Summer Reading Project
"The Warrior's Heart"
The Author
Eric Greitens is the Author of The Warrior's Heart. He was born in Missouri, where he now lives with his wife, Sheena, and their son, Joshua. He went to Duke University and then got granted a Rhodes Scholarship and attended Oxford where he earned his masters and Ph.D. Eric has worked as a humanitarian volunteer, documentary photographer, and researcher in Rwanda, Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, Bosnia, and Bolivia. He then went on and became a Navy SEAL and after retiring he became the founder of The Mission Continues.
Setting
The setting in this book changed several times form the author's house to Oxford University to Navy S.E.A.L. training camp. Some of the Major Settings are listed below.
Missouri
The book starts in Eric's home town, St. Louis, Missouri, where we learn about him and his life as a young boy.
Duke University
Once the author graduated high school, he chose to go to Duke University, which had given him a scholarship for 4 years and a summer term at Oxford.
Beijing, China
The book then moves to Beijing, China after Eric receives the grant for humanitarian work overseas.
Croatia
Eric and a group of friends raised money to go to Croatia to live and work in refuges to help those who were orphaned or had lost their homes in the war over Bosnia.
Rwanda
Eric then went to Rwanda with his college professor and helped out in the refuge camp once again. Eric went here because of the genocide that was going on at that time.
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Eric got yet another grant to go and be a photographer in a refuge camp in Bolivia.
Officer Candidate School (OCS)
Eric had to graduate from OSC before go to SEAL training.
Basic Underwater Demolition/ SEAL (BUD/S)
Greitens then went to BUD/S training to become a Navy SEAL.
Summary *Spoiler*
The book started when the author was a little boy growing up in Missouri. It then went to the point in the authors life where he was graduating high school and going into college. He got a scholarship to Duke University and took it. He studied Public Policies because he thought it addressed the great affairs of the world, which seemed to interest him. He then applied for a grant to work on an independent project overseas. He was awarded the grant and chose China to work in because he saw the massacre of student in Beijing. He taught an English class in Beijing and ended up being interrogated by Beijing Police Officers. He went to many different refuge camps and helped as a humanitarian around the world, the countries included; Croatia, Rwanda, and Bolivia. Each place hap a different story to tell and each of them were powerful. The turning point in this book happened when Eric decided he would rather do something more than helping the refuges after the incident, he wanted to stop the incident from happening. He signed up for the Navy and wanted to challenge himself so he trained to become a Navy SEAL. First he had to go through OCS, once he graduated from that he went to BUD/S training, where he was really tested over and over again. He made it through BUD/S training, unlike over 75% of his class, and became a navy SEAL. After giving his eight years to the Navy he retired. When he went home, he went and visited hospitals for injured veterans. He saw that the veterans wanted to get back into combat, but they couldn't based on their circumstances. He also noticed there were many programs to give money and help veteran, but none helped them with what they would do after they came home or got out of the hospital, so he founded The Mission Continues.
Character Analysis
In my book, The Warrior's Heart, the main character Eric Greitens had a great outlook on life, he did face challenges but he also had major accomplishments. Eric's personality is contagious, event though he is a character in a book, he is kind, selfless and very courageous. His actions said a lot about him, and the kind of person he was. He went to different countries and helped people in need, he joined the Navy SEAL's and fought for our country, and he created a foundation for veterans that were retired or injured that helped them get back to their feet and helped them plan for the future. His dialogue also said a lot about him, without his voice you would think of him as a highly respected SEAL, but with his words you found sides of him that were funny, responsible, and respectful. Eric's struggles included getting taken to a police station in Beijing, China, loosing a couple kids in Santa Cruz, and having to co through hell week in BUD/S training. Some of his major accomplishments were getting scholarships from both the Rhodes and the Truman foundations, and becoming a Navy SEAL. Overall Eric Greitens is a great person who has had struggles, but has overcomed them to become the person he is today