The Red Circle: My Life in the Navy SEAL Sniper Corps and How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B008I4VOH8 | Format: PDF
The Red Circle: My Life in the Navy SEAL Sniper Corps and How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen Description
Before he could forge a band of elite warriors ... he had to become one himself.
Brandon Webb's experiences in the world's most elite sniper corps are the stuff of legend. From his grueling years of training in Naval Special Operations to his combat tours in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan, The Red Circle provides a rare and riveting look at the inner workings of the U.S. military through the eyes of a covert operations specialist.
Yet it is Webb's distinguished second career as a lead instructor for the shadowy "sniper cell" and Course Manager of the Navy SEAL Sniper Program that trained some of America's finest and deadliest warriors - including Marcus Luttrell and Chris Kyle - that makes his story so compelling. Luttrell credits Webb's training with his own survival during the ill-fated 2005 Operation Redwing in Afghanistan.
Kyle went on to become the U.S. military's top marksman, with more than 150 confirmed kills.
From a candid chronicle of his student days, going through the sniper course himself, to his hair-raising close calls with Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the northern Afghanistan wilderness, to his vivid account of designing new sniper standards and training some of the most accomplished snipers of the 21st century, Webb provides a rare look at the making of the Special Operations warriors who are at the forefront of today's military.
Explosive, revealing, and intelligent, The Red Circle provides a uniquely personal glimpse into one of the most challenging and secretive military training courses in the world.
A portion of proceeds from this book will go towards The Red Circle Charitable Foundation, which helps families of fallen Special Operations Warriors.
About the authors:
Brandon Webb is a former U.S. Navy SEAL; his last assignment with the SEALs was Course Manager for the elite SEAL Sniper Course, where he was instrumental in developing new curricula that trai...
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 12 hours and 40 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Tao Productions, LLC
- Audible.com Release Date: July 5, 2012
- Language: English
- ASIN: B008I4VOH8
To me a memoir is successful if the reader closes the book with the feeling that they have insight into the character and nature of the person righting the book. Too often memoirs are elaborate self justifications written by people with something to prove to others. The Red Circle delivers on the first count and surprisingly makes no attempt to justify anything to anyone. Brandon Webb makes no bones about who he is and how he got there and in being so brutally honest in the telling of that story, Webb pays a real compliment to his audience. The challenge in telling a story about Navy SEALs and Special Operations is that so much of it is secret that most writers are left with stories that are thin on operational details, leaving the reader no better informed than if he just read a newspaper account. Webb manages this task by writing as a witness to the operations in question and rather than dwell on the minute details brings the reader into the bigger picture of the operation. His account of tunnel ratting in Afghanistan is riveting to read. The way political considerations back home can effect the mission of what amounts to a mixed platoon of SEALs and Marines on a simple rec mission in the field is angering and amazing to read at the same time. Webb is at his best when he describes the smells, sounds and emotions of close quarters battle in the War on Terror.
In The Red Circle the reader is not going to be sold a rah-rah tribute full of glowing praise for the mythic status of the Navy SEALs and other SpecOps types. Webb doesn't pull a single punch, if he's going to say that a particular SEAL is a turd and can't pull his weight he going to call him out by name. Harsh as it may seem, it serves to humanize these people.
Book Content: 4*
Kindle Edition Format 2*
Hence the 3* rating.
PLEASE READ WHOLE REVIEW BEFORE LEAVING FEEDBACK
This was one of those books where less than 15% in (Kindle Version) I was getting a bit tired of some very obvious `story telling'. I do not doubt that everything in this book is based on fact but at times some simple things are laid on a bit thick. Before I go further its worth noting that Brandon mentions right at the end that he narrated events to his co-author in the shape of scattered notes, napkins and long phone conversations. Example: The whole start of the book of Brandon's childhood seems to have been written by someone completely different from the actual SEAL accounts of the book. At one point there is stories of Brandons exploits working on a dive boat and the author makes claims to justify events.
There are quite a few flawed dive stories but as an example; At one point a group of divers (he mentions they are beginners doing an advanced deep dive) do their first guided dive of the morning. When they come up one girl is missing...problem is no one can go back down because (according to the author) after their long dive no-one could dive for at least 12 hours due to the required surface interval. Anyone who has done any form of Open Water course can quickly tell you this is absolute nonsense. If you had ignored the recreational dive table where the maximum recreational depth on air is 40 meters (pick one, they are all based on navy tables!) you couldn't get to a 12 hour surface interval unless you screwed up so bad that you had to stay out of the water as a precaution to avoid DCS (which wasn't the case here as it was a `normal' dive). Anyway...
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