The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday: An Inside Look at the Training of the Navy Seals

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME
Review: First of all, it's HUGE and BOLD! ... not wimpy on presentation. Very interesting narrative you don't normally see in photographer's projects; you can really follow these soldiers through their intriguing training process and their "becoming".

Rating:
Summary: "Why didn't they say the handsomest?"--Capt Smethers
Review: I took my title from Capt. Smethers speech from Class 246's graduation. He was talking about a study that was done on what it takes to make a SEAL. He mentioned all the characteristics of a SEAL and asked why the study didn't mention that they were the handsomest. That got a good laugh from everyone since that definitely isn't a requirement. Look at the photos. Yes you do see the dogged determination in all these faces, but to a man they all are pretty good looking.

This book shows what these men who want to be SEALS go through and why most of them fail. And Richard Schoenberg was right there with them. He didn't go through the excruciating exercises, but he was there in the mud, the sand, the freezing water for hours at a time, and endured the lack of sleep that the BUD/S men themselves endured. Through all this he kept his camera handy and took thousands of pictures documenting anything and everything the men went through. His editors had the daunting task of whittling the number down to the ones you see in this book. What results is a great photographic essay, from beginning to end, the making of a Navy SEAL.

This is a tight knit group and it is hard to gain a hold here. By the end of it all Captain Smethers and the 246 class made Schoenberg an honorary frogman. He had proved himself.