SEAL Target Geronimo

The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden

By: Chuck Pfarrer

Narrated by: Erik Bergmann

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The controversial New York Times bestseller that tells the "engrossing account of the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden." —Kirkus Reviews (starred)

On May 2, 2011, at 1:03 a.m. a satellite uplink was sent from Pakistan crackling into the situation room of the White House: "Geronimo, Echo, KIA." These words, spoken by a Navy SEAL, ended Osama bin Laden's reign of terror. SEAL Target Geronimo is the story of Neptune's Spear from the men who were there. After talking to members of the SEAL team involved in the raid, Pfarrer shares never-before-revealed details in an exclusive account of what happened as he takes listeners inside the walls of Bin Laden's compound penetrating deep into the terrorist's lair to reach the exact spot where the Al Qaeda leader was cowering when the bullet entered his head. SEAL Target Geronimo is an explosive story of unparalleled valor and clockwork military precision carried out by the most elite fighting force in the world—the U.S. Navy's SEAL Team Six.

©2011 Chuck Pfarrer (P)2011 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Erik Bergman provides solid narration, reading in a voice that is deep, determined, and slightly raspy – all of which captures the tone of the author's prose and spirit.” —Publishers Weekly

“A marvelously engrossing account of the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden...Richly told in broad, cinematic strokes, this is catnip for readers who enjoy special-ops tales.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Pfarrer certainly had access. A SEAL Team Six assault-element commander in the 1980s, he is known inside the intelligence community for his well-regarded first book, Warrior Soul...He clearly had detailed conversations with senior officers in the SEALs' chain of command (especially Adm. William McRaven and then–SEAL Team Six commander Scott Kerr) and understands the vocabulary and the culture very well...SEAL Target Geronimo explodes a number of media myths about the raid to kill bin Laden...There was no "45-minute" running gun battle. The SEAL team fired only 12 bullets, and the whole operation lasted only 38 minutes...The most provocative part of the book is pure speculation: by killing bin Laden, did the SEALs accidentally do Zawahiri's dirty work?... As the British Foreign Office used to famously say: 'Interesting, if true.'” —Richard Miniter, The Daily Beast

Great performance but disappointing ending

I have consumed countless SEAL books over the years as well as many of the ones focusing on the UBL raid. This book is more of a history lesson into the factors that helped to shape UBL and ultimately the events of 9/11. The vocal performance is superb and kept me listening through some of the repetitious sections. The coverage of the actual Raid... what the entire book is focused on in theory, is the largest let down of the entire book. Since aspects are still classified and I obviously wasn't a part of the Raid, I cannot say this account is definitively wrong... However the accounts in this book largely differ from all other published accounts so strongly as to render the material suspect. No two accounts have agreed 100%, but this book is far off the accounts of the others combined and in both what actions occurred, in what order they occurred and so on. It cast a pall over the rest of the book.

That said I have read Chuck's other book, Warrior Soul which he narrated himself and that book was fantastic and his narration was very good. I would recommend that boom over this, hands down.

Marcinko’s Legacy….his pain, their gain.

Chuck Pfarrer delivers a great story. For the detailed version of SEAL Team 6 origins see: Cdr. Richard Marcinko’s Rogue Warrior (I recommend the hard copy, great photos and more detail than abridged audiobook…if you can find it…the Audible copy might still be downloading one of Marcinko’s Spec-Op novels).

The bad. This is the second modern SEAL Team 6 book read to date. I am very disappointed that both Pfarrer and Wasdin (SEAL Team 6) seem to hold disrespect, a younger sibling like jealousy regarding the unbelievably difficult feat Cdr. Marcinko accomplished as founder and first commander of Mob-6. Marcinko, 2 tour Viet Nam War veteran, almost singlehandedly, battled many a dead weight, “Annapolis Navy” brass to create… from the ground up…what Pfarrer celebrates as the best Spec-Op unit in the U.S. military. Today, writers like Pfarrer, give us the impression that our modern Spec-Op warriors evolved as a product of some greater Academy group think. Wrong. The Academy military wants image, control and subservience. They fought tooth and nail to stall and or control both Delta and Mob-6…amazing we still have them. Warriors like Marcinko just want to do what they do best. Marcinko’s story is simply incredible (as with Col. Beckwith, Delta).

The good. Pfarrer’s recap of Spec-Op warfare, in particular the work of the SEAL’s is informative and interesting considering the ground he covers. The action sequence of battle is well done and delivers. The Bin Laden mission is given a fair amount of detail considering the necessity to protect our soldiers and tactics. The military history fan will enjoy this. Erik Bergmann’s narration is top notch. Recommended.

