SEAL Team Six by Howard E. Wasdin & Stephen Templin

“As I rebuild the WLS archive with books I've read from 2011 through to 2025, I want to build a fully-fledged ecosystem of books I've read and recommend. I'd like to be able to reference and speak to any I've finished. For books I haven't reviewed (or can't entirely remember), please enjoy this brief questionnaire that can help you decide whether it's a read you'd like to pursue. Some of these are favorites I just haven't gotten around to fully reviewing yet—I'll explain in each description, but I hope this Q&A can be illuminating to you in the meantime.”

The New York Times bestselling book that takes you inside SEAL Team Six — the covert squad that killed Osama Bin Laden

In this dramatic, behind-the-scenes chronicle, Howard E. Wasdin takes readers deep inside the world of Navy SEALS and Special Forces snipers, beginning with the grueling selection process of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S)—the toughest and longest military training in the world. After graduating, Wasdin saw combat in Operation Desert Storm as a member of SEAL Team Two. Then the Green Course: the selection process to join the legendary SEAL Team Six—a secret unit tasked with counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and counterinsurgency. As a member of Team Six, sniper school followed and Wasdin became one of the best snipers on the planet.

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Soon he was fighting for his life. The mission: capture or kill Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. From rooftops, helicopters, and alleys, Wasdin hunted Aidid and killed his men whenever possible. But everything went quickly to hell. The Battle of Mogadishu, as it become known, left eighteen American soldiers dead and seventy-three wounded. Wasdin's tale is one of the most thrilling and inspiring military memoirs in years.

Why Did I Read This Book?

I won't go into too much detail about why I picked up this one (a personal connection to an active SEAL), but all in all, I view reading as a vehicle for learning, especially out of my comfort zone. I love a deep-dive into a topic I know little about, especially if they're relevant to someone I care for. I was curious about what they've been through and what their considerations might be. Again, my view is that reading can be a form of listening, in a way.

My brother—an ex-Army guy—told me a joke about Navy SEALs gunning for book deals, so I figured some of the jazzier ones (like this one) might feel dramatized. Still, I wanted to know more and it's clearly an unknown domain to me. This type of read—alongside spa/mafia/legal thrillers, political explorations, historical biographies—is much more up my Dad's alley, and much more likely to be one I see pop up on our shared eBook library because of him. (Related: if you see me marking Michael Connolly books "finished" on Goodreads—that's actually him unknowingly doing so on the account! I use The StoryGraph instead.) A theme of this fall for me has been expanding my reading horizons.

A Little Context—I Have a Complicated History with and View of the Military

I'll be honest in saying I entered 2024 with quite a lot of anti-military sentiment.

I was raised around the service. My mama was a Navy brat; my great-grandfather was governer of Florida and my grandfather was a two-star admiral (and he later became head of Veterans Affairs in Florida). My childhood was marked by visits to military history museums, medal ceremonies, volunteer opps, shopping with my grandmother at the Macdill AFB in Tampa, and attending various Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies in itchy dresses under the hot sun, shifting uncomfortably in a metal folding chair. My Uncle was Army, cousin was a Marine, brother was Army, etc,. So I spent a lot of time around it—and reverent towards it, mostly bolstered by my grandmother's hero-worship and sacrifice for her husband.

My opinion changed after college some when I noticed ways in which (I thought) the military exacerbated some harmful patterns and polarizations in people I knew. Structurally, the military has a lot of issues that can flare up in certain situations or personalities; I became very skeptical of certain archetypes intensified by the service and its values. Politically and historically, I also wavered as I developed my own views of policies and military efficacy. Issue by issue, I have my own opinions of when the military is a useful tool (and I do think it may be overfunded—whoops!)

I moved back to O'ahu with a possibly unfair suspicion of the military, frankly (which is partly why I didn't really date for my first year back on island.) The one significant romantic connection I formed was accidental; often, service members won't tell you their job until they've already gotten to wow you with their sparkling personality (hahaha.) Luckily, meeting and loving new friends on island moved me back into a more balanced POV that holds both opinions at once.

Both can be true—that you should respect and honor the mission and sacrifice of service members and hold both them and larger structures accountable for toxic tendencies perpetuated by the organization and its undercurrent values. Where I stand now, the military's not worthy of blind worship nor demonization. I feel like I hold a steady middle ground of being able to comfortably separate good from bad to evaluate ideas about policies, culture, and my evaluation/instinct about individual relationships I have with active members, members of the reserves, and veterans piece-by-piece. I pray for the safety of those I know (and all of them, broadly), admire the hell out of their discipline, and feel way more comfortable operating within the military ecosystem while still interrogating its negative influences.

Anyway, I'm a big believer also in reading books by people when you're not sure you'll agree with them (and may possibly hate many of their views.) It's a good practice in expanding my worldview, processing conflict, being open-minded, etc,. I wasn't sure if Wasdin would be the kind of swaggering, polarizing figure who'd swayed me anti in the first place.

