The Mission, The Men, and Me: Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: spike mat, cardboard cows, empty targets, United States, All Mohamed, Shahi Khot (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“His thesis is that there aren’t that many different situations in life, and there aren’t that many different ways of dealing with them —have a few, simple principles, and, when in doubt, refer to them. He’s a stoic with a sense of humor, and I very much enjoyed his book.”
—David Mamet

Product Description

Pete Blaber knows what it takes to survive…and thrive.

As a commander in Delta Force—the most elite counter-terrorist organization in the world—Pete Blaber has taken part in some of the most dangerous, controversial, and significant military and political events of our time. And he’s learned and experienced more about the real world and how things really work than most people could imagine.

Here, the ex-Delta Force warrior reveals his intimate knowledge of warfare: it’s not the action—the blinding flash of a concussion grenade, or the stealthy approach of the night- vision clad commando—but the interaction, in the form of the way we think, the way we make decisions, and the way we operationalize those decisions, that provides the keys to success, and the truly meaningful lessons.

In this book, you will learn the same lessons he learned, while experiencing what the life of a Delta Force Operator is like—from the extreme physical and psychological training to the darkest of shadow ops all around the world.

With each mission he conducted, Pete Blaber has taken a life lesson back with him. You will learn these enlightening lessons as you gain insights into never-before- revealed missions executed across the globe. And when the smoke clears, you will emerge wiser, more capable, and better prepared to succeed in life than you ever thought possible.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1 edition (December 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425223728
• ISBN-13: 978-0425223727
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,692 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #2 in	Books > History > Military > United States > Veterans
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  #4 in	Books > Nonfiction > Current Events > Terrorism

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow--Sun Tzu meets Malcolm Gladwell, December 2, 2008

By	DJ (San Diego) - See all my reviews

Finally a warrior writes about what really happened and the key life lessons we can all take away: `Always listen to the guy on the ground', `When in doubt, develop the situation', and my favorite, `It's not reality unless it's shared' are all embedded in these amazing real-world mission story's. His underlying premise is that the key to understanding the complex world around us is our ability to recognize, understand, and adapt to the underlying patterns that drive the behavior of everything around us, which I wholeheartedly agree with. But what really amazed about this book about patterns, is how many patterns there are in the book itself. Just about everything he writes about--from his childhood 'bombing cars' to his walk across the Gettysburg battlefield is linked to some other event, mission, or lesson somewhere else in the book. I read this book over the weekend, and I wrote so many notes in the margins on the patterns that I discovered, that I'm now going back through for the third time. He says things like `don't charge the machine-gun nest, go around it', and 'treat life like a movie, not a snapshot', that I have always believed in myself, but had never been able to put in words or phrases before. Pete writes about Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, and yes, Montana, with a fresh narrative that makes each mission come to life in a unique never before heard way, while also making what actually happened much easier to understand. The chapter on Gorrilla (not a spelling error) Warfare in Bosnia is magnificent, as was his short story on what we should really have learned from John Walker Lindh--why wasn't this ever covered in the press? The chapter on Ali Mohamed (the wayward terrorist) should be read by our new President, so he doesn't get burned like his predecessors did. Finally, I want to point out that the maps in this book set a whole new standard for battlefield maps. Google earth technology was used to create maps that make you feel like you are flying over the battlefield with a birds-eye view of everything going on below. This may be the best book I've ever read.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Reading for the Leader and Manager, December 5, 2008

By	Kevin P. Podlaski "Attorney" (Fort Wayne, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is fast moving and immediately draws the reader in with great anecdotes and chronicles of the enigmatic world of the "Unit", its members, and life "behind the fence" at Fort Bragg. Pete's principles about leadership and management are universal, transcendent, and are just pure commonsense. Moreover,they are eminently practical and stay with you long after you put the book down. He schools us in the Die Gestalt of leadership -- learn well.

Blaber's book should be on the "must read" list at the SOF University, Command and General Staff College and the War College. Make it essential reading for every officer basic course on the Nine Principles of War, in particular, in a study on "Mission". On second thought, the principles Blaber lays out here cover the eight remaining axioms with equal aplomb. Even Wharton's Business School and Havard's Kennedy School of Government would likewise, do well to make this book mandatory reading - it is that good!

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Way of Thinking, December 13, 2008

By	Kyle Porter (New York) - See all my reviews

What I expected was a good book about really cool missions, what I got was a great book about really cool missions and a new way of thinking about the world, which has radically altered the way I understand and think about problems and opportunities, as well as the way leaders can lead and manage organizations and other human social systems to solve those problems.
After the first two chapters I realized that I wasn't just reading some amazing never-berore-heard stories from the front lines, but I was learning life lessons that I could directly translate to my personal and professional life.
My brother and my best friend also read the book and all of us have our own personal Pete Blaber take-aways--here are mine:

1) Make and take time to think, our minds work in three elementary phases, saturate, incubate, and illuminate. It's ok to not know what to do when first exposed to something, we need to immerse ourselves in the situation, we need to 'Develop the Situation'.
2) To succeed in our personal and professional lives we must consider the impossible, the improbable, and the unlikely as a matter of course. We must Imagine! But to make sure we set ourselves up for success, we have to create an environment where our imaginative juices can flow full throttle. Humor and outrageousness are the fertile fields where the seeds of imagination are planted grown and harvested. Never again will I tell my team 'let's get serious", or 'knock off the joking'. As Pete Blaber so adeptly conveys in his chapter on Gorilla warfare, if you want to come up with truely innovative ideas, you have to laugh!

This book is outstanding, everyone should read it!