Great Book...Mediocre Narrator

Where does SEAL Target Geronimo rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

What I find so interesting is that this book actually tends to give more details and descriptions about the Bin Laden mission, classified equipment and other very interesting things than the brand new, controversial book, No Easy Day does. I just finished it too, and I find this book "Geronimo" better. Also, I find it equally intersting that these two stories are by Navy SEAL's that were actually involved in that mission, and yet their two accounts of how, where and when Bin Laden was killed are different.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Yes. His narration was very choppy. He narrated like Obama talks. In very. Short Sentences. All the time. And. I think he. Thinks he does. A really good job. But. He does not! Hope you read that, in the cadence that it was meant! :-)

Riveting story, but felt the author had an agenda

The training of the Navy Seals, their history, their mindset, examples of their past accomplishments and the Bin Laden assassination were excellent and riveting.

The author's first hand experience as a Seal provided excellent insight and the prose is good.

Yet I felt uncomfortable at the end that there were inaccuracies because of his own agenda. I know his background information on Osama Bin Ladin was missing key facts and were slanted. His description of the Arab Israeli conflict was biased toward sympathy to the Arabs with a number of facts innacurate. In addition, I had this feeling he was trying to undermine Obama--and while I see that politics gets in the way of getting things done, there seemed a subtle maliciousness that seemed to twist facts.

there were 2 provocative points he brought up, one that I am skeptical about, and another that he might be uniquely right about. The first is that he states that Bin Laden got a hold of powerful nerve gas from Iraq after the fall of Hussein, showing there were large amounts of weapons of mass destruction and that we did not find them but Al Qaida did. His example was very limited and questionable--I have to ask if Al Qaida did have it why didn't they use more of it and in more crowded places.

The other point which might be true is that Bin Laden was ultimately done in by Al Zarkawe (sp?) who used one of the blown couriers to help tip the Americans to find Bin Laden and that Al Zarkawe was ruthless in destroying all around him. Interesting and plausible.

The reviews were surprisingly limited and minimal and the denials from the head of the Seals about the accuracy is interesting--they say he made a lot of it up. Hard to know who to trust.

Overall an interesting read but frustrating because not clear what is true and what is not.

Wish He Just Stuck to the Story

Any additional comments?

The story reads like an action movie and is really very entertaining. The unfortunate thing about this book is that the author deviates into things he really does not know well and touches on several topics well outside his expertise. For example, in an effort to contextualize both Bin Laden and Seal Team 6, the author revisits the history of the Lebanese Civil War and does so poorly. He grossly misunderstands Hezbollah and its influence (or lack thereof) on Osama Bin Laden. The author demonstrates a contempt for civilian defense and intelligence officials and largely blames these individuals for the 9/11 attacks and subsequent missteps in the war on terror. Although some of these individuals rightfully deserve criticism, the author totally absolves military officials from any missteps in recent history and loses credibility for doing it. Finally, the author suggests a sort of official/media coverup of the presence of WMD in Iraq and that Al Qaeda possessed these weapons in Iraq and the media had failed to expose it. He states this almost as a footnote and offers little to no evidence for this claim. If you can ignore these missteps, the story of the raid is fabulous and very entertaining. In spite of my criticism, I would buy it again and found it entertaining.

great story, uneducated reader

this is a great story, unfortunately it was read by someone who did not do their research in to military lingo and language. Example saying "hello" for a "HELO". Def enjoyed this book and the writer for sure!

Great Book.

Would you listen to SEAL Target Geronimo again? Why?

Yes. Just to pick up things I might have missed.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I had the time I would have, I found it to be very interesting. But I didn't care about the traing I wanted to know exactly what happened.

Gripping!

This book starts with an incredible story and had me in its cross hairs from the beginning.
I enjoyed the detailed background of Bin Laden's Childhood and polygamous roots.
FYI - the real story of the MISSION doesnt reveal itself until far into the second half of the book.

Good, except for the wildly incorrect end...

The book is good except for the wildly incorrect ending of the series of events at the Bin Laden compound... I have read three other books that were almost identical but, this one is very, very diffrent. that's why I think this is the one that is the incorrect one. thumbs down for bad info.

Don’t waste your money.

Too many have said the information is inaccurately. If it did not have so many mistakes, it would be a must read about terrorism.