Eric Blehm

One of the moments that sticks with me, from 1CFearless, 1D Eric Blehm 19s biography of late Navy SEAL Adam Brown, is the scene after an early morning firefight in which Brown and his team had killed several terrorists. One of Brown 19s colleagues noticed that something was troubling Brown and asked what it was. Brown replied that it was just that it was Easter Sunday, and he had just sent men to meet their maker.
The other SEAL wondered how Adam could do what they did and still believe in God. To which Adam responded with a question of his own: How can you do what we do and not believe?

Recently I saw an episode of the new TV series 1CBlindspot 1D in which a character asserted that the SEALS deliberately recruit people who are amoral. After reading this book, I doubt that. Adam Brown was what is called a born-again Christian among many other things. He was also a recovering addict, a man deeply ashamed of how he had treated his family while addicted, and someone who spent his last years of life making up for that by fighting for his country. His example inspired people he knew to become better children of God, better daughters and sons to their earthly parents, better wives and husbands, and parents. Adam died in March of 2010 while on a mission behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. It was his team, the following year, that killed Usama bin Laden. It was several of his teammates, also, who subsequently lost their lives when their helicopter was shot down.

There is equally the presence of life as well as death in this book. Adam Brown lived life to the fullest almost as if he knew he knew his life would end in his mid-thirties, but more likely because he knew that, for him, a life without taking chances would not be worth living. One of his friends said that Adam could be tough on battlefield and then be equally compassionate off it. One of his self-started projects was getting people to buy and send him children 19s shoes which he delivered to the children near his base in Afghanistan. When I read this, at first I thought, well, if he had people sending random shoe sizes, he must have ended up with shoes that did not fit anyone. Then I read that Adam kept a notebook with each child 19s shoe size in it. I picture him sitting each child down and taking out a tape measure and applying it to each little foot. (I don 19t know if you can stand reading about so much amorality.)
Blehm, who has written about American servicemen before, recounts Adams entire career from childhood, through his addiction, to his family 19s disappointments with him, to his redemption, and through his years of training. (His parents and his wife and children come across as heroes in their own rights in this book.) The insight in this book into the rigorous training received by SEALs will interest those who are fascinated by the process of turning men into special warriors who are always prepared for the worst case scenario, or, as one of Blehm 19s informants tells him, a situation that a team of SEALs would describe as very bad is what most people would describe as a catastrophe. SEALs have the confidence to deal it because if there is a way out, they have the skill and ability to pursue it.

SEAL Team SIX, to which Adam Brown belonged, has until recently been top secret, its very existence denied officially. It is interesting to learn that the groups cover is that they test new weapons. In fact, they do test weapons, but they also go on special operations.

Adam Brown faced unusual problems that were all the more remarkable because he overcame them. Far from recruiting criminals, the SEALs were reluctant to accept Adam because of his record, but Adam did happen to have a childhood friend whose father was a Navy officer. His recommendation was enough to get Adam in, but Adam was on his own after that, in a service that requires recruits to prove that they physically and mentally capable of withstanding and even thriving under the most extreme challenges. Adam always tried harder than anyone else and wound up having they worst luck. During one training accident, he lost an eye, which might have ended his career, but he pushed on. It is believed that he is the only man to have graduated from sniper school despite his having the full use of only one eye. SEAL Team SIX, it turns out, has its own advanced training beyond what other SEALs are put through, and he passed despite having one eye and a permanently damaged hand.

Many people, after reading this book, have written to the author or Adam 19s family to tell them what inspiration his life has given them. I cannot enthuse the way so many of them do. This is a very good book, but it is not a great one. (I would, however, be glad to do as well as Mr. Blehm has done.) Indeed, we all muddle through parts of our lives that we think of as hopeless and irremediable; whereas Adam Brown 19s example proves that if he can do it, so can any of the rest of us if we follow what Blehm says was his motto: Failure is acceptable, but failure to try is not.… (altro)