First Impressions

I thought SEAL Team Six was great on some counts and weaker on others, but it's an entertaining read that will appeal to the curious.

The most compelling aspect of the narrative for me was Wasdin's experience going through BUD/S (the selection process), and the specifics of limits the SEALs have to push past. Like I'm still frankly flabbergasted that the instructors literally drown you and induce hypothermia during the process.

One aspect was most striking to me. During one portion of the book, Howard discusses his son considering being a SEAL. Howard said he talked him out of it, which was a test in itself. If he'd actually been SEAL material, he wouldn't have budged or taken no for an answer. And that's probably accurate; more people think they can do it than realistically can (and we often mentally exaggerate our own capabilities—but that's a study analysis from The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell, which I'll review shortly.)

Howard talks about how his childhood abuse and beatings allowed him to withstand the psychological toll. For those who assume the hardest aspects of selection are physical (which are strenuous!!!!), SEAL Team Six does a fantastic job drawing very clear examples of how willpower and internal strength matter most. I loved reading about those whose mental fortitude allowed them to excel even when (especially when) they were repeatedly punished after failing physical trials. To Wasdin, some of the most impressive SEALs and prospects were those who endured the consequences and extras day after day and still refused to give up by "ringing the bell."

Wasdin's Voice and POV

I'm sure it's self-selecting in a way about who chooses to write a memoir like this centered around elite accomplishment, but Wasdin was often pretty condescending without enough self-awareness (in my personal opinion.) He bragged a lot, but didn't linger on mistakes; when mentioned, he brushed past them and used every opportunity to share praise heaped on him instead.

For that reason, the memoir strikes me as informative rather than reflective—which is totally fair and still great, but perhaps not in alignment with my personal taste in memoir: which may demand a fuller and more accountable introspection.

He lingers on his abuse but gives no room for reflections on ill effects or the awful PTSD we know so many veterans encounter after service. He probably talks too much about gear. (I told my Army guy friends that I'll likely tune out after the 10th acronym in casual Friday conversation. It's great to have specific explanation, but he might care more than we do.)

The man doesn't give a shit about his ex-wife, but one thought he shares at the very end of the book made me view his portrayal of relationships as possibly willfully misleading. He casually reveals at the end that she cheated on him and was expecting, but then drops that he'd been cheating on her throughout too. Because of that, his observations on family life and romance ring hollow because he only seems to blame his wife without sharing context or timing. Of course, the duality of their cheating doesn't make it better at all (cheating is one of my biggest, most repellant lines in the sand for my personal standards of behavior) but it does cast him as a less reliable narrator. Previously, I'd been a little sketched out by his claims about his wife (he married her because she fed his ego, he only thought about his kids and not her while dying, etc,.) but chalked it up to the frankly uphill battle that sounds like marriage in a domain in which the job always comes first and the partner is consciously de-prioritized.

The wives need the patience of saints, and of course, there are no guarantees, but part of what makes the SEALs most effective (as talked about in their book) is their ability to detach from emotion, fear, and ties when needed, which will definitely bleed over into the way they triage the structure of their lives. Of course, his response is valid but it makes me wonder how much he rewrote her perception of her based on the hindsight bias of their marriage falling apart. Did you actually not care about her or think about her throughout this whole tenure, or are you rewriting the narrative because you're sour about how it went down? Either is valid, but the posturing just impacts my trust in his self-awareness.

His particular pride can sometimes feel self-congratulatory rather than a genuine depiction of his emotional landscape and the particular demands of the role. I'd be curious as to whether he feels like a "typical" SEAL or whether others would note that he's one of those the role exaggerates.

But of course, the role probably pulls from a handful of most effective personality types for the trials, instincts, etc,. and his brand of subtly shutting down facts that don't align with his worldview allow him to truck through day after day in a role that requires endless sacrifice, devotion, and strength. It's a survival tactic! It just does illuminate to me that clarity under pressure and deactivation of care is not necessarily the same as clarity overall, which impacts how I digested his narration.

The Detail and Process of the SEALs Training

I love that the book makes clear and honors the bonds and camaraderie formed by the SEALs, both those on active duty and within their history. It's a small organization with a lot of legacy built brick by brick, and pays tribute to the nobility of men accepting death for the sake of saving others and their own. The passion is clear within each description. "Go for the blackout," etc,.

It's easy to see how life outside the SEALs melts when their "on" existence is so centered around the culture, expectation, adrenaline, guilt, and adrenaline. It's easy to see how SEAL status becomes the focal point of their entire lives too—which is why many struggle adapting to civilian life if leaving the service, as their entire identity gets thrown off its axis. But the identification is part of what makes them most effective. (See: Cultish by Amanda Montell or Drunk Tank Pink by Adam Alter.)

