Lone Survivor

A pass along from a coworker who is also a Army veteran.
Lone Survivor is book written by Marcus Luttrell, with assistance from Patrick Robinson. This was published by Back Bay Books in 2007.
The book is described on the cover as "the eyewitness account of Operation Redwing and the lost heroes of Seal Team 10".
This is the self autobiographical story of Marcus Luttrell, a Navy Seal and sole survivor of a mission that started with four men.  Three of his team were killed in action against the Taliban in Afghanistan. More men were killed when a rescue team in a helicopter was shot down.
Luttrell describes in great depth his childhood, the motivating people in his life and the early decision to devote his soul and all of his effort to god and country.  The book describes in great detail the SEAL training process and how the candidate group was reduced from nearly 200 men to less than thirty.
The final mission for Luttrell, the same that left three of of his teammates dead was known to be treacherous from the onset and seemed in many ways to fulfill many of the tactical roadblocks anticipated.  Men were sent on a mission against a force that could have outnumbered them by a a factor of 50 to 1, on steep mountainous terrain absent of sufficient cover.
After heavy firefight and a retreat that could be better described as falling off a mountain, Marcus Luttrell was found a protected by a Pashtun tribe.
The soldier endured injuries that there is little doubt would have finished most, certainly me. He was buoyed by his training, faith in god and trust in family.
A clear message that come through early and consistently, is that war is difficult to execute when encumbered by the rules of politicians and bureaucrats, thrusting the ignorance of of the sheltered over the experience and need for freedom to self preserve.  There were choices made that precipitated the fight that a more ruthless election might have maintained secrecy for the team.
I enjoyed the book a great seal and found it simple to read.  This has been made into a movie with Marky Mark Wahlberg, something that will surely be on my to see list.