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One Bullet Away

The Making of Marine Officer

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One Bullet Away

By: Nathaniel Fick
Narrated by: Nathaniel Fick
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About this listen

A former captain in the Marines' First Recon Battalion, who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, reveals how the Corps trains its elite and offers a point-blank account of twenty-first-century battle.

If the Marines are "the few, the proud", Recon Marines are the fewest and the proudest. Only one Marine in a hundred qualifies for Recon, charged with working clandestinely, often behind enemy lines. Fick's training begins with a hellish summer at Quantico, after his junior year at Dartmouth, and advances to the pinnacle, Recon, four years later, on the eve of war with Iraq. Along the way, he learns to shoot a man a mile away, stays awake for 72 hours straight, endures interrogation and torture at the secretive SERE course, learns to swim with Navy SEALs, masters the Eleven Principles of Leadership, and much more.

His vast skill set puts him in front of the front lines, leading 22 Marines into the deadliest conflict since Vietnam. He vows he will bring all his men home safely, and to do so he'll need more than his top-flight education. He'll need luck and an increasingly clear vision of the limitations of his superiors and the missions they assign him.

Fick unveils the process that makes Marine officers such legendary leaders and shares his hard-won insights into the differences between the military ideals he learned and military practice, which can mock those ideals. One Bullet Away never shrinks from blunt truths, but it is an ultimately inspiring account of mastering the art of war.

©2005 Nathaniel Fick (P)2005 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved. AUDIOWORKS is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division.
Military Military & War War Veteran Gulf War
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Critic reviews

"Candid and fast-paced....Like the best combat memoirs, Fick's focuses on the men doing the fighting and avoids...sensationalism." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about One Bullet Away

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good

good book with good narration. compelling story. if you're interested in military novels I'd recommend

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Great narrative, well read

A great book, very interesting contrast to Evan Wright's Generation Kill. Fick has nothing but praise for the soldiers serving under him, but has very little time for his peers or senior officers.

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Brilliant

Fantastic book well read highly recommend brilliant companion to generation kill thoroughly enjoyed and also provoking

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An essential read for all new leads.

An accessible and compelling account of a young man's journey into leadership under fire. Much more than a book about conflict, it actually acts as a great blueprint for building leaders who are able to balance operational effectiveness with high quality care for the people they lead.

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My favourite war memoir

Really gripping book about an extremely interesting point of modern history. It's fascinating to hear these experiences of the invasion of Iraq and the aftermath on the ground. I've listened to this book a few times now. My only complaint is that I wish it was a little longer.

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Absolutely brilliant.

Perhaps the most and honest account of an experience as a marine officer. Very well written and honestly illstruative of the development as a leader and moral dihlmeas of combat as well as the issue of leadership in war.

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Fantastic

Having watched the HBO mini series Generation Kill and read Evan Wright's book that the show was based on, this book was added to my reading list. I decided to go with the Audiobook as it is narrated by the Author himself. Really loved this book. I listened to it on my commute and was often annoyed when I reached the office and had to pause it until home time. I'd say it would be equally as enjoyable if you haven't seen/read Generation Kill.

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A touching look inside the war in Iraq.

A really interesting listen and a different view than you get from generation kill. Fick is obviously a deep and caring individual who has shown great compassion and integrity in the face of war. This book is a must for anyone who read and/or watched generation kill.

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If you've read generation kill then don't bother with this.

Not much substance to this book other than what he saw and did.
Not much thought or expansion on any topic really.
Mentions his college education a lot.
Mentions his love of Marines even more. That's about all Itooke from this.
If you've read Generation Kill and any other military memoir then you will know a lot of this story already.

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Poor in all values

Poor narration , it was originally a plus when I saw that the book was being read by the author I assumed then that he had a story that he wanted to tell, however I was unable to find the points of a story or anything really positive or worthwhile about it Paul narration poor story poor experience nothing in here tells you about creating a US Marine Corps officer. Very little in here portrays my opinion the values of a leader or an officer

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1 person found this helpful