Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown book cover

Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown

Paperback – May 21, 2013

Price
$11.19
Format
Paperback
Pages
368
Publisher
WaterBrook
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0307730701
Dimensions
5.16 x 0.93 x 7.95 inches
Weight
8.3 ounces

Description

New York Times bestseller CBA bestseller ECPA bestsellerPraise for Fearless “As a rule, we don’t endorse books or movies or anything regarding the command where I work—and Adam Brown worked—but as the author writes in Fearless , ‘you have to know the rules, so you know when to bend or break them.’ This is one of those times. Read this book. Period. It succeeds where all the others have failed.” —Anonymous SEAL Team SIX Operator “Adam Brown’s zest for life led him down a few dark alleys and more than one dead end. Kind-hearted and wild, Adam led a life that lacked direction. God, a woman, and the U.S. Navy gave it to him.xa0Fearlessxa0is a love story...several love stories: a man for his woman, a warrior for his team, parents for kids, and soldiers for their country. There is no greater love than that a man lay down his life for his friends. Be warned—reading Fearless will change the way you see the world.” —Stu Weber, veteran Green Beret, pastor, and author ofxa0Tender Warrior “When people know they are going to die, often their one regret is that they didn’t say ‘I love you’ enough. Adam Brown never had to worry. His life was about love: love of God, family, friends, country, his fellow SEALs, and the Afghan children who worshipped him. In his latest book, Fearless , Eric Blehm does a marvelous and moving job uncovering the man—the men—beneath the SEAL mythology of elite, rock-hard warriors, renowned for their courage and skill. The SEALs in Fearless hug their children, seek comfort from their wives, wear Batman briefs, answer to names like Big Bird and Fozzy, mourn lost buddies, and risk their lives to rescue civilians from the field of fire. This is a stirring, revelatory, heartbreaking story.” —James Campbell, author of The Last Frontiersman and Ghost Mountain Boys “This is not another SEAL book about ego; this is a powerful book about perseverance that will absolutely inspire everybody. Adam was a warrior in the truest sense—courageous, compassionate, intrepid, and humble. And his dedication to God, country, family, and the Brotherhood was genuine and exceptional. This book will motivate you to challenge yourself to be…fearless.” —SEAL teammate of Adam Brown, BUD/S Class 226 “There is a quote from the Bible etched onto the memorial that stands in the shadow of World Trade Center steel that resembles a massive trident: ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”’ That was Adam Brown. Fearless is a clear and deeply honest portrait of an authentic American man who lived and loved with an intrepid personal velocity. For most of us, the failures and disappointments in life take their toll. Not for Adam Brown. He vanquished all life’s heartbreaks with faith, humility, and hard work. His commitment to his family and his friends helped forge Adam Brown into the rarest of warriors. Long live the Brotherhood.” —Kurt Johnstad, screenwriter, Act of Valor and 300 “ Fearless stands unique among works of modern combat literature through author Eric Blehm’s masterful weaving of a fallen Navy SEAL’s professional war-fighting life with his complex personal victories and travails. Rich in detail and captivating in its honesty, you won’t put Fearless down once you read the first page. Read it and prepare to learn a whole new world of life as a Navy SEAL.” —Ed Darack, author of Victory Point " Fearless is a vivid account of one man's journey from all-American boy to all-American hero. Blehm's writing takes you beyond the battlefield and right to the heart of the personal battles, sacrifices, and triumphs of one of America's elite warriors. Anyone looking for an inspiring story of inner strength and courage will be richly rewarded by this book." —Eric Greitens- Former Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author ofxa0The Heart and the Fist "Be prepared for the full range of emotions as the true adventures of a real American hero demonstrate that 'with God, all things are possible.'" — U.S. Navy Chaplain Timothy Libertay Eric Blehm is the best-selling author of The Only Thing Worth Dying For, which recounts the harrowing story of the first Special Forces A-team to infiltrate Taliban-held southern Afghanistan weeks after 9/11. It was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. The Last Season, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award, was named by Outside magazine as one of the ten “greatest adventure biographies ever written.” Blehm lives in California with his wife and children. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Author’s Note Adam Brown’s civilian and military life has been recounted to me by his family, friends, and teammates—all eyewitnesses to each event portrayed in this book, including what Adam told them directly about his history and spiritual testimony. I also used official documents, statements, military records and reports, criminal records, family archives, letters, e-mails, and journal and diary entries. Some dates, locations, times, distances, and names (including those of some civilians) have been changed; faces in photographs obscured; and military tactics, techniques, and procedures altered in order to maintain operational security for the safety of the U.S. Navy SEALsand those who work alongside them.All information about the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the SEALs, and individuals (including the use of real names) has already been published widely by the media and is deemed common knowledge. Nearly a dozen active-duty SEAL operators—including those in leadership roles—have unofficially, but no less meticulously, reviewed this manuscript for factuality and to point out any issues that might endanger lives in future operations. I have removed or rewritten sections to their approval, and in the few cases of discrepancy among the operators, I went withthe majority. Any vagueness in the manuscript is intentional, to protect these men and their allies.All quotes, slang, inner thoughts, dialogue, and descriptions have been conveyed to me by those intimately involved in the story to the best of their ability and individual memories. Nothing has been contrived, dramatized, or fabricated.What you are about to read is the account of an American hero who bravely gave permission in his final written requests to share his journey, from small-town America to the gutter to jail to Jesus to war to the top tier of the U.S. military: SEAL Team SIX. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • Go deep into SEAL Team SIX, straight to the heart of one of its most legendary operators.
  • When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he would die that night in the Hindu Kush Mountains of Afghanistan—but he was ready. In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the worst happened, he wrote, “I’m not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no matter what, nothing can take my spirit from me.”
  • Fearless
  • is the story of a man of extremes, whose courage and determination were fueled by faith, family, and the love of a woman. It’s about a man who waged a war against his own worst impulses, including drug addiction, and persevered to reach the top tier of the U.S. military. In a deeply personal and absorbing chronicle,
  • Fearless
  • reveals a glimpse inside the SEAL Team SIX brotherhood, and presents an indelible portrait of a highly trained warrior whose final act of bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice. Adam Brown was a devoted man who was an unlikely hero but a true warrior, described by all who knew him as…fearless.“As a rule, we don’t endorse books or movies or anything regarding the command where I work—and Adam Brown worked—but as the author writes in
  • Fearless
  • , ‘you have to know the rules, so you know when to bend or break them.’ This is one of those times. Read this book. Period. It succeeds where all the others have failed.”
  • —SEAL Team SIX Operator

