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The Mission the men and me
By Pete Blabber
retired Delta force commander
I wanted to review this book before I moved onto reading the next so it would be fresh in my mind. From the title one would expect this book to be filled with harrowing stories about Delta force missions. It is that, and much much more. Mr. Blabber uses the backdrop of his time in Afghanistan as a vehicle to teach lessons in decision making and leadership. You may think that leadership skills have little value to you. Perhaps you don't see yourself as a leader. I for one don't envision myself as a great leader of men. However, we all may find ourselves having to take the reins of leadership, we should at least give some time to learning some successful leadership skills. The lessons in this book cover much more than just that. Blabber also goes into detail several times about the process of decision making and how the mind operates during this process. Saturate, incubate and illuminate covers the three stages of information processing in the mind. Starting with flooding the mind with information, taking the time to mull it over or incubate it and finally to form solutions. The author also hammers home repeatedly throughout this book the need to think creatively and outside the box, to share information and perhaps most importantly strive to see the world or situation through others eyes.He uses several examples of SF operations to highlight how unconventional thinking was used to solve perceived unsolvable dilemas. Of the character attributes one would expect a tier one operator to poses the author lists common sense, unconventional thinking and lack of ego as among the most important. Most of the book details common sense ideas but it is presented in a way that makes you have a ah ha moment when reading it. I found this book very interesting and informative. I plan to read it again at least once and it will go into my recommended reading list for anyone wanting to sharpen their mental and leadership skills. Highly recommended
By Pete Blabber
retired Delta force commander
I wanted to review this book before I moved onto reading the next so it would be fresh in my mind. From the title one would expect this book to be filled with harrowing stories about Delta force missions. It is that, and much much more. Mr. Blabber uses the backdrop of his time in Afghanistan as a vehicle to teach lessons in decision making and leadership. You may think that leadership skills have little value to you. Perhaps you don't see yourself as a leader. I for one don't envision myself as a great leader of men. However, we all may find ourselves having to take the reins of leadership, we should at least give some time to learning some successful leadership skills. The lessons in this book cover much more than just that. Blabber also goes into detail several times about the process of decision making and how the mind operates during this process. Saturate, incubate and illuminate covers the three stages of information processing in the mind. Starting with flooding the mind with information, taking the time to mull it over or incubate it and finally to form solutions. The author also hammers home repeatedly throughout this book the need to think creatively and outside the box, to share information and perhaps most importantly strive to see the world or situation through others eyes.He uses several examples of SF operations to highlight how unconventional thinking was used to solve perceived unsolvable dilemas. Of the character attributes one would expect a tier one operator to poses the author lists common sense, unconventional thinking and lack of ego as among the most important. Most of the book details common sense ideas but it is presented in a way that makes you have a ah ha moment when reading it. I found this book very interesting and informative. I plan to read it again at least once and it will go into my recommended reading list for anyone wanting to sharpen their mental and leadership skills. Highly recommended