These are the books that are required for you to read during Indoc. I recommend reading these books to get in the right mindset now.

1. It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
by Lance Armstrong, Sally Jenkins

2. Man's Search For Meaning
by Viktor E. Frankl

The SEAL Quest Recommeded Books and Videos

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I am currnetly reading 'Mans search for meaning' and it is very inspiring. What they had to go through makes hell week seem like a walk in the park. They gave cold, tired, hunger and physical abuse a new meaning. When I get to hellweek and I'm down in the dumps during an evolution I'm going to reflect on this book. I can see why it is required reading at BUD/S

I read Frankl's book some years ago, and even though I have not re-read it, its message has stayed with me and given me the strength to lift me over many obstacles.

Affecting me deeply, it gave words, articulation and clarification to what was already exisiting within me.

Whether I knew it before or not, after reading the book and telling my mentor in Sweden (where I grew up) over the phone about it, it was amazing to hear that Viktor Frankl had in fact been a mentor in person to my own mentor, who grew up in Austria before and during WWII.

I remember fantasizing while I read Man's Search, that I could be in charge of myself enough to be in a concentration camp and not be bothered by it. I thought that that would be the ultimate, breaking through whatever obstacle that is in one's way, being able to be free and harmonious, no matter what the situation is.

Part of why I felt very much in aligment with the ideas presented in Frankl's book, was probably because I had been taught by my mentor since my early teens in this way of being: connecting with a deeper level of self control, working to become autonomous and uninvadable.

The practice I was taught is called Autogenic training, a type of meditation/self-hypnosis.

I don't practice it regularly, I'd say I was more of a master at it in the beginning than I am now, partially because I have many more distractions to juggle now than I did then. However, I tend to apply it in difficult situations when I'm under extreme pressure. I use a breathing technique that automatically triggers one's para-sympathetic nervous-system making one calm and composed.

The good thing about doing the autogenic practice regularly is that one can push one's buttons with more ease, precision and efficiency. As my mentor would say: "It's hard to learn how to raise a tent in the middle of a storm." Meaning, start practicing and build your skill and ability before you are in the midst of a crisis and you'll have a greater chance of overcoming whatever obstacles you'll face.

On the other hand, I have personally found that many tools and techniques have come to me automatically as I've been in a state of crisis. Under extreme pressure, out of shear necessity, out of the will to live and progress, the way to overcome has been forced out of me.

Everyone needs to read Frankl's book. I just finished it today and I really understand why they would assign it in BUD/S Indoc.

My dad recommended this book to me:

I haven't read it yet, but I've heard it's very good, and I think all of us should read it before BUD/S.

Remember, a boat crew leader has a title and gets to make the last call, but that doesn't make him a real leader. If an entire boat crew can consist of people who know how to be a leader, then that crew is going to be first in everything.

Here's the book my dad recommended:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/078527431...nce&s=books&n=507846