Section 1: Lone Survivor

Summary of Section 1: Pages 1-74

The prologue of this book takes us with Marcus Lutrell on his trip across the country (after the mission) visiting those Navy SEALs who served and died alongside him. Mike, Danny, Axe, James and Shane were those SEALs who died and Marcus went to tell their loved ones personally about their deaths. The first chapter takes place in Bahrain, at the U.S military base. Marcus describes his squadmates' characteristics and why they joined the SEALs. Mike was his best friend and very dedicated, Danny was tough on everyone as the senior chief of the group and always checked everything twice. But Shane was the opposite. Shane was from Las Vegas and very laid back, but he was loyal and smart. Axe was friend's with Marcus's twin brother Morgan, another SEAL. Axe was quiet and attentive, and James was reliable, smart, and a great athlete. These six men leave Bahrain in a huge transport ship and go to their drop off point in an Afghani mountain range (location not specified). It is on this trip the Marcus reminices about his childhood and why he wanted to be a Navy SEAL. Marcus always wanted to be a SEAL, and he was a proud man from Texas who lived up to his ambition. He also explains the background information of the enemy, (Taliban and al Qaeda) and the Pashtun tribe, who have a sturdy military history. He hints that this tribe helps him out later in the mission. The section ends with them landing at their drop off point.

My reaction:
I believe the author wrote the way he wrote because he wanted to stress the importance of every member of his team. In the part where the author described the characteristics of his squad mates it was more from the heart in his writing than when he listed off statistics about the Taliban, al Qaeda, the Pashtun tribe, etc. The author's different styles of writing affect me (as a reader) because it adds variety to the book. So far, from what I've read in the first section, the book is going to take off soon with some really great material and styles of writing.