First Seal

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 genuine--and there is some material here that smacks of good-natured barroom bravado--then 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)