Shadow Warrior Out of the Shadows

By J -


So Shadow Warrior Gene Yu has come out of the shadows and is now a celeb in Taiwan.  His book "Yellow Green Beret" was translated into Chinese. This guy's a true Alpha Asian. Gene served as a U.S. 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.

Yellow Green Beret documents 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 was (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.

I was so impressed with Gene's book Yellow Green Beret that I wanted to do a podcast interview with him. As far as Asian American books from the male perspective, I would consider this one of my top three. Definitely give this book a read if you get a chance.

In this interview, Gene and I talk about Asians at Westpoint, military life (and party life) in Korea, overthrowing enemy governments, the history of the Green Berets and Robin Sage (the ultimate military role playing game).

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