The Red Circle: My Life in the Navy SEAL Sniper Corps and How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen

By: Brandon Webb, John David Mann

Narrated by: Jon Bailey

Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Before he could forge a band of elite warriors ... he had to become one himself.

Brandon Webb's experiences in the world's most elite sniper corps are the stuff of legend. From his grueling years of training in Naval Special Operations to his combat tours in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan, The Red Circle provides a rare and riveting look at the inner workings of the U.S. military through the eyes of a covert operations specialist.

Yet it is Webb's distinguished second career as a lead instructor for the shadowy "sniper cell" and Course Manager of the Navy SEAL Sniper Program that trained some of America's finest and deadliest warriors - including Marcus Luttrell and Chris Kyle - that makes his story so compelling. Luttrell credits Webb's training with his own survival during the ill-fated 2005 Operation Redwing in Afghanistan.

Kyle went on to become the U.S. military's top marksman, with more than 150 confirmed kills.

From a candid chronicle of his student days, going through the sniper course himself, to his hair-raising close calls with Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the northern Afghanistan wilderness, to his vivid account of designing new sniper standards and training some of the most accomplished snipers of the 21st century, Webb provides a rare look at the making of the Special Operations warriors who are at the forefront of today's military.

Explosive, revealing, and intelligent, The Red Circle provides a uniquely personal glimpse into one of the most challenging and secretive military training courses in the world.

A portion of proceeds from this book will go towards The Red Circle Charitable Foundation, which helps families of fallen Special Operations Warriors.

About the authors:

Brandon Webb is a former U.S. Navy SEAL; his last assignment with the SEALs was Course Manager for the elite SEAL Sniper Course, where he was instrumental in developing new curricula that trained some of the most accomplished snipers of the 21st century. Webb has received numerous distinguished service awards, including the Presidential Unit Citation and the Navy Commendation Medal with a "V" for "Valor", for his platoon's deployment to Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks. He is editor for Military.com's blog Kit Up, SOFREP's Editor in Chief, and a frequent national media commentator on snipers and related Special Operations Forces military issues.

John David Mann, who collaborated with Webb in writing The Red Circle, is an award-winning author whose titles include the New York Times best seller Flash Foresight and the international best seller The Go-Giver.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2012 Brandon Webb (P)2012 Brandon Webb

Brandon Webb- Sniper gold

I can't imagine the countless lives Brandon has saved because of his attention to detail as sniper instructor. This a great memoir of his life and service. He tells a few bonus stories at the end that had me laughing pretty hard about Marcus Luttrell and Chris Kyle.

Great book!

If you like honesty, adventure, some good laughs, and of course the teams. You will love this book.

Good book.

Enjoyed the author's comments before chapters. Sometimes the narration sounded awkward. Great story. Full of good life lessons.

Outstanding book

If you ever wanted to know exactly what is involved when it comes to being in the special forces. This is your book. Brandon goes in depth into his training and service to his country in ways not many other books have. As an added bonus he gives you a personal commentary track before every chapter as well as a great wrap up. With two stories about two legendary well known SEALS. I highly suggest this book to anyone.

Good read

The book was worth the time. A couple of issues were reported by other readers I also noticed. The audio version of the book was developed independently and in 3-4 places the reader repeats a sentence or phrase. The author also introduces each chapter himself with some dialogue about why the material in that chapter was important to him. Some readers found it annoying but I did not.

News reports and other Navy SEALs indicate the author embellishes when describing some of the stories. In some cases by over exaggerating his participation in the activity or relationship to the people. I tell myself that these are the authors memories and emotions. The memories are likely flawed as are most peoples and from his viewpoint and therefore open to interpretation by other participants.

nice background story to the Iraq situation

I enjoyed this book allot but my one draw back was the foul language. I have a hard time respecting someone that feels using that vernacular to empasize their conveyances to that type of talk is a poor choice. this book has allot although the story line is interesting enough for me to finish it.

Great book

Liked the addition of the narration by Brandon Webb. Great book!

The spelling out of B.U.D.S. For the entire book was driving me crazy though! Lol

great listen

Loved it. Brandon Webb is an amazing human and story teller. Lessons to be learned by everyone. NOT a blow by blow battle book. This is the story of how he became the person he is now.

Very Enjoyable Audio Book!

I very much enjoyed the experience of this audio book. This is the first time I have tried an Audible book and it was an enhancement over simply reading it. The chapter introductory narratives make the experience more vivid by providing the author's intent and perspective to shore up the narrator's reading. Great voice match and excellent talking voice with good inflection and animation. The biographical sketches of significant characters very much improve the visualization of the story. The scene and action descriptions are vivid and articulate and flow very nicely. The story is very compelling and compliments the characters well to bring them to life! I will definitely continue reading the materials that the author has written and I will look for the Audible versions first. The memory strategies described are very interesting and inspire follow-up reading. The story leaves the listener with a great sense of pride that we actually have this quality of character, integrity, and dedication working to provide effective warfare assets and provide for service member security and discipline to consistently improve over the "Old Way" and perfect such an effective and precise mechanism or warfare! Very well written and an important topic relevant in our present and future world.

American Heroes

Brandon Webb shares stories that many might consider bragging but I so appreciate his recounting untold heroics that need to be remembered. Captivating narrative. Thanks for your service and openness.