SEAL of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of LT. Michael P. Murphy (USN)

Lt. Michael Patrick Murphy, commander of Navy SEAL Team 10, posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on 28 June 2005 during a fierce battle with Taliban fighters in the remote mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Michael was the first recipient of the nation’s highest military honor as a result of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. He was also the first naval officer to earn the medal since the Vietnam War, and the first SEAL to be honored posthumously. A young man of great character, he is the subject of Naval Special Warfare courses on leadership, and an Arleigh Burke–class guided missile destroyer, naval base, school, post office, ball park, and hospital emergency room have all been named in his honor. In his bestselling book, Marcus Luttrell, the only survivor of Operation Red Wings, called Michael “the best officer I ever knew, an iron-souled warrior of colossal, almost unbelievable courage in the face of the enemy.” SEAL of Honor tells the story of Michael’s life and how he came to be that man of selfless courage and honor. This biography argues that his heroic action during the deadly firefight with the Taliban revealed his true character and attempts to answer why Michael readily sacrificed his life for his comrades. SEAL of Honor is the story of a valiant young man who was recognized by his peers for his compassion and leadership, because he was guided by an extraordinary sense of duty and responsibility. Tracing Michael’s journey from a seemingly ordinary life on New York’s Long Island to that remote mountainside in Afghanistan, SEAL of Honor portrays how he came to the moment of extraordinary heroism that made him the most celebrated Medal of Honor recipient since WWII. Moreover, the book brings the Afghan war back to the home front, focusing on the tight-knit Murphy family and the devastating effect his death had on them as they watched the story of Operation Red Wings unfold in the news. The book attempts to answer why Michael’s service to his country and his comrades was a calling faithfully answered, a duty justly upheld, and a life, while all too short, well lived.