Book 81: Fearless by Eric Blehm

I read this book in less than 48 hours. I could not put it down. I was late for work this morning because I just had to finish it. Well, later than usual, anyway.

Eric Blehm's emotionally-charged story of the life of Navy SEAL Adam Brown was drawn from conversations with Adam's wife, kids, parents, siblings, fellow Navy SEALs, and his Navy mentors. He was asked by Kelley Brown, Adam's wife, to write this book on her husband's behalf.

How do I even begin to sum this up? It's difficult.

Imagine a virtually unstoppable, formidable, intelligent man. Add a heart a mile wide, a tender and forgiving soul, a winning smile, and the hardcore training of a Navy SEAL. It seems like it doesn't all fit together, but it did, in Adam Brown. His story needed to be told, so that we could see that American heroes do still exist. And guess what? They can be awesome husbands and daddies.

For me, the book was as informative as it was inspirational. My brother is a Combat Controller in the Air Force. Part of his job is helping the Afghan nationals to stabilize their own country by training their police forces. Adam Brown did a lot of work in that same field, and maybe now I understand my brother's job a little bit better. By reading this book, I could see more clearly why America is fighting in Afghanistan. (I'm still against war and I don't want the U.S. spread so thinly around the globe, but my perspective on the Afghan conflict changed quite a bit.)

This book was riveting for me, for many reasons, and I came away from it feeling as though Adam's life was not wasted. Not one little bit. As I see it, Adam Brown was the best p.r. asset the U.S. - and the Navy SEALs - could ever have. His work and his life impacted others in ways we will never be able to measure.