Enemies, Foreign and Domestic: A SEAL's Story Hardcover – May 10, 2016 by Carl Higbie (Author), Scott McEwen (Foreword), Brandon Caro (Contributor)(Post Hill Press)

This was an extremely entertaining and well written book by a Navy SEAL who helped to capture the terrorist responsible for hanging dead American contractors from bridges in Iraq. While the bridge hangings occurred fairly early in the Iraq war, the capture of the perpetrator occurred after the politics and political correctness of the risk adverse military and civilian leadership had begun to have a negative impact on morale in the military. Consequently, when the perpetrator claimed he had been roughed up while in custody, this leadership decided that heads must roll. They tried to pressure author Carl Higbie into testifying against one of his fellow SEALs by threatening him with a courts martial. His response was to tell them where they could shove their threat. Higbie's theory of the prisoner mistreatment was that the prisoner bit his own lip to draw maybe a teaspoon of blood. He said many people draw more blood when they brush their teeth. The SEAL accused of beating the prisoner was tried based on the testimony of a single "so called" witness, but he was acquitted due to numerous inconsistencies in the testimony. Higbie figured the SEAL witness had gotten a black mark on his record and was attempting to regain favor with the brass, and that is why he gave false testimony.

 Every other SEAL denied that any of them had mistreated the prisoner. Higbie loved being a SEAL, but he became so disenchanted with the attempts by the brass and especially the politically-minded Chief Petty Officers to railroad him and his fellow SEALs that he accepted their offer of an Honorable discharge if he would resign 4 months before his enlistment ended. After receiving his Honorable discharge, he authored a book that preceded this one and attempted to get it cleared for publication by the Navy. The Navy threw a constant stream of obstacles in his path while passing him from official to official but never informing him of what the procedures were for getting clearance. In fact, they repeatedly gave him incorrect information on what those requirements were. After two years of this nonsense and overwhelming frustration, Higbie gave the publisher the go-ahead without Navy clearance. Of course, this really got under the skins of the Navy officials who had failed to provide the guidance for which Higbie had asked. Higbie had kept all of the emails and other correspondence related to this snafu and was able to clearly demonstrate that those officials had been gaming him and giving him not only the slow walk but misinformation which was even worse. The Navy Chiefs who had offered him the Honorable discharge for his agreement to an early discharge, wrote to him that his discharge was being changed to a less than Honorable discharge. He took them to court and this change was quickly rescinded. The working over that Carl Higbie received from a bunch of Navy officials more interested in political correctness than justice could have ruined his life, but his strong minded determination that he would not be screwed over resulted in his coming out on top. Throughout it all, he maintained his pride in being a Navy SEAL and his respect for his fellow SEALs continues to this day.