No Easy Day

The Book in 1 Sentence

The story of service in the Navy SEALs that leads to a final mission taking down "UBL."

Brief Review

This book is well written and does a fantastic job of keeping things interesting, while also being light on the details. Having spend some of my career teaching, trying to tell partial and cleared stories as examples without touching or going near classified information is a hard tightrope to walk. To do that while keeping things intriguing is testament to the hard work he put into the writing, just like he did in his job.

Why I Read this book

I love Zero Dark Thirty and this book is the real life companion.

In-Depth Review (Favorite Quotes)

My memories of this event are mixed with pre-deployment training. I was in the middle of work ups to deploy to Afghanistan when this was announced, and I barely remember it being talked about. Part of that might have been because I was on shift when it was announced, it also could have been that I was asleep as I worked nights quite often. Either way, I do remember the video of the dude dancing when he was told and that is what sits most in my brain.

As I said, this book is fascinating. If you look at my book list, you know that I have read quite a few books by SEALs and I have a good understanding from that perspective of their training. Not to mention the couple of years I worked with some former SEALs as a contractor. This book I think does the best job of skipping the story that has been told a thousand times whether in books or movies like American Sniper, and talks to you about some of the mindset of whom these individuals are.

I am not a big fan of rewinding time in books or movies, especially when it is a biography. However, the bounce back in time to tell lessons that enabled them to be so successful on the raid. There were some important things that had multiple ripple effects that lead to some life-saving efforts at the end.

Rating

This is a short book that tells an essential story. It is very well written and easy to follow, with the technical being reduced to wave tops that allow for all to take part. It isn't groundbreaking in the story, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth a read. I am going to give this a 9.

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