This was one hell of a read. A story that the author takes you through his life from childhood and through the different moves his family made until the time he chose to join the Navy. He then went on to join the Air Force after the Navy all the while marrying and divorcing twice, each time he explains his own shortcomings and his own failures in the marriages. While in the Air Force he comes across a poster with information about the Army accepting transfers from the Air Force signing up for that program he next takes you through boot camp and then his journey on to jump school. Here is when I thought back to my father going through that school during WWII and joining the 82nd. Anyway, from there he passed and was on his way to Special Forces School or training. He wanted to be Green Beret.
Here now is when the training is much more intense and he takes you through the items he can. When he finally passes this phase-out of 189 there are 55 going on to the next phase, he is one of those. Training is more intense and you see just what those men go through and when finished only 25 are done. He is assigned to a unit and he is to get ready for what is next.
Next is his deployment and on one of the missions they go on he is blown up by an IED, you are taken through his memory of what he remembers of not knowing what happens to panic to no pain then the pain then men talking to him, finding when he is given morphine in the field that he is allergic, the fentanyl tab did not work and his team still had to move to set up an area for the medic vac helicopter to land and so they do not get ambushed. You are then taken through what will be just one of over 28 surgeries that he will have on his leg.
You are taken through everything until finally, he is past all of the nurses, doctor’s and now is left with family and physical therapists. His rehab is intense and he has people in his corner, he also has a new kind of prosthetic. You get to see his good days and bad. His father is there as well as his girlfriend who moved from Florida to Texas to be there to help him. He makes it through and then wants back on the Green Beret’s, long story short he does it and he takes you through his first deployment back. While on his deployment he leaves no man behind even the Afghan soldier who he had gotten to know and because of his actions that day for saving his team and helping the Afghan he is awarded the Silver Star, the third-highest award. He probably thinks he was just doing his job and he was. This was an outstanding book and I really enjoyed it I hope people take the time to read it.

This is by far one of the best military narratives I've ever read. It's no BS, no holds barred, in your face like this Green Beret experienced life throughout his many deployments to war zones and for training troops in other countries on different continents. This is also one of the best pre-edited copies I've encountered with the disclaimer of it being an uncorrected proof. There are a few missing "the," "a," "an," typos and a "multiple" instead of "multiply" that will hopefully be corrected before publication. Definitely not enough to detract from the telling of this action-packed narrative.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book to read and review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

This was a great book. It isn't like so many other wounded warrior sagas that turn into pity parties. This guy tells the whole story, about himself as well as his buddies and his mission. I wish more books about this topic were like his.

Free ARC from Net Galley

If you read this book, then those 'thrillers' they churn out will no longer hold your interest

"Tip of the Spear" is used by all operators regardless of job, when they are out on the edge or you can see it from where you are at

Performing a rescue, under fire, of an Afghan, SFC Hendrickson stepped on an IED with his right foot.

Yet after 20 something surgeries and taking a chance on the IDEO he returns in a year summarily winning ANOTHER award for valor.

This books is incredible, you will be changed by reading it

A