The Men Behind the Trident: SEAL Team One in Vietnam

Naval Institute Special Warfare Series

by Dennis J. Cummings

Dennis J. Cummings, author of "SEAL Pointman", returns to digital format with his second SEAL book, a military non-fiction classic. "The Men Behind the Trident" goes back to the beginning and explores the making of SEAL Team One from the ground up. Over the course of several years, Cummings was granted extraordinary access to these men and crossed the country interviewing Vietnam era members of SEAL Team One. Deliberately written as an oral history, each chapter is like a conversation with one of the first SEALs - learn about their missions, their tactics, and why "the only easy day was yesterday."

Available for the first time as an ebook.

Genres: War, Military Fiction

Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[James Varney · Rating 4 out of 5]

An odd mix of great war stories and bureaucratic business. One of the striking things about SEAL books or MACV-SOG commandos is these guys were all superb soldiers and wanted to be there. So the angst, the whole “Vietnam sucked and guys were damaged” aura that envelops more famous books is missing here. These guys all *wanted* to be there. They were scared, to some extent, but so well trained the fear is much less tangible. That makes for some remarkable stories but also an at times curious, matter of fact attitude about what happens in combat. I suppose it’s something most people, myself very much included, will never understand. In any event, I’m grateful for the service of these men. A part of me wishes everyone in the Army and Navy could be as good as these guys, but of course that’s impossible. And maybe not a bad thing: it’s not that these guys are insane, just that they are a different breed of cats.