The need for U.S. Special Operations forces in today's volatile world outstrips the available pool of these elite and highly trained fighters, and pushes those who are serving to their limits as they take on all of the difficult and dangerous work demanded of them, says the co-author of "American Sniper."
"Is it sustainable? I don't know," Scott McEwen told "Newsmax Now" host John Bachman on
Newsmax TV on Friday. "We only have a definable number of these guys, particularly guys at the SEAL level or MARSOC (Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command) level or Delta level."
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"So, I mean, do we have enough guys to do this job?" said McEwen. "The answer is probably no, but are they doing the job anyway? And the answer to that is they certainly are."
McEwen co-wrote what may be the definitive special-ops memoir in "American Sniper," produced in collaboration with the late Chris Kyle, who as a Navy SEAL sharpshooter served in Iraq was credited with the most kills in U.S. armed forces history.
Along with that best-seller, which became an Oscar-nominated and controversial hit movie directed by Clint Eastwood, McEwen's writing credits include the popular "Sniper Elite" fictional military thrillers. The series has also been optioned for film, and the latest, "The Sniper and the Wolf," was published this month.
McEwen said his plot lines and characters are inspired by real people and situations that would be plausible in today's global security climate.
Protagonist Gil Shannon is "based on a few different SEAL Team snipers I've known," he said, "some of which the public has heard of, some of which it hasn't." He is "really an amalgamation of … everything that goes into making those guys some of the most lethal fighters," said McEwen.
"The Sniper and the Wolf" opens with an attack in Paris, a city that has drawn the eyes of the world since Islamist gunmen murdered 16 people in January in a spasm of violence centered around an attack on the offices of the satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
"So, I like to keep these subjects very, very current, very timely," said McEwen, adding, "The threats I believe we define in the book are very much true."
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