Cross Charles Bukowski with Popeye the Sailor and you're still nowhere close to the colorful character of this brilliant scallywag. This is one of the greatest books you'll ever read. Period. It hits on so many levels - action, humor, history, drama, bitterness, and ends on a soaring, rebellious "I'll be back" survivor's note (Marcinko wrote the book from prison, more on that later). His writing style is infectious and you'll laugh at many points (how many guys signed up to do covert ops in Vietnam to get away from their wives?). You will not find tons of battle stories here because Marcinko is almost clinically careful in combat. He regards Purple Hearts as "Enemy Marksmanship Awards" and is proud to have never gotten one (how refreshing is this to read after months of John Kerry?). His philosophy of "hit the enemy where they least expect it, when they least expect it" is a SEAL maxim today. Therefore, what little combat there is in the book consists mostly of ambushes - find a Vietcong encampment whose inhabitants are out on patrol, quietly take position and wait until they return and set their guns down to relax, then unload with everything you've got and kill them as quickly as possible. You WANT to be in a squad led by a guy who disdains the obsession with martial arts and knives that was in vogue during Vietnam, preferring instead to never be caught without a gun. Marcinko is the ultimate realist.Like Beckwith's Inside Delta Force, Marcinko's book mainly comes from the perspective of a commander and unit-creator, so you're in the cloakrooms of the Pentagon often. Where Marcinko's book differs markedly though is when he begins to upset his superiors and vice versa. Beckwith might grumble to himself, but Marcinko goes for the throat. His irreverence is refreshing and his disdain with the career apparatchiks wearing the uniform is in keeping with other great SpecOps bios, but nowhere is that impatience exhibited with more vengeance than here. This is a man who had zero patience for BS. It upsets him.Favorite moments: The cobra feast, using condoms to wrap explosives in `Nam, SEALs breaking into a morgue to steal the corpse of a former teammate, the infamous black box...let me go into that one, it has relevance in this day and age of the war on terror: During our involvement in Lebanon Marcinko was tasked with finding security weaknesses at the American Embassy. He found several but one in particular bothered him most - the ease with which a truck bomb could drive right up to the front door and detonate, leveling the place. Knowing that most truck bombs come with a backup radio detonator in the event the driver got cold feet at the moment of truth, Marcinko's team made specs for a "black box" that could transmit a spectrum of radio frequencies simultaneously. Some whiz kids at the Navy built it but now Marcinko had to test it. Disguised as journalists, Marcinko and his team drove to the area in Beirut where the PLO was headquartered under the pretense of covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The area was well-known as a bomb-makers's hideout so if they were lucky they might pass one with a radio detonator; so they cruised around with the black box in the car, silently broadcasting radio signals until BOOOOMMMM!!!!!! A tremendous explosion destroyed the side of a building two blocks away. It worked. When they advised the American Ambassador to install it on the roof of the embassy, to Marcinko's incredulousness he declined, citing that if it set off a truck bomb down the street that might kill innocent Lebanese civilians. Sure enough, the embassy was leveled by a truck bomb weeks later, killing scores of Americans. A similar bombing destroyed the UN Headquarters in Baghdad after the UN predictably turned down an American security team.Marcinko's best chapters deal with his devilishly fun creation, Red Cell, the unit tasked with doing mock kidnappings and raids of Navy bases to find their weaknesses. These takedowns are hilariously chronicled and you get the sense that he was having more fun than he had ever had. What better job for a maverick who despises opportunistic, pedantic commanders than waging mock war on them! As quickly as he ascended though he was brought down via criminal charges from the Navy. The details are sketchy, but Marcinko was apparently involved in the production of a mini-hand grenade meant to take out a single terrorist in a crowded area with minimal collateral damage. Some people made some money on the side, probably illegally, and Marcinko was brought up on charges. His take is that it was politically motivated payback for years of thumbing his nose at the system. It could be a bit of both. Either way, he went to jail, got into terrific shape (he writes he could bench press 300 lbs in jail), and wrote this terrific book to pay his legal bills, and we got "Rogue Warrior" out of the whole affair. Its sense of humor is unmatched. It is sweeping in scope: From the sands of UDT training to Cambodia, to the Middle East, to the halls of the Pentagon, to kidnapping admirals and taking down bases, to reading letters from friends in a jail cell. It's a remarkable book from a survivor's survivor and you'll re-read it again and again.
