ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I HAD MUCH HELP and encouragement early in this project and during the most difficult parts of it. There is nothing in this book that did not benefit from suggestions and help. I would first like to thank Joel Millner of Larchmont Literary in Los Angeles, and Julia Lord of Julia Lord Literary in New York. I have worked with Joel for over a decade, and Julia is a friend who steered me through the rocks and shoals of a trade that was strange to me. Their support helped take a scattered idea and turn it into a book. I would also like to thank several friends whose early help was vital: first off, friend, author, war correspondent, and screenwriter David Freed, for his kindness and for his example of clean, sparkling writing. My friend Peter Gaele, adventurer, screenwriter, and raconteur, graciously showed me what a book proposal looked like; and my colleague and friend Lee Johnson gave me the examples of a writer’s life and of her fine, steady prose.

It is axiomatic to thank Mom and Dad, but I wish to thank mine especially, for literally keeping the lights on as I wrote. Particular thanks to my father, who researched, verified, fact-checked, and located most of the official photos in the book. He is a formidable researcher, one hell of a naval officer, and a great dad. Many, many thanks also to my friend and teammate Scott Speroni, my comrade in Lebanon, who provided numerous hard-to-find photos and was a steady hand when we shared danger.

For preparation of the manuscript and copyediting, I wish to thank Patrick Miller and especially Lisa Essenberg, who not only rode herd on an ever expanding gaggle of pages but also provided mission-critical research. For framing my narrative in a factual context, I would like to thank my friend, historian Eric Hammel, whose book, The Root: Marines in Beirut, August 1982–February 1984, is the definitive history of America’s misadventure in Lebanon. Thanks to the staff of the UDT/SEAL Museum, who managed to dig up a photograph of Class 114. And thank you to Vic Duppenthaler of Uniflight, Inc., for photos and information on the venerable and stealthy Seafox.

I’d like to thank my old friend Richard T. “Murph” Murphy, the man who got me into the writing game, and the person who, more than any other, taught me how to write plainly. Thanks to my comrades F.G.S. and L.L., who served with me in Beirut, read the manuscript, and contributed their recollections. Thanks also to my dear friends Jerri Hente, Lisa Paul, Colonel Marvin “Ski” Krupinsky, his wife, Jackie, Benham and Robert Howard, Dr. “Mac Daddy” Evans, Liz Grenamyer, Matt Wolfe and Tripp Newsome, Cap’n Gary Blohm, Blair and Bobby Woolverton, Bruce Truesdell, Bob and Pam Currey, Dorothy Alstrin, my teammates Kim Erskine and Ian Conway, Matt and Lynn Keller, and Beau St. Clair, all of whom read chapters and told me where to get off.

An early reader was my friend Sue Schuler, whose love for life was an inspiration. Her battle with cancer is now over, but the world is richer for the example of her grace, courage, humor, and dignity. We miss you.

Thanks to everyone who was a part of these stories, to teammates and comrades, friends and acquaintances. To my betters whom I have praised, my apologies for being impertinent; to commanders and teammates I have suddenly found wanting, I apologize for not having had the courage to speak up sooner.

Kind and sincere thanks to my editor, Bob Loomis at Random House, who took the chance that a screenwriter could write a book. He is the bravest man I’ve met lately.

My undying gratitude and love to my wife, Stacey, and my son, Paddy, for their patience and understanding. Stacey’s love sustained me through the darkest part of my illness, and I am sorry that they often made do without the help of a father and husband. Thank you for loving me.

My thanks to the marines and sailors of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, and the men of SEAL Team Four and SEAL Team Six. My profound and humble gratitude to the many families, wives and mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, who placed the ultimate sacrifice upon the altar of liberty. My thanks, however heartfelt and respectful, are trivial compared to the tragedy of your loss. Please know there is not a day that passes when I do not ask why your sons were taken but I was not.

Finally, I wish to thank the men of naval special warfare, the operators, who daily place themselves before our enemies—and at the mercy of the sea.