Book Review: Yellow Green Beret

I just finished up a book titled Yellow Green Beret by Gene Yu. This guy's a true Alpha Asian, in every sense of the word. Gene served as an Army Special Forces officer. He served in 4 combat tours in Iraq and the Philippines, working extensively throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East in special ops missions. He received several medals for his accomplishments, including 2 Bronze Stars.

Gene decided to write a book about his experiences, all the way from his time at Westpoint in 1997 to the Iraq War in 2009.  It's a compilation of 23 episodes from his military life, some of them quite humorous, some of them profound life lessons. All of the stories provide the reader with an inside look at Army Special Forces Operations and the intense training that's involved.  You learn a lot about the war in Iraq, hazing at Westpoint, sniper school and scenario based training

And yet, this guy doesn't take himself too seriously.  He doesn't come off as a super soldier devoid of fear and weakness.  As a Green Beret, he is (as he puts it) "an average dude in a special group of people."  And this makes him much more relatable.

This and the fact that he is Asian American who grew up in the Bay Area. His stories are about life in the military (not about Asian American issues) but you get his Asian American perspective framing the stories, nonetheless. 

This is a great book, and I highly recommend it.  Each story sucks you into a world that very few of us in the civilian world know about.  You'll be entertained and educated regardless of whether you have an interest in military operations.  You can check out some excerpts at Yellow Green Beret.