Customer Reviews

Never Fight Fair!: Inside the Legendary U.S. Navy Seals

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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.

This book gives the fascinating history of the teams from many former Navy SEALS and UDT members. It is a great book for anyone who wants to know about the early years and missions of the SEALS.

If you're a SEALs or Special Forces fanatic like me you'll read this no matter what any review says just because you're so desperate to clue into these guys' stories. I've read just about every personal account I can get my hand on and eventually found my way to this one. It's really not very good if you're interested in Vietnam action. One whole section is devoted to stories about skydiving. One chapter is an interview with Rudy Boesch's wife about her experience skydiving? Still want to read? Because there is so little battle stories I found the chapters on SDV operation the most interesting. All in all a very mediocre book. Read this one if you're really as desperate as I am for every word you can find about these guys.

I had a personal interest in this book, for the simple fact that 2 chapters were about my uncle. It gives the reader a better view of some of the things Navy Seals had to endure. Recommended for anyone with an interest in military history.

Enjoyed the book although I have read better. Did enjoy finding out how the UDT became SEALS.

I know that with 3 stars I am being a little too harsh, but there were sections of this book that I didn't care for at all. On the other hand, the book provides an insight into the daily lifes of NAVY SEALS,and not everything they do is exciting and fun.

I thought it was a prety good book, I have read alot better but i think the reson why i gave it four stars instead of five , is because i have read so many other books on seals that i have read all the good ones and all the bad ones so i thought it was in between good and bad.