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One Perfect Op: An Insider's Account of the Navy Seal Special Warfare Teams

One Perfect Op: An Insider's Account of the Navy Seal Special Warfare Teams

List Price: $25.95
Your Price: $17.13
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hoo-Yah Command Master Chief
Review: An excellent book, not in any way a boastful shoot-em up, rather a thoughtful and balanced look at a life in the SEAL Teams along the lines of Richard Marcinko's non-fiction books. It is particularly interesting to see the same events through the eyes of Mr. Chalker in contrast to those of Mr. Marcinko. The importance of perserverance and teamwork to success comes through along with the quality of the training these men receive. A valuable contribution.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was disappointed with this book. Firstly, all `real' missions with the exception of the Grenada invasion are described only in the vaguest terms, apparently to preserve operational secrets. It's lowers the drama and credibility when Chalker describes a mission without even naming the continent on which it took place. Even harmless details like how many SEALs where on a particular raiding team are absent from the accounts of `real' missions.

The breadth of the book is devoted to describing training missions that Team 6 undertook against U.S. Naval bases to test their security. Playing hide-and-seek with security guards and rent-a-cops in training exercises hardly makes for a riveting read.

Chalker also mentions in only passing his experience at SEAL training, or BUD/S, which in the hands of a real writer would easily be worthy of a full book itself. Predictably, he refuses to shed any light on the controversy that landed his mentor Richard Marcinko in jail.

And this isn't an emotional account. We have no real insight into what makes warriors like Chalker tick or the pressures they face. All we know about life outside the Teams is that they drank and brawled a lot. And, oh yet, he got a divorce. (That's almost the way Chalker described it.)

For a more thoughtful and profound look at what it takes to be a member of the U.S. Special Operations community, take a look at Mike Yon's Danger Close. To learn what it takes to become a SEAL, read The Warrior Elite. For an action-packed thriller, stick with one of Marcinko's books.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good book, but leaves you wanting more...
Review: This is a good book regarding how Mr. Chalker got into and lived in the Seals. The drawback to it though is you know from reading the front cover he was part of Seal Team 6 (the Navy's elite counter-terrorist unit), therefore you expect to read more about them. He did offer insights into their lifestyles and how the job forced them to live. However, if you have read a lot of these books, the one thing you will look for them are actual "situations" to read about. Even if you have to change the "names and places", just tell us the story. Obviously with this being a relatively new group, many of the "stories" most likely remain classified. If there are not that many stories, then shame on the government for not utilizing the resources of the best trained units in the world. We all know there are places that they can be used. Mr. Chalker has written a good book that provides insight into his life in service and he should be commended for it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hoo yah, Master Chief Chalker
Review: This is an excellent book, the story of an incredible carreer told with intelligence, humility and humor. If you have read the story in Richard Marchinko's excellent Red Cell et al., this book provides a fascinating opportunit to hear the same stories from another perspective. In the same spirit as Marchinko's books, "One Perfect Op" is not a boastful shoot 'em up, rather thoughtful reflections showing that even motivated highly-traned SEALs can have doubts, fears and bad luck, but that teamwork and training really work. It is heartening to know that there have been and hopefully will continue to be people of Command Master Chief Stalker's quality defending our nation.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: good stories by one of rogue warrior's 'real team'
Review: Well, I thought this book was a good read, and a good account of Chalkers career. I'll have to say the book was less detailed and obviously doesn't have the unique view of things that Marcinko did, but that doesn't lessen Chalkers' accomplishments. It was really cool to get another perspective on formation of Seal Team 6 and Red Cell, and also to compare accounts of Urgent Fury between One Perfect Op and Inside Delta Force.
As far as Inside Delta Force, the books do give the impression that ST6 was built more from the ground up and operating in a more balls to the wall manner than Delta Force, of course that doesn't change the fact that both units are the best in the world at what they do, and it goes without saying that there's alot that the books don't mention about the units' operations.


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