Customer Reviews

Rogue Warrior

5 star:		(143)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

UPDATE ALERT: The reviews on this page are being used for more than one book. Most of the reviews are from the Marcinko Autobiography, and for some reason thay have been added to other books by the author. As you read these, don't blame the reviewers if you are reading about the wrong book. On to my own review...
For sheer adventure and excitement, this is hard to beat. The autobiographical account of one of the original creators of the deadly Seal Team covert operations squads. Richard was a former frogman and UDT member. He was also a wild, drinking, swearing, fighting guy whose outrageous courage and antics led him from a man with little education, to a top official in the US Navy Seals. On the way he broke the rules, rankled officers, and pushed for the best treatment and gear he could get for his men. By necessity these man lived hard and fought hard.

In the end of his career he claims the navy went after him on a personal agenda to drive him out on drummed up criminal charges, jealous officers and so forth. It may be true, and it may also be that the exact skills and temperament that made him so effective against the enemy were a detriment when dealing with the whitewashed pencil pushers at the pentagon. It is tough to be a stone cold killer in peacetime and just turn that aggression on and off.

To hear another persons opinion on what happened to Marcinko, read "Brave Men Dark Waters" also sold at Amazon.com. It's author, Orr Kelly, says he was in the Seals with Marcinko and as part of his own book tells his version of Marcinko as an out of control egotist, a real rogue warrior. Read these and other books, and you be the judge. Regardless, I could not put this book from Marcinko down, very exciting.

I actually read this book in 1996, so it has been a while. I can tell you that it influenced me to enter the military to find a life that most people never experience. After being in the service I can tell you that the language in this book is par for the course, it is the nature of being in an environment where quick responses are valued and the majority of your training really does f*$!ing suck. So if you are scared or offended by the language then just suck it up and try to deal with it. If it is too much then put the book down and be glad you never joined the service, it may have been too "rude" of an environment for you. There are alot of important lessons to be learned if you pay attention to why the training is set up the way it is and why you lead from the front. While Marcinko is arrogant you have to love the man's style. From the outside I can easily see how he could irritate the people not directly under his command. On the other hand there are very few things in the military as valuable as a leader who is willing to put you through the most realistic training possible and do it with you. There is no doubt whatsoever that Marcinko leads from the front! The more people we have like him the better.

CDR Marcinko bears all in his first book of a widely successful series. As the first Commanding Officer of the highly secretive Seal Team 6, his adventures took him across the globe. The reader is included in the story in the clever style of writing that Marcinko delivers. He "talks" to you, as though he were standing right beside you. But Marcinko is not Rambo. He is not invincible, nor does he think he is. His adventures leave him (and his team) battered and bruised. In an embarrasingly blatant story about himself, he leaves out the hype and glory, and instead finds himself slammed, smacked, dropped, whacked, dinged, scraped, and coming back for more. He tells how his missions consistently go FUBAR, and how the everpresent Command Master Chief Murphy (of Murphy's Law fame) is along for the ride to ensure all his plans are ruined. His "shocking" language is just what you'd expect from a mustang sailor. This book is not a Hollywood creation... it's not even a movie (yet). If you want to hear it from someone who was there, this is it. This book is a ride.

