by Richard Marcinco & John Weisman

Pocket Books (1994)

Reviewed by Robert Thompson 5/24/94

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Richard Marcinco used to be one of the U.S.'s better elite warriors. He rose through the ranks in the Navy from enlisted man to "acting" Captain. ("acting Captain" means that he wore the insignia and had the authority of a Captain, but was still paid at Commander rank.) This is something done by all branches of military on occasions when they need a particular person to do a special task and have authority above their actual rank, without the usual red tape (and often congressional approval) of an actual promotion. George Armstrong Custer and my humble self also have been recipients of this dubious honor.

Anyway, Marcinco spent most of his time in the Navy in the SEALS- arguably the best elite, unconventional warriors in the U.S. military, and possibly the equal of the best in the world. His first book, ROGUE WARRIOR, was a mostly true account of his rise through the ranks to the Commander of Seal Team Two, and the founder and first commander of Seal Team Six. At the peak of his naval career, he was assigned the task of forming the "Red Cell", a group of mostly SEALS that went around seriously checking the security of U.S. military installations around the world.

Always a straight talker and not one to accept the status-quo, he made many enemies among the Naval "Brass" (usually by making them look lazy, stupid and ineffective (usually deserved)). Eventually, his enemies managed to put him in prison for a year, on (maybe) trumped up charges of theft of government property. (Part of his job description was to try to steal stuff.)

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ROGUE WARRIOR II: RED CELL begins shortly after Marcinco is released from prison. It presented as purely a novel, (as oposed to ROGUE WARRIOR which was presented as pure auto-biography) but written in first person and in a manner that seemed to be reporting fact.

Marcinco in this book (and in real life) is now working as a private security consultant. In the book, while checking the security of Narita airport in Japan, he stumbles across what turns into an apparent plot to smuggle nuclear devices into North Korea. As the story progresses, it appears that an ex-Secretary of State is involved, if not the ring-leader. Marcinco is railroaded back into the Navy to re-establish Red Cel and investigate the matter.

Lots of twists and turns later, Marcinco resolves the problem in his own imitable manner.

ROGUE WARRIOR II: RED CELL is an interesting, exciting and (fairly) believable, especially if you are a cynic like me who doesn't trust politicians and career military boot-lickers. It was a stay-up-all-nighter for me. I don't know how much of the story Marcinco wrote, and I don't know if even one bit of it is based on reality. It is definitely within the realm of possibility.

Marcinco can no longer write anything presented as fact about his real life adventures in the service of the U.S. Government; it embarrasses too many powerful people, who would like him dead, but would settle for putting him back in jail for National Security violations. So he has taken up the tactic of calling everything that he says on that subject as fiction or hypothetical. Sometimes the names will be changed to protect the guilty.

I never personally met Marcinco, but I have worked with a lot of people like him. He is a consummate professional, and deserves admiration and respect. Unfortunately he is also loud, crude and overbearing. I'm not sure if this is his actual personality, or whether he just uses it to intimidate and motivate others.

For anyone interested in this kind of stuff, I can recommend both ROGUE WARRIOR and ROGUE WARRIOR II: RED CELL. The second is more exciting and somewhat better written, but you can learn some interesting and useful information and ideas in both..

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