In his own words, the tale of Marcinko's rise from enlisted Navy UDT to founder and Commander of Seal Team Six is extremely through and engaging. The book is written extremely well, and his first person perspective narration is excellent in bringing to life his stories.His experience as a SEAL in Vietnam might be referred to today as 'war crimes', but he doesn't pretend he was seeking moral high ground during the war, but that his only priority was keeping his men alive regardless of what rules he broke to ensure that. It's a noble and positive motivation that could be used to excuse shooting unarmed VC, but I imagine other, less professional individuals did the same because they could, not because they needed to. Slippery slope and all that. It's a bit staggering to read, mostly because Marcinko was one of the few to realize that the SEALs had to fight the VC like the VC to win, a mentality that modern pundits would call bloodthirsty and violent. Back then however, it made him and his team feared throughout Vietnam by the VC, even to the point of their offering an enormous reward for his head specifically.Once Marcinko leaves Vietnam and becomes immersed in the Navy's administrative machine the book hit its high mark for me. As a high school dropout who earned his GED and went on to a B.A with the Navy's help he achieved a commission, but began the start of angering the political apparatus of Academy graduated officers that would lead to the 100 man years and $60 million dollars of the Navy's money to crucify him for overcharging on a shipment of grenades, allegedly. Only by the grace of certain impressed Admirals was he protected for 15 years, but once they were gone, he was nailed to the wall. The descriptions of the Navy officers as essentially aristocracy to the enlisted grunts, and the ensuing friction between Academy Grads and all other officers is staggering. Marcinko paints a picture of a Armed services that is commanded by mostly political hungry bureaucrats, eager to nominate each other for medals and climb to higher ranks over the backs of the more deserving. Personally for me the most important part, above all, is that Marcinko fully admits his serious flaws as a person. He was a horrible husband to his wife, his children grew up mostly without him, and he always put his men and the Navy above his family. He refused to toe the line and play the political game to make changes, and would aggressively challenge higher ranked officers when they gave him trouble. By the end of the book, which he wrote while he was serving his prison sentence, he reflects on his attitudes and treatment of those 'pus-nuts' and comments that he overstepped his bounds far to often and was protected by certain superiors to whom he'll always be grateful.Great read, probably offensive to anyone of delicate sensibilities, but a must for anyone wanting to get a much better understanding of the military SpecWar operations.
What do You think about Rogue Warrior (1997)?
Only up to page 109, seldom read non fiction while this is not a "can't put down" category it still intrigues me enough to keep reading it. Can't find the other book (Fiction)I am reading so will stick to this one until I do.OK, I finished and now want to get others in the series, It started slow then got interesting, then slowed down again and picked up the last 100 pages. I don't know how much is true but if it is predominantly true I know he really pissed of a lot of superior officers who would love to wring his neck. I will search out other Rogue Warrior books by Marcinko.
—Bob4you
An entertaining account by a former commander of SEAL Team 2 and first commander of SEAL Team 6 (officially called DEVGRU). Even if you don't believe all of Marcinko's tales, his life as a sailor still provides an interesting perspective of the Vietnam War, Iran Hostage Crisis, and life as a SEAL from that perspective as well as anyone who likes to hear about someone sticking it to the man. Sadly, the man sticks it to him in the end as this is written from a jail cell and ends up being somewhat of a cautionary tale against those who would accomplish the mission by any means necessary. As a former active duty Marine, I have a real respect for Marcinko and others who are hardcore enough to spend their whole military careers in unconventional warfare/counter terrorism units and am able to forgive the salty language and ego of this braggadocio as there's no doubt he's really "been there".
—Greg
interesting perspective. Appreciated the bluntness on the topics. some memorable quotes..."There has never been any war movie or book that adequately described the overwhelming sensations that run through your mind, or the effects on your body, when you walk the point in a combat situation.""My black pajamas were sopping wet with his blood. My hands were sticky. I could feel skull fragments on my fingertips. "You stupid dumb fuck" is all I could say as he lay dying in my lap.""Leadership is learning how to make a decision, and then sticking by it even though you heckled, nagged, pleaded with, and cajoled to change your mind.""I preached unit integrity endlessly. We'd bust up bars in the Virginia Beach area, and when we'd finished taking on all comers, we'd set about demolishing each other."
—Zachary
