Customer Reviews

In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition: Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets

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

 

 

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.

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.

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

The author was teaching a subject he was not sure about himself. In the end it sounds like his program had some benefits for his students, but he did not really fully explain the processes he used other than Akido. I would have liked a little more information on how they conducted the meditation or mind and body sessions. Overall I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to my friends.

Features a very intelligent and informed discussion about what it means to be a warrior. I was very impressed by the level of awareness he showed about his own short comings, as well as those of our current military mindset. If you are interested in the human potential movement, martial arts, or the military, I would highly recommend this book. It will introduce you to a world at the forefront of our current world events and provide you a glimpse of what is on the horizon.