I'm a veteran of the Rogue series. I've read them all, and I'm here to tell you that Operation No Man's Land is a boring book. The action sequences don't have the same gritty realism. Also, there were quite a few spelling and grammer errors. It will be a cold day in hell when I read another one of these books.

This book was a present. I'm spoiled by the Rouge warrior series so I'm glad I didnt buy this book. The characters in the book go on a series of small missions more suited for the boy scouts than a Seal team.

Mike Martell is a great author, i really enjoyed reading his book, i like reading Richard Marchinko books too, they are both great authors. Don't listen to what ever other people have to say "it sucks" they just wish they could write a book as good as this. I hope Mr. Martell keeps writing.
These are really teriffic books, were they real?

Martell's piece is a good way to kill a few hours on a flight between Vienna and New-York. The lay-out makes you believe you are actualy reading SEAL mission real paperwork. The different missions covered, which lead to the final assignment, are well done, and for the average, weapon-unfamiliar person, rather precise. Not totally accurate, but precise.

The drawback comes when by mid-book, the reader has more or less lost track of what the book is all about. Besides, all goes well for these SEAL guys. I doubt real missions go as smoothly as the book's ones; This special ops unit is definitely good at planning, but THAT good makes it slightly too..."Hollywoodesque"!

Pictures instead of drawings might have helped as well.

Overall, a good reading for anyone having interest in this military, counterterrorism warfare business, and definitely a must-read for the Special Op Wannabee.

Does not grant a second burst for everybody else.

I FOUND THIS BOOK EASY TO READ LIKE MOST OF THE BOOKS I HAVE READ ABOUT SEALS AND FOUND IT INTERESTING AS WELL. AS A YOUNG SEAL ENTHUSIAST I FIND IT INTERESTING TO READ ABOUT OUR COUNTRY'S GREATEST FIGHTERS DOING WHAT THEY DO BEST. BECAUSE I HAVE READ FACTUAL BOOKS ABOUT THE SEALS, I FOUND THIS TO BE BASED ON FACT AND A GOOD READ FOR ANY SEAL ENTHUSIAST.

Martell wrote this book astonishingly well. The only thing i found bad was that u got lost. It needed more backroun on the SEALs and i did find sum wrongfull facts.But all in all it was good

The author must be a parctical joker or else he thinks his readers are right out of Europe's dark ages. I find it amusing when he says that Mr. Arabi has been keeping an eye on the Moslem world. Wow, now we know why Moslems are so miserable, it is Arabi's fault. If he is right that the great Arabi is keeping an eye on Islamic world, I must say he is not doing a good job, it could be that Mr. Arabi has been sleep for past few centuries or maybe he is in a coma. As a moslem, and on the behalf of many young moslems liek myself, I have a message for Mr. Arabi : Sir, could you not watch over us anymore, and if you must watch over someone, could you do it to our enemies. I read this book and I am amazed how irrelevant it is to the need of moslems, as if these kind speculative non-sense is what Islamic world needs right now.

I wish o propose an interpretation of Mr. Arabi's choice of person for Seal of Saints which will undoubtedly be controversial and draw disagreement from many people. Given the fact that Mr. Ibne' Al_Arabi was originally from Spain; he must have had many encounter with Christians and their spiritual tradition. He must of have struggled with the notion of Islam vs. Christianity and in my view he made a final choice by declaring Jesus Christ as the Seal of all Saints over anyone else. He must have often wondered about the spirituality of Muhammad as compared to that of Jesus, or even other Prophets for that matter. According to Moslem history, Muhammad underwent a self-doubt after his encounter with the angel. This behavior is almost unprecedented even by Moslem's own holy book accounts. While Jesus declares his Holiness in a cradle, Muhammad is confused about his own spiritual ability, as is well indicated by the story of Muhammad's first encounter with Angel in which Muhammad rushes to his wife filled with agony and self-doubt as to whether he really saw an Angel or was he possessed by a Demon. In the story of Moses, too, we see that Moses had no doubt as to his encounter with his God in the Mount. In fact according to Quran, as far as I know, no Prophet had ever experienced the same kind of self-doubt as it has been attributed to Muhammad. This historical fact, written by Moslems themselves, indicates that Muhammad's spiritual capacity was at best a mediocre one. This indeed must have caught Ibne' Al-Arabi's attention.

Yet in another story we read that Muhammad underwent a heavenly operation to his "chest" to purify him and make him ready for his future mission. While Muhammad needed a direct intervention to be purified, Jesus had no such a need and was born pure. All these accounts and many more, must have made Ibne' Al-Arabi wonder about his religion and its truthfulness. Mr. Arabi makes a clear choice by announcing Jesus as the Seal of Saint, clearly making Jesus the most spiritual man in the world, and by doing so, in an indirect manner, invites Moslems to Christianity. He declares himself as the seal of saints among Moslem spirituals, knowing all too well, that he and only he alone had enough courage to declare the truthfulness of Christianity and superiority of Jesus over all, specially over Muhammad, in the heart of Islamic empire. I do not think of Ibne' Al-Arabi as a Moslem saint but rather an apostle of Christianity, a messenger of Jesus Christ to Moslems who happen to follow a man who, according to their own account, could not distinguish between an angel and a demon, even after going through a purification attempt by angels earlier at his childhood.

