Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10

“I will never quit. My nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down i will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my enemies and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.” - Marcus Luttrell

Lone Survivor is Marcus’ memories and inside story of a mission in Afghanistan where he was the only survivor of his four man team. After the first chapter, it was obvious to me that he did not write this story to get famous or gain money, but to tell a story about the bravery of his three partners who didn't make it back to tell it themselves. As the only survivor of the failed mission, Marcus made sure that the world would never forget about his brothers-in-arms anytime soon. Lone Survivor is a great book choice for any reader looking for an emotional, insightful memoir by a true American hero with a story worth telling, whether you are into the army or not.

Lone Survivor is not just the story of the mission, Operation Redwing. One of the reasons it was such a good book for me to read is that Marcus keeps you going with the suspense of what they are gonna do next. He gives his own personal opinion on how the war should be fought based upon his own experiences serving the most elite military unit in the world, the Navy SEALS. Today Americans often see only one side of the war through newspapers and internet, and therefore a lot is not understood by those who haven’t been there. Yet Marcus gives the other side of the war and the negative aspects of the media, which is why I loved this book so much. 

His style of writing kept the book interesting and fresh so that by the end, I read about his life from birth to the present, literally. The book jumps around to different parts of his life. For example, the book starts with Marcus and his team on a plane flying to their mission in Afghanistan, and then transitions to Marcus’ childhood, then to SEAL training before the mission and back to the plane to Afghanistan. Throwing in his insights and opinions, the story is written very well. The style is very conversational, as if Marcus is just talking to a friend and recounting things as they come to mind, and by the end, I really do feel as if I am good friends with him.

Lone Survivor took me on an emotional rollercoaster where one page had me smiling at one of Marcus’ humorous comments or a story about one his friends. But by the next page, I had tears rolling down as he wrote about his fallen comrades and the tough job he gave himself of visiting each and every one of their families and loved ones after he came back from the mission. The way Marcus writes about his partners’ last acts and words made me think of my own family and loved ones. It is amazing that a battle hardened Navy SEAL can write with such affection about his fallen brothers. I would never be able to. 

I categorized Lone Survivor into a group of autobiographies by people who truly have accomplished or experienced something worth writing and reading about. Today, it seems as though anybody who has done something even remotely out of the ordinary will write his or her memoirs in order to make money and gain some fame, but books don’t compare to this amazing, inspirational story by an American hero. I definitely enjoyed this book more than A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. Lone Survivor is a must read for anyone who wants the side of the War on Terror not shown by the media, or wants to be happy and sad in the same day.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me." - Steve Jobs

Yes. I know. "Alex, your last pleasure reading book was also a biography!" But, I mean its Steve Jobs. I've always wanted to learn about his life. So why not?

Since 1976, the world of technology, arts & media changed as the world knew it. And it was all thanks to one man. Steve Jobs' work has touched the lives of everyone all over the world. Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, yet his legacy is still alive today.

As a child, Steve Jobs was never really into school or what they were teaching. Jobs' first intro to computers was in the summer he spent at Hewlett-Packard in Palo Alto, California. Here, he met the other cofounder to be of Apple, Steve Wozniak. Even though they were both talented, they dropped out of their colleges soon after they met. As Walter Isaacson stated, "Jobs quickly became bored with college. He liked being in Reed, just not taking the required classes. In fact, he was surprised when he found out that, for all of its hippie aura, there were strict course requirements." (Isaacson 40). After Steve's 21st birthday, he talked about an idea he had with the other Steve. Jobs told Wozniak about inventing a personal, user-friendly, home computer. Wozniak was the biggest electro nerd Steve new so his job was to help make Jobs' dream become a reality. And, in 1976, the Apple I was released. Since then, Jobs has helped develop tools and machines that have affected the lives of millions.

