To Write A Wrong Was No Easy Day

Hardcover version of No Easy Day...

When you first open up the book, No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen, and read the Author's Note, you learn the reasons why Mr. Owen wrote the book in the first place. It is interesting to note that a book read in Junior High School influenced Mr. Owen to want to join the Navy SEALs. Does this mean that books have power? 

Books, in and of themselves, do not have any powers. The power is in the words that are written. Do they inspire the imagination of the reader. Do they reach out and grab you, urging you to make a change in your life or way of thinking? If the words do, then the author has been successful. 

Current eBook version of #CSWCSW

In my case, Mr. Owen's words helped me to understand the inner mindset of a modern-day Navy SEAL. As long time followers may know, I'm prior Air Force. To my knowledge, I do not know any Special Forces people. David has been around them and learned from them, so I defer those details to him. As a writer though, it does help to know what a character would or would not do in a situation. Having read No Easy Day..., I feel a little more at ease with the Special Forces mindset. Granted the Wrecking Crew are a bit more old school but I'm sure they could learn a thing or two from the younger crowd. 

If the reader pays attention, Mr. Owen taught many lessons. He taught me that missions require planning and attention to detail complete with contingencies. I also learned that even with all the factors stacked in your favor, a fair amount of luck (or blessings) help out. As SEALs go from mission to training onto the next deployment, they learn from their prior misfortunes.  I guess the same can be said for authors and writers. We plan, we factor stuff in, we get lucky with a word here or there then we go on to the next book taking away some lesson we learned the hard way. Then again, usually authors aren't under enemy fire when having to make decisions.  Navy SEALs are a special breed. Members of DEVGRU are the cream of the crop.  

Mr. Owen explains about DEVGRU, its history and how he made it into this elite group. He also shares the events leading up to and after the title mission to the best of his abilities.  Personally I applaud him for taking the risk to set the record straight. Writing and sharing your inner thoughts and feelings is no easy thing. But then again, I feel sure easy is a foreign word to Mr. Owen and his fellow SEALs when you consider the "only easy day was yesterday".  I'm sure their yesterdays are a hundred times worse than my toughest day ever. 

"Bestsellers" to Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer. I hope you raise lots of funds for your worthy causes. To everyone else, if autobiographies and/or books on military are your thing, I highly recommend this book. 

Lynn Hallbrooks

co-author to David McKoy

co-owners of Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC

No Easy Day by Mark Owens

Many of you may know that David McKoy is the "brains" behind the story line for the Call Sign: Wrecking Crew series.  By that I mean he is the one that knows about military tactics, weapons, etc.  He has read multiple Richard Marcinko books over many years.  So when Mark Owens book, No Easy Day... came up for pre-sale, I arranged to purchase it for David to read and review.  

No Easy Day... by Mark Owen

Here is the exclusive blog version of his review which is currently pending on Barnes & Noble:  

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen takes the reader on a journey into the life and adventures of a member of DEVGRU. DEVGRU stands for Naval Special Warfare Development Group or more affectionately known as SEAL team Six.

Mr. Owen takes you on a tour of the interview process, training involved, and acceptance to this elite team. He includes operations against Somali pirates, deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, culminating to the demise of America’s number one public enemy, Osama Bin Laden.

Mr. Owen broke his silence due to the government’s handling of Operation Geronimo. Why... for more in depth reasons, you’ll need to read the book. I will tell you this; Mr. Owen thought the reporting by the main stream media on the operation was funny, at first. It then became embarrassing, from the twisting of the facts to outright fabrication - rather than reporting the facts correctly. He felt that they and others needed to know the truth.  In my humble opinion, the main stream media does not know what the word,“Truth” means. Mr. Owen wrote his account, only after he saw an interview on national television of President Obama and later on the Admiral in charge of the operation. Both persons were talking openly and in greater detail than most with a high level security clearance should. Now the government cries foul, since the censors at DOD were unable to “gut” the book for security violations, this is laughable in itself. Mr. Owen went through great pains to hire a lawyer who was also a member of the Special Operations community to ensure that the government’s secrets, stay that way. If the government wants to try and convict Mr. Owen, then you must look towards the members of DOD, Congress, White House, and the Main Stream Press for leaking information to the public as well, after September 11, 2001.

Mr. Owen wanted to do something that was bigger than himself. In my eyes, he achieved that goal. Hoo! Yah!

Mr. Owen has given his profits to a multitude of organizations which are listed in the book.  I feel this is very noble. Not only am I recommending the book to anyone interested in the military particular Special Operations, but I’m endorsing Mr. Owen’s stance. We at Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC recommend No Easy Day to read. More importantly we whole-heartedly endorse this book. Some of the situations he describes are not dissimilar to that of the actions in Call Sign: Wrecking Crew (Storm Warning).

During our week long, literary logistical and tactical revising session of book two, David gave me his copy of No Easy Day... to read.  Based on what I've read so far, I concur with his overall assessment.  I feel certain that I'm going to learn alot more about Navy SEALs and their deployments in upcoming chapters.

Stay tuned for an account of my week long visit to see David.

Have a great one! 

Lynn Hallbrooks
co-author to David McKoy
co-owners of Call Sign Wrecking Crew, LLC