I don’t normally read SEAL books but somehow this one grabbed me.  I emailed the author of FEARLESS, Eric Blehm, to talk about a SOFREP radio interview. He agreed but asked if I’d read the book yet. I had to come clean and say, “No I haven’t”. I’ve done radio interviews with hosts who haven’t read my own memoir The Red Circle, and it can sometimes be frustrating. “Well, nothing left to do but read the book”, I said to myself.

It’s a small community and there’s a thin thread that connects us both. I briefly met Adam once at our sniper training facility in Indiana, he was the crazy one-eyed SEAL who had just finished sniper school and taught himself to shoot left-handed. I wasn’t his instructor but I’d heard all about him and what a great attitude and inspiration he was to everyone.  At the time I was the west coast Sniper Course Manager and we were in the process of integrating east and west coast courses and consolidating training at the Indiana compound. My fellow cadre had just put him through the course and they had nothing but praise for Adam.  Your reputation in the SEAL Teams is everything. There are some guys who have a solid operational reputation but are not liked by all their teammates, this was not Adam.  He was among the rare, special breed of men who was liked by all in our community and everyone who ever came into contact with.

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These special men are shaped this way by their life experiences and Adam’s life was not an easy one. He struggled with drug addiction and a rap sheet prior to getting into the Navy and ultimately overcoming immense obstacles that lead him into the US Navy SEALs. Lessons we can all learn from.