Battle Ready
Memoir of a SEAL Warrior Medic
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4.2 • 132 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The gripping memoir of Navy Cross, Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart recipient SEAL Lieutenant Mark L. Donald, Battle Ready.
As A SEAL and combat medic, Mark served his country with valorous distinction for almost twenty-five years and survived some of the most dangerous combat actions imaginable.
From the rigors of BUD/S training to the horrors of the battlefield, Battle Ready dramatically immerses the reader in the unique life of the elite warrior-medic who advances into combat with life-saving equipment in one hand and life-taking weapons in the other. It is also an uplifting human story that reveals how a young Hispanic American bootstrapped himself out of a life that promised a dead-end future by enlisting in the military. That new life begins with the Marines and includes his heroic achievements on the battlefield and the operating table, and finally, of his inspirational triumph over the demons caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that threatened to destroy him and his family.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
After humbly eschewing the "haunting label" of "hero," Donald, with the help of Navy vet Mactavish (The New Dad's Survival Guide), recounts his struggle to break free from an impoverished youth by joining the Marines and then the elite Navy SEALs, in whose service he fought and saved lives as a medic in Afghanistan. That experience left him with PTSD and an enduring desire to help veterans. Like most soldiers, he writes best about soldiering (the book is based on journals originally intended as part of his post-combat therapy), delivering a superb description of the infamously brutal weeding-out ordeal of SEAL training, the nuts-and-bolts duties of a medic, and the battle actions that won him the Navy Cross but claimed the lives of more than one close friend. Attempts to exorcise his personal demons back on the home front are less successful, but the suffering they point to is palpable. A few military memoirs like Anthony Swofford's Jarhead gloriously break the bonds of their genre; Donald's has no such ambition, but this is an admirable addition to the flourishing phenomenon of SEALs sharing their stories in print. Its audience will welcome the familiar macho elements no less than the original, often horrific medical details. 16-page color photo insert.
Customer Reviews
Great perspective & new viewpoint
Being in the medical field and working with many current and former members of the military, this was a fantastic perspective from a different view point. I never understood the complexity of the person rendering medical aid, yet losing those they are trying to save! Great book from a new view point & perspective I’ve never read.
Semper Fidelis
As a Marine Veteran this book has been on my reading list for some time now. I finally got around to reading this on my vacation and I could not put it down, finishing it over the course of 3 days. I found it very real and insightful and highly recommend it to everyone, not just Veterans. Semper Fidelis.
A Holistic Story worth reading!
A tremendous story of dedication, service and leadership built around courage and self-awareness. Not your typical book. The stories of the horror of war are in the bigger context of how it effects the person. Thank you for your service Mark both to the country and to those with the after effects.