Warrior Soul: The Memoir of a Navy Seal

Pfarrer, a former Navy SEAL assault element commander and now a Hollywood screenwriter (The Jackal; Navy SEALS; Darkman, etc.), looks back on his time in the special forces in this adrenaline rush of a memoir that grabs readers from the first page (in which he readies for his final--and nearly fatal--jump). Writing with the efficient clarity and brawn of one of the U.S. military's most special operators, Pfarrer describes the rigorous, nearly sadistic SEAL training that propelled him toward covert operations in the 1980s and early 1990s. He recounts his missions to various Cold War hotspots in Central America and the Middle East, where he patrolled Beirut's bombed-out streets as part of a multinational peacekeeping force during Lebanon's ravaging civil war. Pfarrer's somersaults through Navy service and personal challenges, including failed marriages and a bout with cancer, expose an introspective tug-of-war between disciplined combatant and human spectator, scruffy team leader and reluctant hero. Although chock full of military jargon (thankfully Pfarrar also includes a glossary of terms) and detailed descriptions of special operations, the story remains solidly human, highlighting this""Frogman's"" facile combination of self-control and survival smarts in the face of adversities that most readers can only imagine.