Overview
He's been shot at and attacked by man-eating sharks. He's dodged flamethrowers in Vietnam and political bombshells back home. He's been targeted for assassination and court-martial. His name is Roy Boehm, and he's the godfather of the U.S. Navy SEALS - the founder of the boldest, brightest, baddest bunch of commandos on the face of the planet. Now, for the first time, Roy Boehm tells the whole story: from the events that molded him as a warrior to the insights he acquired in combat. Mastering survival within war's deadly arena, he combined his expertise with a deep and unwavering patriotism, and ultimately changed the course of twentieth-century warfare. As the Second World War came to a close and left in its wake an even greater threat to America's freedom - the Cold WarBoehm saw that unconventional times required the creation of an unconventional warrior. Drawing on his expertise as a diver and as a member of the Navy's Underwater Demolitions Teams, he set out to invent a disciplined, dedicated, and ruthless force capable of attack from sea, air, or land. It would be a unique unit - willing to disregard fear and walk through fire - a team that would descend into hell itself to conduct dirty war: infiltration, sabotage, ambush. Boehm's team would become the legendary special operations force known as the Navy SEALs.Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Anyone who has wondered how the elite, Herculean U.S. Navy SEALs became so stalwart has only to read this autobiography of the group's founder, Boehm, writing with Sasser (The War Chaser, etc.). A grizzled hell-raiser of a Cold Warrior, Boehm was hand-picked to create a navy commando team in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. If the Boehm presented in this rollicking narrative is genuineand there is some material here that smacks of good-natured barroom bravadothen the SEALs have had much to live up to. Thrown into the drink when his ship was destroyed at sea and struggling to keep both himself and an injured comrade afloat, Boehm kept his cool as a group of sharks closed in, "[l]ooking us over as impersonally as a trout about to take a live grasshopper." When the sharks literally snatched the injured man out of Boehm's grasp, the future SEAL had the presence of mind to swim away and emerge unscathed. Similar hair-raisers abound, but the book's best portions involve Boehm's ongoing secret friendship with an enemy Vietcong commander, Minh, with whom Boehm shares a warrior spirit. A short chapter on marital strife, wherein Boehm vacuums his wife's parakeet and dismantles her budding SEAL wives' club, is positively hysterical. Unflinchingly patriotic, this memoir of a tough guy with heart will likely be spotted in the clutches of young men at navy recruiting centers. (July)Kirkus Reviews
The high-adventure story of the legendary Boehm—founder and guiding spirit of the famed SEALs, a highly decorated veteran of three wars—and his tumultuous 30-year career in the US Navy.Boehm, with journalist and former Green Beret Sasser, reviews his military memories: He entered the Navy as a teenage WW II recruit in the risky Underwater Demolition Unit; in the Battle of Cape Esperance, after his ship was sunk, he had a fight with a man- eating shark during which he lost his wounded buddy and Boehm himself made a narrow escape. Later he infiltrated Castro's Cuba on an intelligence-gathering mission. He blames JFK for losing his nerve in the Bay of Pigs disaster and calling off US air strikes, thereby exposing Cuban insurgents to death and capture. Boehm believes that the perception that America lacked the courage to resist aggression encouraged the Communists, resulting in the Berlin blockade, Communist infiltration of Latin America, and the Vietnam War. Boehm also believes that inter-service rivalry and bureaucratic inertia were the biggest obstacles to creating the new commando force he envisioned. He fought the system as hard as he fought US enemies, incurring five courts-martial (which were eventually canceled). Called into President Kennedy's office to explain his behavior, Boehm persuaded Kennedy to give him authority to create the most elite special force in the world—the SEALs. Fighting in Vietnam, the carefully selected, courageous, dedicated, adventurous SEALs outclassed the Viet Cong in merciless raids and ambushes. Boehm blames the politicians and high brass for losing the war. According to Boehm, his frank honesty and refusal to compromise where lives were at stake held back his career, and he left the Navy still a lieutenant.
Strong, exciting reading, laced with military profanity and humor.