From Library Journal
Constance tells of his almost 20-year career with the Navy's UDT (Underwater Demolition Team) and SEAL programs, serving three tours in Vietnam and taking part in other covert activities around the world. In Vietnam, Constance received three Bronze Stars and captured over 200 enemy prisoners while serving with SEAL Team Two. He tells his story in page-turning style that is as engrossing as any adventure tale. His work is very similar to James Watson's Point Man (LJ 7/93), so libraries that have Watson's work could consider Constance's an optional purchase. But this similarity should not prevent purchase in libraries where adventure and military books are popular.?Terry L. Wirick, Erie Cty. P.L., Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Memoirs of a SEAL extraordinaire, who served three tours in Vietnam beginning in 1967. Constance, an able and outspoken leader, clearly relished the life of a SEAL, and he describes it with vigor and frankness, starting with the intense training and severe physical and mental testing SEAL candidates face. After boot camp, they swim for miles as frogmen while learning the delicate handling of high explosives, attend army jump school for paratroop training, study scuba and deep sea diving with the navy, and infantry and close combat tactics with the marines. Some also train with Army Special Forces units. In Vietnam the orders were to find and destroy Viet Cong units, clearing out the countryside VC platoon by platoon, village by village. SEALs usually operated in six-man night patrols and brought tremendous firepower to bear in waging fierce (but usually brief and victorious) firefights. Hours of meticulous preparation and careful intelligence work were needed before SEAL units were ready for combat. Operating in small units behind enemy lines, they often had to deal with booby traps, mosquitoes, leeches, razor- sharp reeds, mines, and poisonous snakes before they could get to enemy positions. Constance praises the loyal Vietnamese who fought with the SEALs, noting that he found them to be tough front-line soldiers. By contrast, he views the regular South Vietnamese Army as generally ineffective and corrupt. During his three tours in Vietnam, Constance served in almost 300 combat missions, was credited with capturing some 200 prisoners, and received three Bronze Star medals and a Purple Heart. Vivid war stories, well told. An unusual insider's view of the tough, winner-takes-all world of professional warriors. --
Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