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(5.7K)
★★★★
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(2.4K)
★★★
15%
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★★
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Most Helpful Reviews

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We Must Never Forget.

There are many books available today about uncommon warriors fighting the global war on terrorism and, given that we remain in the long war against violent Islamic extremists, there are likely to be many more. Adam Brown, a son of the South from rural Arkansas, was a warrior on another level altogether, and we should thank Eric Blehm, the author of Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown, for shining a bright but even-handed light on not only a remarkable warrior, but an extraordinary human being.

Fearless is absolutely worth the read.

Blehm adeptly brings to life a complex, flawed Adam Brown, indeed, a gentle soul battling insatiable demons. An all-too-common story, after graduating from high school and struggling to find himself, Adam instead finds an unrelenting crack cocaine addiction. Finally sick and tired of being sick and tired and facing the downward spiral of life as an addict, Adam gives his life to Christ. And on his way out of this vortex of despair, he hears the call to serve and not as a minister or missionary, but as a U.S. Navy SEAL! With the blessing of his beautiful and loving wife, Kelley, his second strongest supporter, Adam enters SEAL training at age 25, the oldest of 145 students to begin phase I of his Basic Underwater Demolitions / SEAL (BUD/S) class.

BUD/S proves only a speed bump for Adam as he overcomes one obstacle after another along his newfound path to success in the Navy. Those challenges prove easily surmounted with his faith in God and what can only be described as ‘otherworldly’ mental toughness, strength and endurance. Despite suffering multiple injuries in training and on deployments, the right-handed (and right-eye-dominant) Adam seems to grow even stronger. Undaunted and, well, fearless, he seeks ever greater challenges, eventually volunteering for U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group (NSWDG), or DEVGRU (SEAL Team Six), the elite and highly secretive counterterrorism unit.

Hobbled by his injuries, but as determined as ever, a now one-eyed (left eye) and left-hand-shooting Adam makes it through the grueling DEVGRU selection process and then deploys into the fight as a Tier One operator. Pursuing the worst of hardened Taliban fighters on what would be his final mission, he and his teammates find their adversary holed up in a compound in the Pech River Valley in eastern Afghanistan, inarguably the most dangerous corner of the most dangerous country on earth. Adam characteristically volunteers to move to the very tip of the spear and is killed almost instantly in a hail of gunfire.

Another American warrior felled by an insurgent’s bullet.

To simply view Adam’s death as that of another intrepid special operator killed in action, though, is to ignore so much of what made this man special. His Christian faith and his devotion to his family truly set him apart. And he refused to include the word ‘can’t’ in his lexicon, even studying for an undergraduate degree into the wee hours of the morning before going to work as a SEAL, and then aspiring to one day attend Harvard Business School!

When he was home, Adam was always 'there' for his wife and children but, being the committed SEAL he was, he wanted to be 'there' for his teammates. On that direct action raid, deep in the Hindu Kush mountains, on March 17, 2011, Adam demonstrated the extent of that commitment. In a selfless act, he diverted the fire being directed at his teammates towards himself and, as a result, died fighting for his last breath.

He laid down his life for his friends.

