The story in this book is absolutely amazing. Luttrell's time in Afghanistan sounds more like a movie script than actual events. Luttrell and his team, and the helpful Afghanis have a pretty inspirational story.

However, I considered giving this book 2 stars and finally caved at 3 simply because it is incredibly poorly written. I don't put that at Luttrell's feet, he's obviously not a trained writer, but Patrick Robinson who was brought in to work on the book completely failed. There are large gaps missing that need to be filled in, the writing/voice of the book changes sporadically based on what aspect of Luttrell's character the writer is trying to impress on us at that moment (we get it, he's a Texan), the constant self-deprecation is clumsy and awkward, and the attempts to write some sections as though Luttrell is retelling it directly to the reader fail miserably. Really an awfully written book, I can't overstate that.

The story saves it, though, because it truly is amazing. Besides that, however, two additional themes really struck me, and are cause for concern.

1) Luttrell's views on the Rules of Engagement in this war. He - repeatedly - tells us that the ROE's are the American liberals way of aiding the enemy both in Afghanistan and Taliban, that the armed forces should be able to shoot anyone looking suspicious, carrying an AK-47, etc. He never mentions the fact that they are there, in large part, to protect civilians who are not enemies of the United States. Later in the book, Luttrell is surrounded by 4 Afghanis with AK-47s, and he scrambles to mount a defense. However, these Afghanis are friendly, and they tend his wounds and protect him from the Taliban, underthreat from having their village destroyed. He never revisits the ROEs under the light of this experience. When the goat herders found them, they discussed two options, killing them and letting them go (which would likely result in the Taliban learning of their location). The killing option is debated but thrown out due to their being unarmed civilians, though likely friendly to the Taliban. So they are let go. There seemed to me to be a third option - radio in for an escape plan/route, and abort the mission. According this account, that option is never discussed and the team remains in the area, only to be swarmed on by the Taliban. Some explanation of why the mission wasn't aborted would have been appreciated.

2) Luttrell has an extreme view of the media. He includes some piece of his view in nearly every chapter, once writing that the liberal media constantly writes that American soldiers are murderers, and that he is afraid of the Liberal Media, that there is a "drip-drip-drip of hostility toward us, perpetuated by the liberal press". I think this is a gigantic problem - I read and watch a lot of news, and while they are very stupid, they are not hostile to the army, certainly not to the extent that Luttrell feels. Something needs to be done to address this. Why does it he believe it so fervently - enough to include comments like that in nearly every section of his book?