The Warrior's Heart

 After a brief discussion with the school librarian, I was directed to the new books in the library and I ran across The Warrior's Heart by Eric Greitens.  I recently read "I Am A Seal Team Six Warrior" and I was curious about how consistent the experiences are among Navy Seals.  Greitens makes quite the point to avoid falling into the "just-another-soldier" book category.  Instead, he approaches the story from the humanitarian aspect and he focuses first and foremost on the reasons he ended up pursuing the Navy Seals.

Greitens starts each new segment of his book with "what-if?" scenarios that then lead into the period of life that inspired each "what-if?" scenario. The book functions as part autobiography and part self-help/inspirational guide.  Because of this if feels a little awkward and preachy at times, but the preachiness is dismissible because of his experiences and sheer talent.  If I'm were to take advice, I'd take advice from a Oxford Scholar and a Navy Seal.  There are worse examples out there.

Greitens's story includes his part-time jobs in his neighborhood, his involvement in academics and athletics and then he quickly gets into talking about his humanitarian work and research in Croatia, Rwanda and Bolivia during his college years at Duke.  He tells of the mental scars on the children and the adults who try to help them.  They are war-torn and vulnerable.  He also sees how little the UN really does and is able to do-- by witnessing the aftermath of massacres. While at Duke, Greitens also takes up boxing and ends up receiving an assistantship in London as an Oxford Scholar.

As Greitens term at Oxford comes to an end, he debates his potential paths-- all which seem to include lots of paperwork and deskwork. Instead, he somehow gets approached about joining the military and becoming a Navy Seal-- assuming he'd pass the necessary tasks to become a Seal. He does and he tells of his strategies to master the long underwater swim and the "grinder" during Hell Week.

Overall, I appreciated his low-key, low-testosterone, level-headed approach for joining the military & pursuing his dream with the hopes of inspiring others.