By Water Beneath the Walls

A gripping history chronicling the fits and starts of American special operations and the ultimate rise of the Navy SEALs from unarmed frogmen to elite, go-anywhere commandosas told by one of their own. Deeply researched, well organized, and incredibly engaging . . This is our legacy with all the warts, the challenges, and the heroics in one concise volume. Admiral William H. McRaven, #1 New York Times bestselling author and former commander, United States Special Operations CommandHow did the US Navythe branch of the US military tasked with patrolling the oceansever manage to produce a unit of raiders trained to operate on land? And how, against all odds, did that unit become one of the worlds most elite commando forces, routinely striking thousands of miles from the water on the battlefields of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, even Central Africa?Behind the SEALs improbable rise lies the most remarkable underdog story in American military historyand in these pages, former Navy SEAL Benjamin H. Milligan captures it as never before. Told through the eyes of remarkable leaders and racing from one longshot, hair-curling raid to the next, By Water Beneath the Walls is the tale of the units heroic naval predecessors, and the evolution of the SEALs themselves. But its also the story of the forging of American special operations as a wholeand how the SEALs emerged from the fires as Americas first permanent commando force when again and again some other unit seemed predestined to seize that role. Here Milligan thrillingly captures the outsize feats of the SEALs frogmen forefathers in World War II, the Korean War, and elsewhere, even as he plunges us into the second front of interservice rivalries and personal ambition that shaped the SEALs evolution. In equally vivid, masterful detail, he chronicles key early missions undertaken by units like the Marine Raiders, Army Rangers, and Green Berets, showing us how these fateful, bloody moments helped create the modern American commandoeven as they opened up pivotal opportunities for the Navy. Finally, he takes us alongside as the SEALs at last seize the mantle of commando raiding, and discover the missions of capture/kill and counterterrorism that would define them for decades to come. Now required reading throughout the US special operations community, By Water Beneath the Walls is an essential history of the SEAL teams, a crackling account of desperate last stands and unforgettable characters accomplishing the impossibleand a riveting epic of the dawn of American special operations.