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Title details for Battle Ready by Mark L. Donald - Available

Battle Ready

Memoir of a SEAL Warrior Medic

by Mark L. Donald
Fred Berman
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available

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 listener 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.
Includes an excerpt from the SEAL creed read by the author and a bonus conversation with Mark L. Donald and his editor.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 19, 2013

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427222817
      • File size: 287869 KB
      • Duration: 09:59:43

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      December 24, 2012
      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.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This candid memoir by a Navy SEAL medic is given a vigorous reading by Fred Berman. Beginning with his rough childhood and adolescence, Donald pulls no punches in describing his loving but dysfunctional home environment and how joining the Marines gave him a place to belong. Later, he transferred to the Navy to become a medic, and from there he underwent SEAL training. He recounts combat operations, for which he was highly decorated, and describes how he dealt with the PTSD that nearly destroyed him and his family. Berman has a quick, sometimes staccato delivery but is always understandable. His use of different voices for the dialogue is believable and effective. Most important, his overall performance winsomely conveys the author's humility. M.T.F. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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