Rorke Denver - Worth Dying For: A Navy Seals Call to a Nation

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Copyright 2016 by Rorke Denver

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations in this book are from The Holy Bible, New International Version. 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.

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First Howard Books hardcover edition April 2016

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Jacket design by Bruce Gore

Front and back Jacket Photographs by Getty Images

Author Photograph Rorke Denver

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Denver, Rorke, author. | Henican, Ellis author.

Title: Worth dying for : a Navy SEALs call to a nation / Rorke Denver and Ellis Henican.

Description: First Howard Books hardcover edition. | New York : Howard Books, 2016.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015034024

Subjects: LCSH: United States. Navy. SEALs. | United States. NavyCommando troops. | War on Terrorism, 20012009. | TerrorismPrevention. | Denver, Rorke.

Classification: LCC VG87 .D45 2016 | DDC 359.9/84dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015034024

ISBN 978-1-5011-2411-2

ISBN 978-1-5011-2413-6 (ebook)

For all those who have chosen to servein a thousand different ways

A nation that draws too broad a difference between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.

T HUCYDIDES (460400 BC)

A ncient Greece had nothing on modern America.

As I look around our nation today, the words of Thucydides keep bouncing inside my head. I see divisions at least as troubling as the ones the Greek general and historian warned about nearly twenty-five hundred years ago. On the civilian side, theres a disturbing disconnect from the military. Its not just that fewer Americans serve now. Its that many people dont even know anyone who does. On the military side, theres a deepening mistrust of civilian leadership and an increasing frustration at being misunderstood. American soldiers and American civilians still pledge allegiance to the same stars and stripes. But how can we ever hope to understand each other if we live like two separate tribes?

The civilians say, You take care of all the messy stuff. The soldiers say, Then let us do our jobs.

But I am a thinker and a fighter. I am an engaged U.S. citizen and a fiercely loyal U.S. Navy SEAL. A bridge builder by temperament and a warrior by trade, I believe that despite our many differences, most Americans really are on the same side. We love our country. We want whats best for it. We have strong feelings about what that might entail, even when we keep those feelings to ourselves or share them only with a few like-minded relatives and friends. Until recently, people in our country werent content to leave the politics to the politicians, the professing to the professors, or the soldiering to the men and women in uniform. Why start now?

One of the most powerful forces our Founding Fathers set loose nearly two and a half centuries ago was the idea of everyday citizens energetically engaged in defining a future that belonged to everyone and then helping to make it real. We need to ignite that spirit of patriotic service again. With this book, I hope to light that fuse.

I have been training for this duty as long as I can recall. A lifelong patriot, a Division I athlete, a voracious reader, a multidisciplinary scholar, a veteran officer in a premier U.S. special-operations fighting force. I had thirteen years of very active SEAL duty: deployed to Central and South America, East and West Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq. Leading two hundred successful combat missions. Helping to create Iraqs Sunni awakening in 2006. Running every phase of SEAL training, from day-one induction to Hell Week to our advanced finishing schools. Advising a senior SEAL admiral on a wide range of issues from deck-plate discipline to matters of deep national concern. Briefing congressional committees on special-operations readiness. On Navy orders, I represented the SEAL brotherhood by taking a leading role in the real-life action-adventure film Act of Valor. We made sure our story was told authentically and compellingly enough to create a number one Hollywood blockbuster that the teams could also feel was speaking for them. My first book, Damn Few , was a multiweek New York Times best seller that explained how the SEALs are creating a new generation of warriors uniquely suited for the asymmetrical threats America faces today. Now Im a successful public speaker and leadership consultant, advising top companies on teamwork, motivation, and high-performance techniques. Helping people work together is what I have always done, in military and civilian life.

As a Navy SEAL officer at war, a key part of my duty was to create common ground among a team of talented but headstrong individuals. At the start of any new mission, I liked to pull fifteen to twenty adrenaline-fueled special operators into a roomsnipers, breachers, communicators, translators, and the rest. All of them would be itching for action, coiled and ready to strike. They all had strong notions about how to accomplish the next assault. I would arrive with a clear plan in my own mind. But however many guys there were in the briefing room, thats how many opinions we had. Id listen carefully to my men. Id give everyone a chance to contribute and be heard. Id encourage them to weigh one anothers ideas. With all of their input and my own insights, Id forge a battle plan that everyone would be expected to get behind. That was my jobto build that plan and to rally those troops. Then wed go out and get lethal, assaulting a target or barreling around the IEDs on a pockmarked highway or walking a foot patrol through an urban-enemy sniper nest, risking our lives together as a well-oiled, singularly focused, action-ready team. Its a fascinating processbringing that team togetherand a beautiful thing to behold.

Contrast that with the way America now confronts its largest issues. Pundits are shouting. Washington is paralyzed. Prejudices are festering. Motives are questioned. Blue states are certain that red states are heartless. Red states are certain that blue states are clueless. Theres little core agreement on what makes America great. And the world gets dicier every day. With each new issue that comes spinning around, too many people pick a side, hold on tight, and choose not to be bothered with other points of view. This may sound hopeless, but it doesnt have to be. SEALs always have a plan.