Jobs was not only famous for his technological talent, but also for being one of the most captivating communicators at the time. All of his keynote addresses (these were the events where he announced a new product) were talked about globally because they were done at such a high level. People would line up outside the auditoriums in which they were being held a week before so that they could get a good spot.

In addition, Steve Jobs revolutionized the mobile phone, more specifically the smartphone. Apple was the first company to have a touchscreen on a mobile phone and no plastic keyboard on the phone. This affected the smartphone forever because now companies like Samsung, Android and Nokia could put touch screens on their phones. It also led the way for the iPad and other future tablets. Alongside the iPhone, Jobs also created the App Store where people from all over the world could create apps that anyone with an Apple device could download. Today, there are over 500,000 apps on the App Store.

Finally, Steve Jobs impacted the world, and myself included personally. Jobs' personality and ideologies have had a massive impact on my life. He always had a unique and magnificent way to inspire and impact the lives of the people around him. The best example of this was his 2005 Stanford Commencement speech, where he told the college students to pursue his life dreams. And he told them to follow their heart and intuition first when making a life changing decision. Since I heard about this, I have always done exactly that for everything.

Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier; Connection to Society

“Shooting became just like drinking a glass of water.” - Ishmael Beah

Many countries in the world have some issues with their government, or the country itself. In the Democratic Republic of Congo for example, a war which has already taken 3 million lives, has become worse and the women of the country are on the front lines of the army. Women are treated so badly, that the UN investigators have called what men do to the women as unprecedented. Many women are dying because of the effects of the war, but more are dying from HIV infections and at the same time, have to look over their children alone. One of the many responsibilities is getting food and water to support the family, which they have to now risk their lives for. Not like here in the United States where we can get in our car and buy the food we need in minutes. The Republic of Congo doesn’t have a lot of money or modes of transportation, therefore being unable to escape the country.

From reading, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah, my partner and I have both realized that countries like Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo, do not have the luxuries and opportunities that we have here in the United States. If we are in the middle of a serious war, we would first send men and women, over the age of 18, who have signed up to be a soldier, to fight the war. Not forcing women and children like Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the Washington Post, by the beginning of 2012, 25 countries in the world use child soldiers, Sierra Leone being one of them. Living in an advanced society has its advantages and luxuries that other countries don’t have.

In A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, Ishmael and his friends leave their village to go to a rap competition and when they finally get to where they are going, the next day rebels attack their home village. They quickly start heading back but stop and start going from village to village. Over the course of the story Ishmael had many encounters with rebels and had escaped but one of the times, he didn’t and he was forced into becoming a child soldier. Later he came to the United States and finished his high school education that he wasn’t able to finish back in his home country of Sierra Leone. Ishmael later went on to college in 2004 and wrote the book of his memories.

When we first started reading this book, my partner and I had absolutely no clue where Sierra Leone was located or what was really happening with the rebels. We discovered, through research, that the main rebel group was called the Revolutionary United Front. Their purpose was to have control of the entire West African area, and that is where Sierra Leone is located. Looking for diamonds and lots of objects of rich value, they are described like, “Notorious for hacking off limbs and indoctrinating children into their struggle…” (CNN). After looking further into the issue, we discovered a page written by Encyclopedia Britannica about the civil war. The most shocking discovery was that Revolutionary United Front was led by the former Sierra Leone army corporal. This was one of the main reasons that the civil war started in the first place. The war stretched from 1991 - 2002 and Encyclopedia Britannica states, “An official end to the civil war was declared in January 2002. By that time, it was estimated that at least 50,000 people had died, with hundreds of thousands more affected by the violence and some 2,000,000 people displaced by the conflict.” (Encyclopedia Britannica).

But, the best source for what happened during the book, is the author of the book. Therefore, above, you can see an interview conducted with Ishmael about his life experiences in Sierra Leone. Also, below we have the links to the articles we used incase you want to know more about the Civil War at Sierra Leone.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/08/world/africa/ishmael-beah-child-soldier/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/543356/Sierra-Leone/274792/Civil-war