ALPHA

A war story focused on “a generation of elite fighters who in the absence of any clear end to conflict, had to decide what the hell they were fighting for.”

Perhaps the most prominent American special forces unit, the SEALs enjoy a large readership for the steady stream of books recounting their exploits. This disturbing but gripping account by award-winning New York Times correspondent Philipps will appeal to a large audience but few SEAL admirers. Readers may remember the 2019 trial of veteran SEAL Eddie Gallagher for war crimes, including a 2017 murder in Mosul, Iraq. After a review of SEALs history, training, and operations in Iraq, Philipps delivers the result of years searching confidential Navy documents, court transcripts, service and medical records, thousands of text messages and emails, and interviews with current and former SEALs. They testified to Gallagher’s erratic and dangerous conduct, which included not just murder, but lying to superiors, theft, narcotic addiction, sniping at obviously innocent civilians, and putting their own lives in danger by inexplicably foolish tactics. But the trial ran in parallel with a media blitz that described a “blue-eyed combat veteran jailed by his own government….Eddie was a real-life version of Rambo made for the Trump era.” Fawning TV spots portrayed him as an old-school warrior “just trying to do what needed to be done when he was tattled on by pouty, politically correct millennials.” Perhaps aware of how the winds were blowing, many SEALs who had complained to superiors waffled on the witness stand or never appeared. In the end, Gallagher was convicted of one minor charge and immediately pardoned by Trump, who proclaimed that he was exactly the sort of warrior that would make America great. He also fired Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer when, with the approval of SEAL and military brass, he sought to discipline Gallagher, who remains a regular on Fox News and other conservative media.

Brilliant journalism that offers a deeply disquieting commentary on America’s dysfunctional cultural divide.