The war in Iraq has heightened interest in the military mindset and raised questions about whether it’s possible to be a mindful, moral fighter at a time when impersonal, technology based warfare reigns. In Search of the Warrior Spirit confronts this thorny issue with Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s trademark personal, sympathetic style. In a top-secret U.S. military experiment, the author was asked to teach Eastern awareness disciplines ranging from aikido to meditation to a group of twenty-five Green Berets. This account chronicles his experiences in the training program and his attempts to revive traditional warriorship in a technological society. In Search of the Warrior Spirit explores the nature of war, the meaning of masculinity, and the need for moral values in the military. The book includes Heckler’s response to 9/11, his experiences with the Pentagon and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and his poignant reflections on the movie Black Hawk Down, which depicts the deaths of two of his trainees. In this revised edition, the author talks movingly of his visits to Afghanistan with NATO and about the Trojan Warrior Project and Marine Warrior Project, relating the tragic events in a war zone and revelatory conversations with both ordinary soldiers and such leaders as the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe.
In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition
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"In my personal opinion, Strozzi-Heckler hits the mark in identifying one of the most troubling problems affecting today's U.S. military forces: the ascendancy of technology at the expense of moral values that underpin the true spirit of the Profession of Arms. A must read for those amongs us who really consider themselves warriors."—Michael E. Haas, Lt. Colonel, United States Air Force; Head, Air Force Special Operations“What a story this is! Strozzi-Heckler’s chronicle of the army’s daring experiment in awareness training for twenty-five Green Berets is must reading for anyone interested in the role of the warrior in a technological age. But more than that, it is an illumination of courage and vulnerability and what it means to be a man. I couldn’t put it down.”—George Leonard, author of The Silent Pulse and The Ultimate Athlete“The Marine Martial Art program grew out of the conviction that every Marine must be imbued with the values that have sustained the Corps throughout its 227-year history—honor, courage, and commitment. These warrior values are at the heart of Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s work with the Marine Corps and the other services to strengthen those who go in harm’s way in order to preserve our freedom. In Search of the Warrior Spirit reminds us of how urgent that task is.”—R.D. Hearney, General, United States Marine Corps (Ret.); former Assistant Commandant "An exciting journal of discovery...Essential reading for military leaders who want to broaden their ability to adapt to a world characterized by ambiguity. Strozzi-Heckler's original work helps readers link the important of mind-body-spirit integration to cutting edge leadership in a pragmatic and thoughtful manner."—Fred T. Krawchuk, Lt. Colonel, United States Army Special Forces
About the Author
Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, is President of Strozzi Institute, The Center for Leadership and Mastery. He has a sixth-degree black belt in aikido and a doctorate in psychology. Dr. Strozzi-Heckler has taught the principles of embodied leadership and mastery to business, government, military, non-profits, health care, and education for the last thirty years. He is the author of The Anatomy of Change and The Leadership Dojo; and the editor of Aikido and the New Warrior, Being Human at Work: Bringing Somatic Intelligence into Your Professional Life, and Holding the Center.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my favorites..,
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This review is from: In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets (Paperback)
It is true, as the other reviewer says, that the book doesn't go into the details of what was taught, but you can't beat this book as an overview of how challenging and rewarding and frustrating this type of training can be, especially when your audience is challenging of itself and of the instructors. Advice to readers: get the most recent edition of this book, which is the 4th edition. Very up-to-date. A thoughtful, reflective, self-critical, insightful book for anyone who has been a trainer, of any kind, really: corporate, managerial, martial arts, Outward Bound, etc. One of my all-round favorite books. But again, if you're looking for details of how Green Berets are trained, look elsewhere. There are many sources on line and off.
9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I was expecting.,
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This review is from: In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets (Paperback)
I bought this, thinking it would be some sort of review of what Strozzi & Co actually did with regard to training of the Green Beret teams. No such luck. This book is, largely, Strozzi's diary account of how he and the students deal with the training, and a quick review of the after-effects. There is little or no information on the actual training itself. That, for me, was highly disappointing. I wasn't really looking for Strozzi's hopes, doubts, and fears, his personal victories and failures. I was looking for information on the actual training regime itself. No such luck, except in very broad terms.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You Really Need to Read This Book!",
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This review is from: In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets (Paperback)
Much of my reading these days is influenced by friends and family members who say to me: "You really need to read this book!" Thus, I was led to a book I would not have otherwise been aware of. Richard Strozzi, a former Marine and a black belt instructor in the martial art, aikido, has chronicled his 20-year pilgrimage of helping the US Special Forces to integrate into their training the insights of Eastern thought in general and aikido in particular. He subtitle for the book is: "Teaching Awareness Disciples to the Military."
I found the book fascinating as Strozzi describes in great detail the pilot project he was asked to conduct for the Green Berets, dubbed "The Trojan Warrior Project." The concept that Strozzi and his team mates taught initially met with great skepticism all up and down the chain of command, yet twenty years later can be found as an integral part of Special Forces training in all the U.S. branches and among NATO nations. To give you a flavor of the task that Strozzi described, I will share a brief quotation. He describes the distrust and animosity that originally existed between the martial arts world and the world of the U.S. military. Strozzi quotes the reaction of one of his aikido colleagues upon learning of the author's plans to help the military: "`How could you pass these sacred teaching to Them?' Us and Them. Here was a caste system of which I hadn't been consciously aware. In my mind the soldiers were not them. Teaching the disciplines that have most positively affected me, to a population that seemed most obviously in need of them, was an obvious outgrowth of my work. Obvious to me if not to others. Although I knew I would get a reaction from being part of this project, I thought it would be entirely different from the Us/Them scenario." (Page 4) Strozzi goes on to tell the story of how both he and the soldiers his team members were training learned to adjust to one another's very different views of the world and of what it truly means to be a warrior. The edition of the book that I read brings up almost up to the present day in recording how the concepts and the project have spread beyond the initial limited "Trojan War Project" to now include influencing the training given to the navy Seals, US Marines and other allied special forces. This is a book that will be a valuable read for anyone interested in exploring what it takes to be a warrior who is fully human and self-aware. You may not agree with all that Strozzi believes and preaches, but you will have a hard time putting the book down. Al
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