The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander

I've read many books on military affairs but this was only moderately informative. It seemed to be more of a book to sell while Blaber gave motivational speeches. Not a bad effort as far as that goes, but not worth my time. Many military people (officers) do the managerial leadership route after their service has ended and good for them to share their recollections. This book goes over his lead up to Operation Anaconda (battle of Tora Bora) which went down as an overall mishap. I can honestly say that some the greatest books I've ever read were military memoirs but this book was overly cautious and didn't reveal any crystalline insights which I have come to expect from works by US military veterans. I wouldn't recommend this.

I don't think I have ever read a first-person account of battles, or even a military history, that doesn't leave me thinking (like the author, inevitably) "What in the world were these people thinking!" Here, according to Delta operator Blaber, the Plan, generated by leaders far away from the battlefield and relying on technology instead of boots on the ground, takes precedence over on-site intelligence, with the inevitable result of lives and opportunities lost. An interesting, if entirely predicable account, of lessons learned in battle by someone, you sense, who hopes to at least make some money on the lecture circuit teaching corporate executives what the generals should have known.

This book may be better than I give it credit for, show more but the author sort of lost me when he spent a whole chapter talking about a 100 mile hike he as his companions did in the Bob Marshall Wilderness to prepare for life in Afghanistan. The "Bob," as everyone knows, is full of grizzly bears. But they carried heavy caliber revolvers and bullets with "full metal jackets." Hell, I did this hike in Glacier National Park, only a few miles north of the Bob, in the Spring, as they did, by my lonesome when I was just 18 years old. The only thing I carried "for protection" was a lousy singing voice to make noise with. Foolish? Yes. Dangerous? You bet. A Real Big Deal? Not so much. Delta Force operators don't scare me as much as they used to. show less

Written at about a 7th grade level by an extreme braggart.