Three Wise Men

Starred review from November 15, 2020
The moving tale of three brothers determined to fight for the U.S. after 9/11. In this unforgettable narrative, we follow the close-knit Wise brothers, all of whom heard the call to serve and answered it: Jeremy as a Navy SEAL and then a CIA contractor; Ben as a sniper in the Army Green Berets; and Beau, the youngest and only survivor, as a Marine. Seized by the wave of patriotic fervor that swept the nation following the 9/11 attacks, the brothers were inspired by President George W. Bush's declaration that the U.S. would defeat "every terrorist group of global reach." To Beau, "President Bush's speech was the moment 9/11 first felt like my generation's Pearl Harbor. It also came with the sobering realization that at least one of my brothers--and many more men and women like them--would probably spend a significant portion of their adult lives at war." Jeremy dropped out of medical school to enlist. "Those people trapped in the World Trade Center couldn't fight back," he said. "I can." And fight he did: "As the calendar flipped to 2007, Jeremy was in firefights approximately three out of every five nights." The book opens with a somber tone, at Jeremy's funeral. Then another, as we see Beau bury Ben. Then the narrative flips back to the intertwined lives of these three heroes, following their careers, family lives, and deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a gripping read and an exemplary collaboration between a participant and a professional writer--Sileo has co-written other military memoirs, including Brothers Forever (2014) and 8 Seconds of Courage (2017). More than that, it's a consistently absorbing story of the 9/11 generation and of America's response to global terror, a topic still relevant today. An outstanding war story that could make a riveting film in the Saving Private Ryan vein.

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