I find Sufism a fascinating dimension of Islam. More fascinating is the Shiism with their notion of Imams and the philosophy of the "absent Imam" usually referred to as Mahdi. From what I understand, Mahdiism is common between Sunni and Shia Islam and, as author of this book mentions, even Ibne' Al-Arabi mentions his name and claims to have had close encounter with him. What amazed me was the fact that even though there has been, among Sunni Moslems at least, many claims by different people to have been the promised Mahdi, there has been no such thing among Shies. I always wondered why and I think I have discovered the reason for it. The reason seems to be in the extraordinary attribute of the Imams of Shia, which is usually referred to by "Ismat". This attribute ,at first, seems to be equivalent to the "infallibility" familiar in the west. But as one looks closer,one realises that this means alot more than what the word " ifallible" means in the west. It seemed the "Ismat" qualification put such a stringent requirement on the "Imam" that is almost impossible for one to claim to possess such an attribute. For example, An Imam's knowledge, we are told, is so extraordinary that he can meet any challenge, at any age, put forth to him by the most powerful minds of his time regardless of their field of expertise. No wonder no one among Shia dares to claim to be the promised Mahdi, and one wonders if such a person can ever exist. But of course one never knows since we have seen many strange things in our time that defies human intuition and knowledge. I find it fascinating how Shiism came up with means of preventing promised "Mahdi's" popping up, all over the place, and hence cheapening the idea, by creating such a stringent qualification. Maybe that was the point, to create an everlasting hope for something impossible, a hope for an impossible perfection, a continuously forward-looking philosophy. Or maybe such a person does exist and is, in a sense, a divine masterpiece of genetic engineering or as a Sufi might put it a "Perfect Man" in its truest sense. Either way it is a fascinating philosophy.

This book might appeal to SEAL wannabes, but anyone else should skip it. This is advertised as a novel, but there is no plot or storyline anywhere in sight. It is another of the many books recently published along the line of "See how tough the SEALS are". While I have the utmost respect for the US Navy SEALS, this book is simply another recitation of BUD/S and Hell Week.
SEAL wannabes and SEAL fans might apppreciate it because the author is well-known in the SEAL community. This book appears to be a thinly disguised autobiography of the author's own BUD/S experience. There are a lot better SEAL books out there.

A lot of good information is available on Navy SEALS, and this book adds to that. It gives detailed information on expectations to make it through HELL WEEK from an insiders view point. Dennis Chalker has a way of writing that is subtle, but powerful. This book may be an autobiography of his BUDS experience, and is a valuable resource for any person who wants to understand HELL WEEK from someone who has been there. From his writing style, I found myself struggling with the Class 78 to get thru every evolution described and immense relief when they were declared "secured". I also enjoyed Dennis Chalker's first book "One Perfect Op". Some readers may expect some kind of movie glitz when they read about Navy SEALS, but the true effort is described in this book- pain, determination, tenacity, stress beyond ordinary imagination, but ultimately the immense pride and respect that comes with the accomplishment of completing Hell Week.

The dust jacket says Hutchins is a former SEAL, but this is not true. The book contains many detailed descriptions of operations for which the sources are unexplained--Hutchins, who had never been a SEAL, had not participated in them, does not mention any names of participants, does not say he has interviewed participants, and does not cite documents or written sources.

A well-written and comprehensive account of SEAL operations during the Vietnam War. Describes missions in great detail and provides data to backup his assertions.

This reads like the driest of text books but what it lacks in compelling storytelling, it makes up for with extensive research and thorough accounting. Only recommended for those with a penchant for adding to their Pearl Harbor libraries.

I don't know how this book got linked to Dean Koontz, but it is NOT written by him. I ordered it, and eventually returned it because there is absolutely no reason to suspect that he had anything to do with it. If you are trying to be a Dean Koontz completist, save the money you would have errantly spent on this and buy one of HIS books. On the other hand, if you'd like to know how to steam open your neighbor's mail, then this book is for you!

I understand that "Keith Douglass" is the name used by a number of different authors who write the Seal Team Seven and Carrier series. It seems that there's another new author writing as "Keith Douglass" now, and I wish they'd go back to one of the previous ones. The dialogue isn't very smooth in this book, and I thought the way Jaybird resolved his coaching problem was extremely disturbing. I hope this isn't an indication of a new "loose cannon" attitude on the part of these Seals. They've always been portrayed as being quite professional.

'Point Man' writes from experience. Although this is 'fiction', he has 'been there, done that' and knows what he's talking about. Might be a little confusing, but so is combat, esp. close quarters combat! There are many authors who claim to write 'true' books, but how many do you know who write 'fiction' that's from REAL EXPERIENCE? Good reading...ENJOY! Also, check out his Non-Fiction books! "Point Man" & "Walking Point" to read the true stories!

This is the first book I read in the "Seal Team Seven" series. I am a big fan of Douglass' work, though. I read the first installment in the "Carrier" series in which an American spy ship is captured off the coast of North Korea. Needless to say, I was hooked. Sadly, "Battleground" is nowhere near as good as Carrier. The action scenes are boring and become quickly repetitive. None of the characters are particularly interesting either. I found the action derivative of the standard action movie cliche in which the bad guys can't shoot to save their lives but the good guys score a hit every time. I was sorely dissapointed in the book and am glad I got out of the library for free.

I have read 5 of Mr. Douglass's Seal Team Seven books and this one had the worst editing job that I've ever encountered. The Seals go through their motions and do in the bad guys, but the editor kills the story. For example, Magic Brown the Seals sniper carries an M-88 McMillan sniper rifle on page 223 that becomes an M-93 fifty on page 230 and then he has a H&K PSG1 sniper rifle on page 234. If you like action and can over look all of the errors that a 10-year-old could have caught, then go ahead and read it. But if you want some good military action series, read Bob Mayer's Riley series or Richard Marcinko's Rogue Warrior Series. These guys have actually been there and done that (BTDT) stuff for REAL. Mr. Douglass, the stories have potential but, get a new Editor or a new Publisher. The lack of editing in this book was unforgivable.

These Seal Team books are great! While I generally prefer more mainstream war novels like "The Triumph and the Glory" to these more tighly focused novels, Douglass is so good at what he does that I never miss one of his books.