Never Fight Fair!: Inside the Legendary U.S. Navy Seals [Mass Market Paperback]

Orr Kelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1996

They go in first, they go in fast, and they do whatever's needed to get the job done. Their motto: The only easy day was yesterday. The only rule: Win. From their early days in World War II through the jungles of the Caribbean and Vietnam to the shores of Qadhafi's Libya and Iraqi-controlled Kuwait, the elite, highly disciplined military units that came to be known as SEAL teams have done the dirty work of war. Behind enemy lines, under cover of darkness, on sea, air, and land, they conduct the high-speed, high-adrenaline operations that never make headlines but always make the enemy pay -- and make victory possible.

This is the book for the real stories, straight from the SEALs themselves. The combat experiences the SEALs share -- the daring rescue missions, the underwater demolition operations, the withering kill-or-be-killed firefights -- come vividly and brutally to life as never before, in

NEVER FIGHT FAIR!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Kirkus Reviews Illuminating...contributions to naval and military history.

About the Author

Orr Kelly, a veteran Washington reporter and military correspondent, is the author of two works of fiction and nine books on military history, including Brave Men -- Dark Waters. His latest is Meeting the Fox: The Allied Invasion of Africa, from Operation Torch to Kasserine Pass to Victory in Tunisia.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671532669
• ISBN-13: 978-0671532666
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,662,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > History > Military > Naval

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SEALS displaying their vulnerabilities, February 24, 2003

By 

Rennie Petersen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Never Fight Fair!: Inside the Legendary U.S. Navy Seals (Mass Market Paperback)

This book consists almost exclusively of interviews, printed verbatim, with former (and a few still active) Navy SEALS. As such it is quite different from almost all other books with a similar subject matter.

The interviewed SEALS come across as fairly average guys except that they liked adventure, didn't require a secure home life and were willing to take risks. The degree to which these SEALS displayed being rather average surprised me. In particular I had assumed that members of elite military forces would be fairly intelligent, but the impression I got from reading these interviews was that high intelligence was definitely not a requirement.

In a way the honesty displayed by this book is refreshing. The SEALS aren't made to look like supermen or even heroes. They were men who had elected to do a particular job, received training for that job and then went out and did it. Often they were successful, but often things went wrong, sometimes with fatal results.

One third of the book covers the Vietnam War during which the SEALS were involved in a lot of real combat. But the Vietnam War has two problems relative to a modern book about the SEALS: it happened 30 years ago and the USA lost that war.

The last half of the book covers developments and experiences since the Vietnam War. This includes up-to-date information about the newest diving and parachuting and water-borne landing techniques, all of which I found quite interesting. But this part of the book includes no real combat experiences except for a few pages about Grenada (including a disastrous mission where four SEALS died parachuting from a plane that was flying too low) and the Gulf War in 1991 (a 4-page story about a group of four SEALS who saw the Iraqi army advancing on them and wisely retreated without firing a shot).

In conclusion, if you're looking for a book about how utterly fantastic the Navy SEALS are then you should steer clear of this one. If you're curious as to what kind of men enjoy jumping out of airplanes at 37000 feet and getting their eyeballs frozen, and prefer honest accounts that include disastrous missions where men died and objectives were not met, then this is a good source.

Rennie Petersen

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I've read a lot better., January 23, 2000

By 

Ryan Jones (Cos Cob, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Never Fight Fair!: Inside the Legendary U.S. Navy Seals (Mass Market Paperback)

I am a special forces enthusiast and I admit that i have read almost every book out there on the subject. Never fight fair is essentially a compilation of old war stories that often sound unbelievable and straight out of movies. If you like to hear old "core lore" and enjoy the simple-minded, entertaining novel then read this but if you are a military enthusiast like myself then try to steer clear of this one.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good history, March 22, 2002

By 

Mike "Squirrel Nutkin" (Fairfax, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Never Fight Fair!: Inside the Legendary U.S. Navy Seals (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read quite a few books on the SEALs, I liked this oral history of the US Navy SEAL action in Vietnam. It is hard to go wrong when you just let the subject tell their story and put those words on paper. The stories are colorful as well as insightful to the riverine operations the SEALs took part in throught the Vietnam war. Not only are stories told, but a look at weapons, uniforms and other areas of the operations are looked at as well. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the SEALs.