I read Rogue Warrior when it first came out in 92, right after Marcinko was on 60 minutes. I have also read Colonel Charlie Beckwith's "Delta Force." For those who do not know, Beckwith was the creator of the army DELTA FORCE as well as the JSOC. I found that many of the bureaucratic problems that confronted Marcinko and SEAL TEAM 6 were the same problems faced by Beckwith when he was building DELTA. I found this fascinating. Specifically, Marcinko explains the resistence from the conventional Navy when it came to the streamlined, British SAS type chain of command that SEAL Team 6 fit into. The regular Navy and even the regular SEAL community greatly disliked the new, "clean and direct" JSOC chain of command which was formed for all U.S. counterterrorist units after the failure of Desert One. Colonel Beckwith had similar resistance from the conventional army and even the Green Berets when he was trying to establish DELTA's "SAS" type chain of command in the late seventies. Marcinko tries to hammer the point home that if their is only one thing to know about a "true" special ops unit, it is that the chain of command needs to be "clean and direct." No in between bureaucracy. Just straight lines and clear communication between the SEAL unit and the High Command of the US armed forces. If one pays attention to both books, the similarities of problems encountered are nearly identical. I found Rogue Warrior not only fascinating as an adventure type story, but educational. Marcinko tries to educate the reader about the basic tenants of modern day special ops,ie. the right type of chain of command, proper selection of personnel, the importance of self-contained units that dont have to rely on outside assets for support, etc. Full of specific detail yet has a great story and plot. Another GREAT book about special operations is Gayle River's "The Five Fingers." About an SAS assasination team in Vietnam. Similar to Team 6 missions?

I have actually read all of Capt. Marcinko's books to date; however, this book is the best by far because its his true-life adventures in the World Of SPEC War. Growing up not too far from where Capt. Marcinko was born, I became fascinated with his story. To read of his adventures and his antics and to see what was done to him in return is unbelievable. What makes it scary is that it is true. I'm not going to go into the scemantics of the writing style or break down the entire book for you, but what I am going to do is tell you the truth... Yes, this book may be hard for some of you to read. Yes, he may be an egocentric adrenaline junky, but first and foremost, he is a soldier, who has served his country and fought for the freedom we all take for granted. In the times in which we live, we need a true hero like Dick Marcinko to make us proud to be Americans, because we have so few hero's to look up to now. If you don't like his abrasive philosophising and his "take the world by the balls" attitude then all I have to say is "Doom on You". Dick Macinko is a true hero and a present day warrior and its men like him who have served our country in times of need, and who have fought and given up their lives for our country, that makes me proud to be an American.

I read this book not long after Marckinko's interview with 60 Minutes. At the time, I was very impressed with Marcinko's testosterone filled prose. However, as time went by I began to see Marcinko more as sort of a loud mouth alcoholic than as a guy to be taken seriously. Marcinko definitely went "rogue" after his SEAL Team Six command was up and he created Red cell.

Personally, I believe Marcinko would have gone much further in the Navy chain of command had he stopped drinking. Had the guy had the sense to cut the boozing out, he probably would have made Admiral. I seriously doubt he would have ended up in prison had he cut out the booze. Its obvious the guy lives for booze and is a hardcore alcoholic. Because of his boozing, I dont see Marcinko as someone to look up to, like say I would look up to Colonel Charlie Beckwith or Dick Meadows.

As for the book itself, its basically a more flamboyant, testosterone filled version of Charlie Beckwith's "Delta Force." Marckinko describes basically the same exact problems in establishing SEAL Team Six that Beckwith encountered in establishing Delta Force. Principle among these problems were intense disagreements over the SEAL Team Six chain of command. Marcinko describes how he was oftentimes more at war with the conventional Navy bureaucracy and the established SEAL community of the early eighties era than with international terrorists.

Marckinko describes how conventional SEAL officers of the early eighties era fought vigorously to keep SEAL Team Six in the east coast SEAL chain of command. Basically keeping it regular Navy and having total Navy control. Whereas Marcinko wanted Team Six in the brand new, "high speed" JSOC chain of command that Delta Force was part of. Marcinko wanted Team Six as part of the JSOC, whereas the east coast SEAL Headquarters and conventional Navy resisted this severely. It was only thru repeated bypassing of the normal chain of command that Marcinko got his way. And he obviously made a ton of enemies within the regular Navy and even the conventional SEAL community doing this.

Marcinko was an independent officer who did his own thing, rather than bowing down to the conventional Navy and the conventional SEAL officers of the late seventies and early eighties. Again, many of his problems are exactly what Charlie Beckwith describes in his own book "Delta Force," written in the early eighties.

