I am not sure when I originally heard of “The Element of Surprise” though I think I remember seeing it for sale in catalogues for “Ranger Joe’s”. I probably bought the Kindle edition after seeing an advertisement for it online, or possibly because of its mention in the bibliography of “GURPS: Special Ops” or “GURPS: SEALs in Vietnam”.I’ve read a lot of Vietnam books, but mostly written by Rangers and LRRPs operating further north in the mountains, where the enemy was usually [...]

These days, the Navy SEAL memoir is practically a cliche. For 'silent warriors', the SEALs sure do write a lot. Young's 1990 memoir is an earlier example of the genre, an action-packed adventure let down by some repetitive writing.Young served his six month tour in the Mekong Delta, raiding in the canals around Dung Island with Juliette Platoon. The 14 men of this unit owned the night, making silent aquatic patrols, prisoner grabs, and infiltration raids. The SEALs were self-consciously elite, i [...]

Darryl Young really did a great job when he wrote the book Element of Surprise. This book is about the very intense training of a Navy Seal. Darryl Young start’s this book from the beginning of his training, and all the way to the end of his training. Darryl Young wrote this book to inform people on the excruciating training of a Navy Seal. Darryl does a great job describing all of the training with a lot of detail. He goes in depth when he describes his day to day training. This book combines [...]

This was the first book I ever read about the SEAL teams. It covers SEAL actives in Vietnam, and I cant recommend this book enough. If you have even the slightest interest in the subject matter, get this book.

The Navy Seals in Vietnam…these guys were great. Filled with unbelievable mission details on the rivers and in the jungles.

This is an interesting look at the special forces missions in Vietnam. It is well-written, but I wish there had been more live action battle stories.