Executive #Bookshelf : SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper - Howard E. Wasdin
Synopsis
The New York Times best selling book that takes you inside SEAL Team Six – the covert squad that killed Osama Bin Laden.
SEAL Team Six is a secret unit tasked with counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and counterinsurgency. In this dramatic, behind-the-scenes chronicle, Howard Wasdin takes readers deep inside the world of Navy SEALS and Special Forces snipers, beginning with the grueling selection process of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S)—the toughest and longest military training in the world.
After graduating, Wasdin faced new challenges. First there was combat in Operation Desert Storm as a member of SEAL Team Two. Then the Green Course: the selection process to join the legendary SEAL Team Six, with a curriculum that included practiced land warfare to unarmed combat. More than learning how to pick a lock, they learned how to blow the door off its hinges. Finally as a member of SEAL Team Six he graduated from the most storied and challenging sniper program in the country: The Marine's Scout Sniper School. Eventually, of the 18 snipers in SEAL Team Six, Wasdin became the best—which meant one of the best snipers on the planet.
Less than half a year after sniper school, he was fighting for his life. The mission: capture or kill Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. From rooftops, helicopters and alleys, Wasdin hunted Aidid and killed his men whenever possible. But everything went quickly to hell when his small band of soldiers found themselves fighting for their lives, cut off from help, and desperately trying to rescue downed comrades during a routine mission. The Battle of Mogadishu, as it become known, left 18 American soldiers dead and 73 wounded. Howard Wasdin had both of his legs nearly blown off while engaging the enemy.
His dramatic combat tales combined with inside details of becoming one of the world's deadliest snipers make this one of the most explosive military memoirs in years.
Tom’s Take:
There are always comparisons between military service and business leadership. Reading about SEAL Team Six is to see what the best of the best are made of. The stress and strain of making it through BUD/S seems like a challenge that is unimaginable. Intertwined with the descriptions of what it takes to be the best of the best is a gripping narrative of the assassination of one of history’s most nefarious leaders. Although I will never train to be a SEAL, this book shows what dedication and perseverance look like when your life is on the line.