The Teams: An Oral History of the U.S. Navy SEALs

In the early 1960s, when the Cold War seemed quite capable of morphing into a horrifying hot war with the Soviet Union, President Kennedy directed the U.S. armed services to create special units dedicated to unconventional warfare. The Navy's response was to form the SEALs, which stands for Sea, Air and Land. Performing a mission that is still partially cloaked in secrecy, the SEALs specialize in such skills as sabotage, underwater demolition, reconnaissance and other mainstays of guerrilla warfare. They have gained a reputation as a group of tough hombres bound by an unwavering code of honor. That reputation is underscored here by the personal stories of individual SEALs, related in the first person and assembled in a fine insider's tribute. One contributor speaks matter-of-factly of an oceanic endurance swim that lasted 12-1/2 hours, remarking that the episode ""proved what real distance swimming meant and what it took."" A former radioman recalls how, during Hell Week, SEAL instructors heaped abuse on trainees, who learned to preserve their strength by withholding their anger (""Anger just took up too much energy, and whatever it was that would get you mad in the first place just didn't seem important anymore,"" says one). SEAL voices also speak eloquently and absorbingly of loyalty, teamwork and humor, and of the lasting legacy each man gained from serving with this elite Navy unit--a legacy to which this book pays such engaging tribute. (Mar.)