Synthesizing research and interviews into a deeply engaging story while treating us to an insider's view of the SEAL Team Six brotherhood, Eric Blehm deserves much praise. But it is God who ultimately deserves the credit for allowing us to bear witness to Adam Brown, to see him model his faith, and to be inspired by him. Yes, an angel walking the earth in human flesh and readily exposing those flaws that made him human, but always, always striving to overcome them to be the man God wanted him to be. Finally, in an age when we are starved for real heroes to look up to, Adam Brown comes along and reminds us that we need look no further than those angels among us.

We are only left to eulogize this man who offered us so much. Dead at 36, Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Lee Brown's legacy lives on in his lovely wife and children… and of course, his SEAL teammates.

Thank you, Eric Blehm.

We must never forget.
6 people found this helpful
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Great book about a great man.

I had exceptionally high hopes for this book. After hearing from friends and family about the heroics of Adam Brown I was not disappointed, this is truly an inspirational reflection of a man among men. I gave this book 4 stars however because there were some parts I wanted to know in much greater detail (and felt like I was left hanging) and other parts that seemed to be repeated unnecessarily. Overall I would recommend it to everyone.
2 people found this helpful
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The Title is Appropriate - Adam Brown was Fearless

This was a good book about a warrior, SEAL Team Six member Adam Brown. The distraction, and why this doesn't get five stars, is that it was targeted at a specific audience. Rather than being a straight biography, the author, Eric Blehm, is determined to cater as much to the politically right wing as much as possible. This is fine, and emphasizing faith in the story of a man who found it so important in his own life. But Blehm swallows too many fox newsisms - such as his recitation of the "Angry American" email chain letter, without making any effort at objectivity. And that is a shame, because Adam Brown's amazing life deserves better.
1 people found this helpful
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Fearless in Paperback -- Same Great Story with a Few Additions

Eric Blehm's Fearless is a book that I reviewed when if first came out. At that time, I said it was "one of the best books I have read in recent memory. Adjectives that I would use to describe it are: riveting, inspirational, gutsy, patriotic, and redemptive." To this day, I stand by that initial review.

Coming out in paperback, Blehm has added a new section at the end of the book called "Adam's Legacy." These few pages are selected comments that were sent to the author and/or the Brown family. These go on to show how powerful an effect this book can have on people. They provide a nice book-end to the manuscript as evidence of how character can touch other lives.

It is rare that I review a book and do not offer any sort of criticism, but, quite honestly, Fearless is one such book. The author did a masterful job of weaving together the whole story of an American soldier that ultimately gave his all for you and me. While the writing demonstrates clear skill of the author, the material is rich and engaging for any reader. Clearly, the compelling life of Adam Brown carries the reader through a roller coaster of emotions and the story does not end with his all-too-soon departure from this earth.

The story traces the life of Adam Brown and shows his intense love for his home state of Arkansas. A reader comes to understand that his character was forged at an early age including his penchant for danger (i.e. reenacting a movie scene of jumping off a bridge from a moving car) and sense of justice. Somewhere along the way, due to some "friends" he associated with, Adam was sidetracked through addictions. The greatest challenge of his life was overcoming that addiction even though he had the woman of his dreams and pursued his life's dream of becoming an elite Navy SEAL.

You learn about the rigorous and grueling training that must be endured to become a SEAL team member. Although training accidents slowed his progress, Adam's determination moved him forward closer to fulfilling his passion. He had to step back and retrain himself in many areas to overcome those obstacles. The author interjects some interesting anecdotes about Adam that quickly reveal why others thought so highly of him - all I can say is "fire ants" and will leave the rest for you.

Ultimately, though, Brown's story is one of redemption. After hitting rock bottom and sitting in jail, he gives his life to Christ and accepts the free gift of salvation. Yet, the circumstances of his life do not become prosperous and rosy. He still struggles with his internal demons related to drug addiction, and he faces multiple setbacks along the way of making it onto Seal Team SIX. Love, commitment, and teamwork ultimately helped him overcome but the struggle still remained.

This book is not just for military enthusiasts. It can be used to help those battling with addictions. It can be used to teach leadership lessons. It can be used to engender a better appreciation for our men and women in uniform. It can be used to show the powerful meaning behind the words often contained in wedding vows: "in good times and bad." It can be used to impart tough love needed as a parent. It can be used to encourage those going through difficulties. It can be used to provide the importance of enjoying every waking moment of life and those that you love.

Please, get a copy of this book. Read it and share it with others - you will not be disappointed!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 25: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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This book is one of the greatest books I have read.

This is a true American hero. I read the entire book in 48 hrs. Typically I do not get emotional but WOW. The adversity this man went through and then showing resilience like no other is amazing.
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Impactful

Truly powerful story that will leave an impact. Well written, would definitely recommend.
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Buy extra copies your friends will thank you

I try and keep extra copies for anyone looking for a great book.
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Outstanding

Outstanding book. The author did an outstanding job writing about the life of Adam Brown.
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Five Stars

AWESOME BOOK!
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Must Read

My husband and I read this book together and both loved it. Adam Brown is such an inspiration.