Customer Reviews

Death in the Delta: Diary of a Navy Seal

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Gary Smith tells about his five tours of duty as a Navy Seal in Vietnam through three different books: Death in the Jungle, Death in the Delta and Master Chief. All of these well written books are exceptional in that they not only tell the story of terror filled seconds during battle, but Smith also talks about the sheer boredom and mundane tasked that must be done. His stories about killing VC - VC ants that is, while waiting on ambushes are funny in otherwise near death incounters. Smith is able to talk about the inhumane acts that occur in war just as he is able to talk about the fun times. I was brought to tears while reading about the mother and baby killed during an ambush of a Junk and equally shed tears of laughter when he cooked "Venison" that barked!

Smith does an exceptional job interspersing Vietnamese words and phrases in all three books which gives the read a sense that Smith was a professional that took the time to increase his advantage by learning their language. The one criticism I can point out is that he listed too many of the overnight ambushes. It became hard to distinguish one from another after awhile. I also get the feeling that there is much more to tell about his tour with the PRU but that it might bring up too many unpleasant memories.

Finally, Smith makes a one sentence statement that Captain Gormly was one of the best COs he ever served under which speaks volumes about both warriors. A Very good set of books and I recommend these to anyone interested in getting a birds eye view of war from a Seal's perspective.

It is a very well written book that takes a good look at the SEALs in Vietnam. It is very detailed and makes you think you were really in these situations.

A very interesting book. I enjoyed it. It is for all people who like Navy SEAL's

I am an avid reader of first person accounts of the Vietnam war and this one is excellent. I read Gary's earlier book multiple times and this one didnt fail to please. He skips to his final tour in Vietnam in this book and details how he is used to train the Vietnamese soldiers for combat. Excellent book....I highly recommend it to those who truly enjoy first person accounts of the Vietnam war.

Gary Smith does an excellent job of documenting the life of a Navy Seal in the VN conflict. His book talks not only of his missions, and his off duty time, but includes descriptions of the Viet Namese people as well.