Fearless: The Undaunted Braveness and Final Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Group SIX Operator Adam Brown

Unbelievable story and life of a warrior
A book that is hard to put down. I have read a number of military books and those about Navy SEALs. This one is also outstanding as you learn the amazing story of how Adam Brown rose to be one of America’s elite SEALs, despite a downward spiral of challenges early in life and other challenges during his Navy career. A true warrior, hero, father, spouse, and man of faith, of which few others could measure up.

We Must Never Forget.
There are many books available today about uncommon warriors fighting the global war on terrorism and, given that we remain in the long war against violent Islamic extremists, there are likely to be many more. Adam Brown, a son of the South from rural Arkansas, was a warrior on another level altogether, and we should thank Eric Blehm, the author of Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown, for shining a bright but even-handed light on not only a remarkable warrior, but an extraordinary human being.Fearless is absolutely worth the read.Blehm adeptly brings to life a complex, flawed Adam Brown, indeed, a gentle soul battling insatiable demons. An all-too-common story, after graduating from high school and struggling to find himself, Adam instead finds an unrelenting crack cocaine addiction. Finally sick and tired of being sick and tired and facing the downward spiral of life as an addict, Adam gives his life to Christ. And on his way out of this vortex of despair, he hears the call to serve and not as a minister or missionary, but as a U.S. Navy SEAL! With the blessing of his beautiful and loving wife, Kelley, his second strongest supporter, Adam enters SEAL training at age 25, the oldest of 145 students to begin phase I of his Basic Underwater Demolitions / SEAL (BUD/S) class.BUD/S proves only a speed bump for Adam as he overcomes one obstacle after another along his newfound path to success in the Navy. Those challenges prove easily surmounted with his faith in God and what can only be described as ‘otherworldly’ mental toughness, strength and endurance. Despite suffering multiple injuries in training and on deployments, the right-handed (and right-eye-dominant) Adam seems to grow even stronger. Undaunted and, well, fearless, he seeks ever greater challenges, eventually volunteering for U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), or DEVGRU (SEAL Team Six), the elite and highly secretive counterterrorism unit.Hobbled by his injuries, but as determined as ever, a now one-eyed (left eye) and left-hand-shooting Adam makes it through the grueling DEVGRU selection process and then deploys into the fight as a Tier One operator. Pursuing the worst of hardened Taliban fighters on what would be his final mission, he and his teammates find their adversary holed up in a compound in the Pech River Valley in eastern Afghanistan, inarguably the most dangerous corner of the most dangerous country on earth. Adam characteristically volunteers to move to the very tip of the spear and is killed almost instantly in a hail of gunfire.Another American warrior felled by an insurgent’s bullet.To simply view Adam’s death as that of another intrepid special operator killed in action, though, is to ignore so much of what made this man special. His Christian faith and his devotion to his family truly set him apart. And he refused to include the word ‘can’t’ in his lexicon, even studying for an undergraduate degree into the wee hours of the morning before going to work as a SEAL, and then aspiring to one day attend Harvard Business School!When he was home, Adam was always ‘there’ for his wife and children but, being the committed SEAL he was, he wanted to be ‘there’ for his teammates. On that direct action raid, deep in the Hindu Kush mountains, on March 17, 2011, Adam demonstrated the extent of that commitment. In a selfless act, he diverted the fire being directed at his teammates towards himself and, as a result, died fighting for his last breath.He laid down his life for his friends.Synthesizing research and interviews into a deeply engaging story while treating us to an insider’s view of the SEAL Team Six brotherhood, Eric Blehm deserves much praise. But it is God who ultimately deserves the credit for allowing us to bear witness to Adam Brown, to see him model his faith, and to be inspired by him. Yes, an angel walking the earth in human flesh and readily exposing those flaws that made him human, but always, always striving to overcome them to be the man God wanted him to be. Finally, in an age when we are starved for real heroes to look up to, Adam Brown comes along and reminds us that we need look no further than those angels among us.We are only left to eulogize this man who offered us so much. Dead at 36, Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Lee Brown’s legacy lives on in his lovely wife and children… and of course, his SEAL teammates.Thank you, Eric Blehm.We must never forget.