levels

[Mac]

The book Lone Survivor, by Marcus Luttrell is essentially divided into three parts. Lone Survivor’s first layer is the surface plot: a Navy SEAL, after completing his torturous training, heads to Afghanistan with three men on a mission to capture an anti-American enemy. Taliban fighters ambush the SEALs, and only Marcus Luttrell survives, taking refuge from a generous Pashtun village until Army Rangers rescue him. A good plot, if Luttrell were a good writer. The second layer is Luttrell’s personal moral, where he states that because of inner strength, determination, Navy SEAL superiority, and Jesus, he survived his SEAL training and subsequent ambush in Afghanistan. The third layer is the political thesis: Luttrell’s fellow SEALs died because liberal politicians and the liberal media hamstring the military and Soldiers. The Rules of Engagement, negative coverage, and a diffuse hatred of all things military was what killed his companions. If we just freed our military from legal restrictions, this war would be over. As Luttrell puts bluntly, “I can say from first hand experience that those rules of engagement cost the lives of three of the finest US Navy SEALS who have ever lived.”