“Hunting terrorists was a rough existence. It was a stressful job and I had to give up a lot to do it right.”
Brett Velicovich joined the Army after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. He wanted to help America fight its enemy. Little did he know that his path in the military would take him to joining the elite 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta, where he would be an intelligence analyst using drones to gather data and target terrorists. When he was deployed with the group, his entire life centered around hunting down terrorists so Special Forces could go in and capture them. Drone Warrior is his autobiography.
I saw this book mentioned in a news article and also read that it was going to be turned into a movie. I grew up as a military brat, so I keep my eye on military stories. This one seemed really interesting, as there is a lot of conflicting information and views out there about how drones are used by the military. I thought I could learn a lot by reading a first-person account of someone who worked with the people who used the drones.
Despite being 300 pages, Drone Warrior was a fairly quick read for me. Velicovich moves through his story quickly and goes more in-depth during his deployments. He tells several stories of times they hunted down terrorists, found kidnapping victims or prevented trucks with explosives from reaching their destinations. He does also address his problems adjusting back to civilian life after deployment. He eventually helps a company use drones to seek out animal poachers in Africa.
I’m curious how this book will adapt to the big screen since a lot of it is internal thoughts and emotions of the author. I think it gives a very realistic view of how the military is using drones. I would highly recommend this to any adult who wants to know more about the war against terrorism and how drones are being used.
Do you enjoy military non-fiction books? Which one is your favorite? Comment below!
