Navy Seals: A History of the Early Years - Hardcover

Dockery, Kevin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0425178250 ISBN 13: 9780425178256

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover, 2001

Synopsis

For the first time with the full cooperation of the UDT/SEAL Museum Association in Florida, author Kevin Dockery has compiled the most in-depth and revealing history of the U.S. Navy SEALs-from their roughshod origins as the daring Underwater Demolition Teams, Scouts, and Raiders of World War II, to the formation of the modern fighting force known as Navy SEALs.

Illustrated with archival photos throughout, and supplemented with in-depth interviews with veteran UDT divers and SEAL personnel, this book chronicles the formation of an elite fighting force unsurpassed in combat on land, air, or sea-and captures the spirit of those rare men who make up the finest fighting force in the world.

About this title

About the Author

Kevin Dockery has been a soldier in the President's Guard under Presidents Nixon and Ford, a grade-school teacher, radio broadcaster, gunsmith, and historian. He even spent time in Iraq and Kuwait during Desert Storm as what he refers to as a "corporate mercenary." As a noted military historian, he has written a number of books on the history of the Navy SEALs and the lives of the men who lived that history including Navy SEALs: A History of the Early Years.

Reviews

A collection of oral histories knitted together with carefully researched narrative, Navy SEALs: A History of the Early Years traces the sea, air and land force's evolution from its WWII precursors to its current highly trained, high-tech incarnations. Author Kevin Dockery worked with the UDT (Underwater Demolition Team)/ SEAL Museum Association (www.seal-pml.org) to compile testimony and photos, and to synthesize archival material. The result is a highly acronymed, highly patriotic account of a superior, secretive fighting force.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

The prolific Dockery makes another valuable contribution to the literature on the navy's special operations units, one that begins with the SEALs' five different World War II ancestors, which survived misuse, kamikazes, and sharks to shrink practically to nonexistence after the armistice. The Underwater Demolition Teams survived to play a useful role in the Korean War, whose special operations history is still emerging from a fog bank of secrecy and apathy. Finally, President Kennedy took an interest in special warfare, the navy (under the aegis of Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke) chose to be a player, and the Teams (or, at least, One and Two) emerged in the face of every difficulty military professionals can face from their own services, even before they went to Vietnam to shoot and be shot at. Dockery blends oral history and conventional narrative with consummate skill, making the book exceptionally accessible to casual readers as well as serious students. Again Dockery's efforts are likely only to enhance reader approval of the SEALs. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0425178250
• ISBN 13: 9780425178256
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368