Customer Reviews

Marine Force Recon in Action (Special Ops)

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If you are over the age of 10 do not buy this book. It is too much money for not enough info. At 32 pages, it costs nearly $1.00 a page. No where in the discription is it mentioned that it is aimed at grade school children. One line in the book actually says "Along with the Army, Navy, and Air Force, the Marines are part of the U.S. Military." Might be fine for a child never exposed to the military but for someone who has reached middle school, there are many other books (at a much cheaper price) than this one.

Marines are a tough bunch, there is no doubt about it, but within this branch of the service there is a very special group of men. These few, the Recon Marines, unlike the Navy Seals, are not quite as well known, but are equally elite and tough soldiers. If you are in doubt, one small fact will give you a big hint: "more than a third of all trainees drop out the first week." How about that? That should give you a very good idea of how elite these men really are. If they make it through the first week these men go on to learn how to parachute, become expert scuba divers and go on to "escape school." In all they receive two full years of training.

The most important skill these men will learn is that "Force Recon Marines must count on one another for survival." In this book you will not only learn about their training requirements and Recon School, you'll also learn a brief history of the outfit in World War II, how the teams work together today, their role in the Battle of Fallujah and you'll meet several "real' Recon Marines. For example, you'll get a chance to meet Jim Vesterman. Just when he thought he had it bad "his instructor was asking him and his team to run five miles - carrying a telephone pole!"

This book is peppered with photographs. It seemed to lack cohesiveness at times and skipped around a lot. For example, we hear about Captain Jason Schauble, supposedly the main Recon Marine the book focuses on, in the beginning and don't really see a photograph of him until the end of the book. Nonetheless, this will be a popular book with its intended audience. In the back of the book there are photographs of some of the gear Force Recon Marines use, a glossary, bibliography and two recommended books and a website where you can learn more about these Marines. Do you think you have what it takes to be a Force Recon Marine?