Good to Go: The Life And Times Of A Decorated Member of the U.S. Navy's Elite Seal Team Two

by Harold Constance, Randall Fuerst

Overview

"Fractions of a second in time. What amazing violence can be meted out in the blink of an eye."

In the mid-nineteen sixties, Harry Constance made a life-altering journey that led him out of Texas and into the jungles of Vietnam. As a young naval officer, he went from UDT training to the U.S. Navy's newly formed SEAL Team Two, and then straight into furious action. By 1970, he was already the veteran of three hundred combat missions and the recipient of thirty-two military citations, including three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

Good To Go is Constance's powerful, firsthand account of his three tours of duty as a member of America's most elite, razor-sharp stealth fighting force. It is a breathtaking memoir of harrowing missions and covert special-ops—from the floodplains of the Mekong Delta to the beaches of the South China Sea—that places the reader in the center of bloody ambushes and devastating firefights. But his extraordinary adventure goes even farther—beyond 'Nam—as we accompany Constance and the SEALs on astonishing missions to some of the world's most dangerous hot-spots . . . and experience close-up the courage, dedication, and unparalleled skill that made the U.S. Navy SEALs legendary.

Includes 8 Pages of SEAL Team Action Photos!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062358103
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/27/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	475
Sales rank:	256,904
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Harry Constance served with the UDT/SEAL Teams for nearly two decades. He is currently Chief of Police for the Veterans Affairs Medical center in West Los Angeles, where he spends much of his time helping veterans integrate back into society. He lives in Escondido, California.

Randall F. Fuerst, O.D., lives in Orangevale, California, with his wife, Shirlene, and their three children. He is a partner in a six-doctor optometry practice, the team optometrist for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA, and serves as Chairman of the Board for Pacific Laser Eye Center in Sacramento.

Read an Excerpt

PROLOGUE

HARRY CONSTANCE WAS MY NEIGHBOR. SOME MONTHS AGO, I started realizing he was more than the average, upbeat, "good guy" neighbor you said hello to a couple of times a week. We had our share of mindless conversations about the weather, kids, politics, and camping. Harry was always helpful and quick to offer assistance, and on this particular day he had volunteered to assist me in landscaping my yard. Unfortunately, he had to call and cancel due to a problem at work.

At the time, Harry was the Director of Security at the Sacramento Army Depot. The depot had been moving employees and weaponry out of the facility because it was in the process of being closed, and Harry was needed to provide security for a caravan of munitions on their way to the Concord Naval Weapons Station. An informant had given information that a local Crips gang had gotten word of the shipment and had made plans to hijack the weaponry. I was taken aback. This was Hollywood scripting—not local news.

When he returned, I quizzed Harry. "Did you use an Uzi or sawed off shotgun? How about a bulletproof vest and riot gear? Were the local police brought in?" He shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "No," he said. "They changed the time of departure. I took my three-fifty seven revolver and a twelve-gauge shotgun. No big deal. " That was all.

"No big deal" ! I watched the L.A. riots along with the rest of the world. I've seen reports on the gang epidemic—of drive-by shootings and other criminal activities—and all he could say was "No big deal." I remember thinking that this is someone who is either pretty stupid or overly macho. I commented something to this effect. Harry leaned his head back andrecounted several stories about his time in Vietnam as a Navy SEAL. Stories of hand-to-hand, lethal combat. Stories about guns being placed to his head, and of other events that helped shape the character of a young man in war. The Vietnam War. A war that was not tidy and clean. Certainly not a war that was played by all the gallant rules of the Hollywood-sanitized, hero-filled World War II genre films of the 1950s and early '60s. Harry killed people. Lots of people. He was trained and commanded to put himself in positions demanding he kill or be killed.

Harry came home after the war, served this country for several more years in less harrowing tours, was one of the first antiterrorist strike force members, went through hell, and today is the picture of the contented middle-aged family man. He likes to hunt and fish, is happily married, has his faithful dog he takes everywhere, and has not been plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder.

I think you will find the stories within the pages of this book to be fascinating. There is no embellishment. There is no need for it, as the true-to-life version is sufficient. This is not a Ramboesque persona that was larger than life. Instead, this is a story of an immature, oftentimes scared young man whose character was forged in a furnace most will never contemplate.

"No big deal," he said. And he meant just that. The Crips did not come to visit, but the driver was arrested for leaving the truck unguarded in a remote back lot. Harry was sorry he'd had to cancel me out.

I asked if the stress of this kind of event fatigued him much. "You know, the good Lord has watched over me time and time again. How else do I explain why I lived and others died? I'm happy to be alive, to ride my horses, to be with Barb and my family."

This book is dedicated to the thousands of servicemen and service women who came home to a country that did not want to repatriate them. Who returned to face people who, in their zeal, somehow equated the conscripted warriors with the political leaders who had sent them off to war. Who metamorphosed back from a world of war to a changed, civilized society. A world they quietly refit themselves into without complaint.

"I was paid to do a job and I did it. No big deal," says Harry. "Look at me. I have a roof over my head and a family I love. I'm good to go!"

Copyright ) 1998 by Harry Constance and Randall Fuerst

Editorial Reviews

"[Harold Constance] tells his story in page-turning style that is as engrossing as any adventure tale." ---Library Journal

From the Publisher