Unbreakable: A Navy SEAL’s Way of Life

I should start off by saying what this book isn't....

It's not slick. It's not like Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor. It's not Chris Kyle's American Sniper. And it's not definitely not Richard Marcinko's Rogue Warrior. Each of those was penned in part by others. (Patrick Robinson, Jim DeFelice and John Weisman respectively.) And yes, they are all fine books.

No, Thom Shea's Unbreakable was clearly written by the man himself.

It's a personal memoir, a "letter" to his children in case he didn't return home from battling America's enemies.

It must have been incredibly difficult to write. What does a father want to convey to his son about being a man? What does he want to tell his daughter about being a woman, wife and mother? How does he convey why his sacrificing his life with them was not just a selfish act, but one of love for his family, friends and Nation?

When reading, you can get the sense that the book was compiled from Thom's writing on bits of paper while riding in the back of a cargo plane or email's back home ,from a dusty base in some godforsaken land.

It's why I started by saying the book isn't slick. (It's also why it got four stars from me, and not five - it could have had tighter editing.)

But what it is is honest.

In an age where warriors are no longer glorified, but looked down upon by the politically correct, this book will be hard for them to read. The truth is, after all, a bitter pill to swallow. And the truth is, we need hard men - warriors - to do bad things to bad people.

To read Unbreakable is to get to know who Thom Shea is. A warrior.

I personally know him, just because he's a SEAL don't ever take his word "Unquestionably". He is disliked by ALL whom served with him. His account of all these events are fabricated. The OPs may have happened, but the events he explains are not true. Interesting how it doesn't mention in his book how he was actually fired from SNIPER school, which he claims to have restructured. It's sad more won't speak up against this moron.

v/r
A Team Guy

My biggest gripe is the content in the book that is just ridiculously repetitive. Also, this book is written for his kids. I have no problem what so ever of him talking about whacking hajis. Hell, that's what SEALs do. I loved reading about that.

My problem is the excessive amount of times he talks about wanting to bang his wife. In all honesty, if I'm one of his kids, I wouldn't be chomping at the bit to read a book where my dad talks about plowing my mom more than 10 times in the first 200 pgs. I get he loves his wife and how her connection to him helped him as a SEAL but come on.

I read a lot of military books of all kinds, and lots of Navy Seal specifically (there seems to be quite a bit more content). This is one of my least favorite of them. The stories of his battles are fantastic. The rest of the book is painfully repetitive and not terribly enlightening. Here is a summary:

Your inner dialogue controls your reality. Change your mindset and you are capable of anything.
Sex is important, make sure you are getting lots of it.
A life partner who supports you for who you really are is clutch.

Repeat that about 100 times (in no more detail than that) and the books ends. Good advice, but the book could have been about 50 pages. 10 of good advice, 40 of awesome battles.

I loved the book I even bought a paperback copy for my wife and kids to read. A great life book of rules put in layman's terms, that can change your outlook on life and how to reach goals that you thought unattainable!

A wordy mess of drivel, bravado "boys will be boys" tales with some Joel-Osteen quality "lessons of life" ham-fisted in. I get that "war" isn't pretty and what SEALs etc are expected to do is in stark contrast with civilian life--but the narrative feels disorganized, disjointed, repetitive, and clashes with the high-brow philosophical life advice.

In particular, the recounting of the adventure race just sounded pathetic and sore-loser-y. Death threats on another team were punished adequately, and being a team of licensed government soldiers doesn't give you free reign to ignore other rules of society.

The "Spartan Wife" thing that kept recurring was just really weird. If you're comfortable with your assigned/accepted gender roles, hey, that's fine. But the way he bragged about his wife and sexualized her had nothing to do with anything else in the book, and certainly isn't something kids (who the book is allegedly addressed to) want to read about their parents. Yikes, bruh.

Interesting book, especially the recounts of battles and missions. But lots of super cheesy high-school level dialogue between the Author and his wife. Just had me skipping through all those parts to get to the meat of the story. Super cheesy.

A great read for anyone who wants to become a leader, anyone who doubts themselves and/or especially those who are suffering from virtually anything. Senior Chief Shea shows and explains how we can do so much more than we ever thought possible, it's not easy by any measure but his lessons are universal and can be applied everyday in many different fashions.
For me, the best parts of the book come when we talks about a persons Internal Dialogue. It's insane how much effort/power/willingness/determination, etc. a person can pull from their own internal dialogue.

This is an absolutely amazing, incredibly deep, rich, love story written by a fearless, courageous, sniper focused, prepared, battle ready, Navy Seal Warrior whose wisdom in his UNBREAKABLE story has touched me to the core of my soul.

Mr. Shea's honesty, integrity, truthfulness, transparency and incredible "raw" story telling interwoven with the Adamantine 13 Lessons will forever change my Internal Dialogue every 86,400 seconds in a day! Thank you for sharing so intimately the love you have of your Spartan wife, Stacy and your Shea legacy :)

I started this book earlier in the month 32,000 ft. in the air and had the pleasure of finishing it this afternoon, again 32,000 ft. in the air.

Thank you for your bravery, standing strong and loving deeply!

Shea speaks about things I have always thought but never heard another person speak about. Shea is the real deal and his book is full of a unique perspective about connection, the need to be needed, and the internal dialogue. I am reading through it again and will refer to these ideas for the rest of my life.