Navy SEALS in northern Afghanistan near the Pakinstan border during their mission to capture or kill an al Qaeda leader shielded by the show more Taliban. After twenty four hours, only one Seal remains alive. Luttrell writes as a tribute to his team who trained and fought with him, to the conditions of SEAL life and to the dedication and sacrifice these individuals offer.

Luttrell is opinionated, tough, dedicated and loyal. He questions the motives of left wing liberal war dissenters and their inability to understand the effect policies have on the front liners. While I strongly question the direction our foreign policy is taking our country, I clearly see Marcus Luttrell’s integrity and admire his passion and fortitude. His writing allows me to question whether we are underfunding, undermanning and undersupporting our courageous troups in their heroic and sacrificial efforts.

Luttrell survives due to a Pashtun custom of never refusing aid to one who asks. A tiny Pashtun tribe risks everything to protect and harbor this soldier who arrives four days after the fight having crawled and fallen into their village. A non-stop read, a fresh perspective on war and a window into the lives of the military serving in the Middle East show less