Master Chief: Diary of a Navy Seal

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Gary Smith tells about his five tours of duty as a Navy Seal in Vietnam through three different books: Death in the Jungle, Death in the Delta and Master Chief. All of these well written books are exceptional in that they not only tell the story of terror filled seconds during battle, but Smith also talks about the sheer boredom and mundane tasked that must be done. His stories about killing VC - VC ants that is, while waiting on ambushes are funny in otherwise near death incounters. Smith is able to talk about the inhumane acts that occur in war just as he is able to talk about the fun times. I was brought to tears while reading about the mother and baby killed during an ambush of a Junk and equally shed tears of laughter when he cooked "Venison" that barked!

Smith does an exceptional job interspersing Vietnamese words and phrases in all three books which gives the read a sense that Smith was a professional that took the time to increase his advantage by learning their language. The one criticism I can point out is that he listed too many of the overnight ambushes. It became hard to distinguish one from another after awhile. I also get the feeling that there is much more to tell about his tour with the PRU but that it might bring up too many unpleasant memories.

Finally, Smith makes a one sentence statement that Captain Gormly was one of the best COs he ever served under which speaks volumes about both warriors. A Very good set of books and I recommend these to anyone interested in getting a birds eye view of war from a Seal's perspective.

Rating:
Summary: Not one of the better SEAL books.......
Review: Having read my way through a good portion of books on the SEAL mission in Vietnam, I would have to say this one ranks pretty low. The author seems to be unfocused and the story floundering for a bit. Actually, to be honest, i never finished the book, a rare thing for me, but I just couldn't take it anymore. Don't worry about this one for your SEAL list.

Rating:
Summary: Not one of the better SEAL books.......
Review: Having read my way through a good portion of books on the SEAL mission in Vietnam, I would have to say this one ranks pretty low. The author seems to be unfocused and the story floundering for a bit. Actually, to be honest, i never finished the book, a rare thing for me, but I just couldn't take it anymore. Don't worry about this one for your SEAL list.

Rating:
Summary: Ray J Sonnier
Review: I am far from bieng an expert on Seals, but this book in my opinion left a lots to be desired. I found it to be wandering a lots which made it very boring to me in comparison to the other books I have read by Nam Vets. By the way I was one of these Vets. We work alots in the Delta with Navy personel,and I found those people to be very good at their job.. Roadrunner6 out

Rating:
Summary: This book was OK.
Review: This book was OK. I think though there should have been a glossary or something in the back of the book for all the Vietnamese words he used! I couldn't keep them straight. As well as he himself kept jumping inbetween calling his commanding officer Mr. name and Dai Uy. It got confusing as to whether he was talking about the same guy. Enjoyed reading about all of the missions!

Rating:
Summary: This book was OK.
Review: This book was OK. I think though there should have been a glossary or something in the back of the book for all the Vietnamese words he used! I couldn't keep them straight. As well as he himself kept jumping inbetween calling his commanding officer Mr. name and Dai Uy. It got confusing as to whether he was talking about the same guy. Enjoyed reading about all of the missions!

Rating:
Summary: Master Chief Diary of a Navy Seal
Review: This is the worst Seal Book ever written.