In addition, some of the things Marcinko mentions in his book are pure bull. Such as his claim that his men had to be able to bench press 500 lbs to climb special ladders to clandestinely board ships underway. Being able to bench press 500 lbs has little to nothing to do with being able to climb ladders or ropes. In fact, the muscle groups used in these activities are totally different. Again, much of this book is testosterone filled bull, from someone who is obviously a megalomaniac.

Despite this, its still a good read and Id recommend it to anyone interested in SEALs or SOF. One thing I admired about Marcinko was his total lack of respect for bureaucracy and conventional thinking.

Its my personal opinion that had he stopped drinking in the late seventies or early eighties, Marcinko probably would have made Admiral and might have ended up commanding the SEAL community when USSOCOM was formed. Or he might have been able to have become the second or third in command officer at JSOC. Instead, he ended up going to federal prison.

After reading this book and Marcinko's other books the basic message Ive gotten is threefold and simple. First, you cant have a real SOF unit without a clean, direct, bureaucracy free SAS type chain of command. Secondly, in the real world the SEALs take a backseat to Delta. And thirdly, booze destroys good men.

This book is a realistic and exciting look into the Navy SEALS and the life of an exceptional warrior. However, Marcinko has such a large ego that the narrative is laughable and juvenile. A much more intelligent but equally exciting treatment into the specops world is "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden.

I've read virtually every SPECWAR/Special Forces book there is. This book is my BIBLE. It was the main reason I gave up a lucrative businees career just for the chance to sneak and peak with the best. What Cdr. Marcinko wrote about the Navy still applies today. (What does it take to learn? Panama? Grenada? Khobar? There's a reason his groups were disbanded.) Some may disagree with the Commander's ego and say he is a criminal, but if you haven't been on the grinder then you can't judge. Live the Ten Commandments of SPECWAR and the Leadership Code (they are attached right now to my monitor, just as they were above my rack.) My only regret is I wasn't young enough to serve with this man, but the men he trained made me respect him (physically and mentally) even more. Cdr. Marcinko spells it all out for you in his books, what you do with it is your true test of character.

Excellent! I loved every page of this book. I am a Navy Veteran, so I appreciated a lot of the technical terminology and "lingo". I believe 85% of what Marcinko claims to be truth, but would never say that to his face (I actually met him in San Diego while I was still on active duty, and he signed my book and had a beer with me) Great job giving a grunts eye view of Vietnam and the origin of Navy special warfare.

For those looking for info or accounts of escapades and adventures a la The Unit, look no further. Richard Marcinko lived the life, lead the life, and ultimately had to deal with that life. From it all he is able to capture an image and accurately convey this to us, and to it is a style all his own.

Right from the first page you are drawn into Marcinko's life and you want to cheer for him. He is fighting for our country and protecting us. Of course there is the gruesome side of the necessity of killing, of the almost joy of killing that underlies Marcinko's writing, not only within himself but within his fellow Seals as well. Alas, to those not in the field this may be hard to understand, but putting yourself in their shoes with enemies all around you, the only course of action is to shoot to kill, and who better to have do this than those that live on that thrill? Gruesome? Yes. Necessary? Yes, in real life and in Marcinko's writing of his life.

We follow him from when he was a Frogman to joining the Seals and going to Vietnam. His personality is very strong and this flared to life in Vietnam and ultimately started his move up the ranks. Then there is the creation of Seal Team Six, which to the laymen is only fathomable on the television, so to hear Marcinko describe what he and his men were up to was absolutely fascinating. Further on his deployment to test the nation's most "secure" facilities... This was a hoot and I loved reading about this. Granted, I don't want to see that our tax paid facilities are as vulnerable as they were, but I would rather have our experts discover these flaws than some other bad guy.

All in all, a great read. We are able to see Marcinko's life with a flare of writing to accurately convey his personality. I would recommend this to anyone.

5 stars.