My personal favorite part of the book—aside from the truly spectacular depiction of the intensity of BUD/S—is the traveling. I loved when Howard would detail his experiences in other countries, like cross-country skiing in Norway with their special forces (and relishing their boujee pleasures that the American military does not indulge in.) My travel bug is so activated by global careers and so very little thrills me like a book in which they're constantly in different places—for training, of course. (My anxiety of course spiked during his narratives of specific missions and wartime.)

Are You Reading for the Action?

I do think Wasdin's particular style of narrowing in on specific "scenes" or moments during the actual moments of conflict felt a little awkward. It seems like he tries to make SEAL Team Six evocative of a thriller, but the "plot" devices used felt a little overwrought, honestly. That might sound terrible as this is obviously a real-life depiction, but the dialogue/reflections/moments felt too artificial to be really impactful—and you could definitely tell that Wasdin was writing this to dramatize to a civilian audience. Not a problem at all (just the angling), but contributes to this narrow feeling pervading throughout the narrative that he's only sharing what contributes to a very specific image of himself. Such is the trouble of memoir!

Overall Thoughts

In this case, I thought the memoir was a great overview of SEALs, but not as powerful in understanding what it's like (an impossible demand, for sure), which is mostly what I read memoir for. In this case, I was reading for specific details about the SEAL experience during selection, training, etc,. so that was fine by me. I just wanted to know more without being incredibly annoying in my questioning of those I knew! Overall, it's a largely readable, helpfully specific memoir with room to grow—but gets the job done and will please those interested in the topic itself.

Lines & Moments That Struck Me

• Wasdin talks about forcibly hyperventilating before underwater swims so that his body would run on carbon dioxide (? if I'm explaining that correctly) and he'd lose the instinct to breathe, which allowed him to hold his breath for longer. Mechanisms like this were so fascinating in understanding how far the SEALs have to push themselves.
• Similarly, they'd have to literally black out underwater so their instructors knew that they were capable of it. The SEAL is accepting death as the only possible alternative for failure, which really is staggering for the average person to think about. "Go for the blackout." For that reason, no SEAL (at the time of publication) has ever been held as a prisoner of war. Interesting stat!
• Some good inspirational motto bits, like "the only easy day was yesterday" that I of course love. (I also test in the 99th percentile for grit, so I resonate with the impossibility of accepting NO. I have gotten kinder to myself about it though, because I am not a Navy SEAL and thus it is not biologically advantageous for me to kill myself in pursuit anymore.) See: Grit by Angela Duckworth.
• An emphasis on self-efficacy—which makes total sense in the context of who I know within the organization! It's one of my personal values and priorities as well.

“"It's better to burn out than to fade away—and with our last breaths, we'll take as many of the enemy with us as possible." ”

• Healthy, maybe not. Impressive? Absolutely.
• Thoughts on the diffusion of personal responsibility as being the only way to psychologically cope with the actions of war, which reminded me of a quote from The Selfishness of Others about the way we have to view enemies and embody a certain "moral superiority" in order to dehumanize them enough.
• Wasdin doesn't see his disconnection (caused by his childhood abuse) as anything other than a strength.

“My youngest sister, Sue Anne, who is a therapist, is convinced...There's no way I'm functioning as normally as I am without repressing something. She just doesn't get that I am really OK with my decisions and mental peace.”

• Re: this justification. Being okay with decisions and peace does not mean he is not repressing, but it also means that repressing works for him and is not a bad thing. It's just...a thing. A choice. Personally, I think there's room for deactivation to be both, which is something that I've gotten a lot of perspective on this year when getting literal professional help with my perfectionism—which had the ripple effect of helping me with so much else within my life and happiness. You should never demonize a trait/tendency like that because it allows you to excel and be who you are, and it is an adaptation that leads to your success—but the skill is in recognizing when it doesn't serve you and in fact actively harms you, so that you know when to work on correcting it. Finding the line is so tricky! Of course, the military only benefits from you having the first bit and doesn't "need" to help you with the second part, even though it might make service members happier in so-called "regular" life.

“My one regret [when shot] is that I haven't told the people I love that I love them enough. During my time on Earth, that's what I should have done more of. I probably told [my children] I loved them about six times a year.”

Science actually backs this up. We tend to regret social regrets more than non-social regrets. (See: The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink.)

• Being ostracized from the group is the greatest punishment for them.
• I of course enjoyed learning about the acronyms and service-specific bits. I loved their emphasis on memory training for sniping, etc,.
• "Thorough preparation makes its own luck."
• It's a little bit of a scary book to read if you care about anyone in a similar boat (literally) just because you can't escape the promised danger of their circumstance. But it is a good read!
• It looks like Wasdin went on to write even more books about his SEAL experience, as well as potentially a series of novels? I will not be reading—I think I got the gist of what I wanted to know secondhand—but can definitely understand why the book deal stereotype exists (ha.) Reading this was cathartic in the moment, but continuing down this topic in a book list probably isn't best for me specifically.