BEFORE HE COULD FORGE A BAND OF ELITE WARRIORS… HE HAD TO BECOME ONE HIMSELF.

Brandon Webb’s experiences in the world’s most elite sniper corps are the stuff of legend. From his grueling years of training in Naval Special Operations to his combat tours in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan, The Making of a Navy SEAL provides a rare and riveting look at the inner workings of the U.S. military through the eyes of a covert operations specialist.

Yet it is Webb’s distinguished second career as a lead instructor for the shadowy “sniper cell” and Course Manager of the Navy SEAL Sniper Program that trained some of America’s finest and deadliest warriors—including Marcus Luttrell and Chris Kyle—that makes his story so compelling. Luttrell credits Webb’s training with his own survival during the ill-fated 2005 Operation Redwing in Afghanistan. Kyle went on to become the U.S. military’s top marksman, with more than 150 confirmed kills.

From a candid chronicle of his student days, going through the sniper course himself, to his hair-raising close calls with Taliban and al Qaeda forces in the northern Afghanistan wilderness, to his vivid account of designing new sniper standards and training some of the most accomplished snipers of the twenty-first century, Webb provides a rare look at the making of the Special Operations warriors who are at the forefront of today’s military.

Explosive, revealing, and intelligent, The Making of a Navy SEAL provides a uniquely personal glimpse into one of the most challenging and secretive military training courses in the world.

Click here to learn more about the book.

About the Authors

Brandon Webb: After leaving home at age sixteen Brandon finished high school, and joined the US Navy to become a Navy SEAL. His first permanent assignment was as a helicopter Aircrew Search & Rescue (SAR) swimmer and Aviation Warfare Systems Operator with HS-6. In 1997 his Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) package was approved. He would class up with over 200 students in BUD/S class 215, and go on to complete the training as 1 of 23 originals.

As a SEAL he served with SEAL TEAM 3, Naval Special Warfare Group One (NSWG-1) Training Detachment sniper cell, and completed his last tour at the Naval Special Warfare Center (NSWC) sniper course where he served as the west coast sniper course manager. Throughout his career he completed four deployments to the Middle East, one to Afghanistan and would later go back to Iraq in 2006-7 as a paramilitary contractor. His proudest accomplishment in the military was working as the SEAL sniper course manager, a schoolhouse that has produced some of the deadliest snipers in US military history.

An accomplished leader, Brandon was meritoriously promoted to E-6 while serving as an advanced sniper instructor at NSWG-1, and was recommended and promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer (E-7) his first time eligible during his tenure at the NSWC sniper course. He has received numerous distinguished service awards including the Presidential Unit Citation (personally awarded to him by President George W. Bush), and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation medal with “V” device for valor in combat. Webb ended his Navy career early after over a decade of service in order to spend more time with his children.

After the Navy he served briefly as a contractor supporting U.S. intelligence interests in northern Iraq, and then transitioned to full time writing and entrepreneurship around 2008.

Today Brandon is focused on pursuing his career in media, and as a writer. He is the founder of Force12 Media, a digital publishing company that reaches tens of millions monthly, and is the largest military content network on the Internet.

Brandon is a New York Times bestselling author, and is regularly featured in international media as a military and Special Operations subject matter expert. He has contributed to ABC’s Good Morning America, NBC’s Today Show, FOX news, CNN, the BBC, SIRIUS XM, MSNBC, and The New York Times. His latest bestseller, Among Heroes (Penguin-Random House), was published in May of 2015 and his next book The Killing School, the world’s most deadliest sniper programs

In 2012, after losing his best friend, Navy SEAL & CIA contractor Glen Doherty, in Benghazi, Libya, he founded The Red Circle Foundation (RCF), a non-profit with a 100% pass through model; every dollar donated goes to the mission and business partners pick up the Foundation’s overhead. RCF is focused on supporting families of the Special Operations community through emergency memorial, medical, and child enrichment programs (camps & scholarships).

Brandon is an active member of the Entrepreneurs Organization New York (EONY), and enjoys spending time with his amazing children, being outdoors, and flying his Yak or RV6 upside-down. He splits his time between his residence in San Juan, PR and Manhattan, NY.

John David Mann: John David Mann is an award-winning author whose writings have earned the Nautilus Award, the Axiom Business Book Award (Gold Medal), and Taiwan’s Golden Book Award for Innovation; his books are published in more than two dozen languages and have sold more than 2 million copies. He is coauthor of the international bestseller “The Go-Giver” with Bob Burg, the New York Times bestsellers “The Red Circle” with Brandon Webb and “Flash Foresight” with Daniel Burrus, “Take the Lead” with Betsy Myers (named Best Leadership Book of 2011 by Tom Peters and The Washington Post), and the national bestseller “The Slight Edge” with Jeff Olson. His “Among Heroes,” with former Navy SEAL Brandon Webb, was released on Memorial Day 2015.

John has been creating careers since he was a teenager. At age 17, he and a few friends started their own high school in Orange, New Jersey called Changes, Inc. Before turning to business and journalism, he forged a successful career as a concert cellist and prize-winning composer. At 15 he was recipient of the 1969 BMI Awards to Student Composers and several New Jersey State grants for composition; his musical compositions were performed throughout the U.S. and his musical score for Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound” (written at age 13) was performed at the amphitheater in Delphi, Greece, where the play was originally premiered.

His diverse career has made him a thought leader in several different industries. In 1986 John founded and wrote for Solstice, a journal on health, nutrition and environmental issues; his series on the climate crisis (yes, he was writing about this back in the eighties) was selected for reprint in Utne Reader. In 1992 John edited and produced the underground bestseller “The Greatest Networker in the World” by John Milton Fogg, which became the defining book in its field. During the 1990s, John built a multimillion-dollar sales/distribution organization of over 100,000 people. He was cofounder and senior editor of the legendary journal Upline and editor in chief of Networking Times.

He is married to Ana Gabriel Mann and considers himself the luckiest mann in the world. You can visit him at www.johndavidmann.com.