By Matthew Bitz
In the last few years, a certain group of military elite has been getting a lot of attention. They are the U.S. Navy SEALs, this nations most highly trained Special Forces unit, and the best counter terrorism force that to public knowledge exists today. They are the best of the best.
Richard Marcinko is probably the most influential and most recognized of these elite warriors. He joined the Navy in the mid-sixties to get away from a life that was going nowhere and ended up going where many young men his age did in the sixties. Vietnam. As part of what would become the most efficient and lethal fighting force in the world, the United States Navy SEALs.
Unlike most of the US forces in Vietnam, the Teams did not have their hands tied by restrictive rules of engagement and operated with great success against the Vietcong forces wherever they found them. Marcinko however was probably the best. He and his men captured stacks of documents and stockpiles of weapons and food, and actively engaged the VC on their own turf. In short, they were a major success. But along the way Marcinko stepped on toes, lots of them in his quest to protect his men from the system that was just as great a threat to their welfare as the VC themselves.
After the war, however, is when it gets interesting. You see, even among the most elite are those who demand that the bar be raised. Marcinkco was one of these, and he went on to form the best of the Best, SEAL Team Six, and a little known group of antiterrorists known as Red Cell. This is where it begins to get really interesting.
Written entirely by Marcinko himself, Rogue Warrior is the first hand account of his thirty plus years in the US Navy and in the teams. And it is nothing less than great. If you like Tom Clancy, you'll like Rick Marcinko. To be fair, I'll say that he was a sailor, so like Clancy, there is some language not suitable for young readers. But behind that is a fascinating story of a warrior who was not afraid to challenge the system to protect his men and the security of the United States.
