Zero Dark Thirty and No Easy Day

Warning: the movie is quite long

Warning: you may find yourself on the edge of your seat...OFTEN

I'm sure you've all heard the quote to "do one thing every day that scares you." I always found that quote to be really odd. Am I supposed to go hold snakes every day? Or jump out of an airplane? No. I think doing something that scares you is just pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Sometimes that may be something as small as daring to jump up on a box that feels like a stretch for you in a boot camp. Other times it may be watching a movie or reading a book about something that makes you uncomfortable. Recently I pushed myself to watch "Zero Dark Thirty" and read (OK, listen to on my commute) "No Easy Day" both of which are about the raid that ended Bin Laden's life.
I do not know how accurate either account is, of course. I suggest watching the movie before you read the book so that you have a bit of background on the situation. The movie focuses on CIA agents who found Bin Laden and the book focuses on the Navy SEALS who actually completed the raid that killed him. Some of the images from the movie have really stuck with me. I think they should. It is so easy to see news stories about the war and feel like it is so far away and that it should be over already. This movie and this book bring the war into your living room (or car) and give you a front row seat. No wonder our troops come back with PTSD. This stuff is awful to witness from here, I cannot imagine being on the front lines.

The interesting thing for me is that both of these works have well known endings but they're still fascinating. I wanted to write the author of the book a letter of appreciation after finishing the book, but he is in hiding because the media released his true identity and put his life in danger. (That makes me so mad!) I cannot tell you how nervous I got each time he entered a dangerous situation. A few times Jackson would call me while I was listening and I'd say, "cannot talk, in the middle of a firefight!" and he'd just agree to let me go back to my book. I'm sure he shook his head at me like he always does. ;) Anyway, I cannot recommend these two works enough.