Hunters & Shooters

This work is based on the recollections of 14 men who served in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy's elite Sea-Air-Land counterguerrilla force. The SEALs built a reputation second to none among U.S. elite forces, combining small-scale raids with clandestine operations. They owed much of their success to their limited size (unlike the Army's Special Forces, the SEALs remained small enough to be highly selective). SEAL achievements ultimately reflected the quality of the personnel. Fawcett (field curator for the UDT/SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce, Fla.) and his associates, Kevin Dockery and S.N. Lewitt, allow the interviewees to speak for themselves. The usual results are matter-of-fact accounts of deeds so extraordinary that the interviews often demand a second reading to reconcile their casual tone with their remarkable contents. Hunters and Shooters is both a series of character studies in the best kind of military professionalism and a tour de force explication of modern small-unit warfare. (July)