In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Four..., Richard StrozziHeckler
In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Four..., Richard StrozziHeckler
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In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Fourth Edition
Teaching Awareness Disciplines to the Green Berets

Author: Richard Strozzi-Heckler

Narrator: Kirk Magoon

Unabridged: 13 hr 27 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/25/2023

Synopsis

Is it possible to be a mindful, moral fighter at a time when impersonal, technology based warfare reigns?

In Search of the Warrior Spirit confronts this thorny issue with Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s trademark personal, sympathetic style.

In a top-secret U.S. military experiment, the author was asked to teach Eastern awareness disciplines ranging from aikido to meditation to a group of twenty-five Green Berets. This account chronicles his experiences in the training program and his attempts to revive traditional warriorship in a technological society.

In Search of the Warrior Spirit explores the nature of war, the meaning of masculinity, and the need for moral values in the military. The book includes Heckler’s response to 9/11, his experiences with the Pentagon and U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and his poignant reflections on the movie Black Hawk Down, which depicts the deaths of two of his trainees. 

In this revised edition, the author talks movingly of his visits to Afghanistan with NATO and about the Trojan Warrior Project and Marine Warrior Project, relating the tragic events in a war zone and revelatory conversations with both ordinary soldiers and such leaders as the Supreme Allied Commander of Europe.

About The Author

Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD, is President of Strozzi Institute, The Center for Leadership and Mastery. He has a seventh-degree black belt in aikido and a doctorate in psychology. Dr. Strozzi-Heckler has taught the principles of embodied leadership and mastery to business, government, military, non-profits, health care, and education for the last thirty years. He is the author of The Anatomy of Change and The Leadership Dojo; and the editor of Aikido and the New Warrior, Being Human at Work: Bringing Somatic Intelligence into Your Professional Life, and Holding the Center.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on November 23, 2017

You're probably familiar with the late 70s military interest in the Human Potential movement as written up by Jon Ronson in The Men Who Stare At Goats and adapted into a movie. The basic gist is that a few renegade officers envisioned a unit of tuned in Warrior-Monks, who would dominate the battlefi......more

Goodreads review by Jim on October 15, 2020

My last nine months in the army were spent in a series of hospitals undergoing and recovering from eight operations on my right arm. When I got out I was out of shape and a little nuts. Reading the first four of Carlos Castaneda’s books convinced me that I needed to reclaim my warrior spirit in the......more

Goodreads review by Brandon on February 07, 2018

Interesting study of what happens when Aikido principles are introduced to hyper-macho military units.......more

Goodreads review by Mike on July 02, 2021

Great read, a good prelude to John Herlosky's Sorcerer's Apprentice.......more

Goodreads review by Chris on April 19, 2011

Again with the Green Beret books, but this time more on training & less on exploits. An epistolary story set in the 1980's, under the haunting spectre of Mutually Assured Destruction and Reagan-era machismo [the man played a cowboy, for crissake], IN SEARCH OF THE WARRIOR SPIRIT offered an outsider'......more

Quotes

"In my personal opinion, Strozzi-Heckler hits the mark in identifying one of the most troubling problems affecting today's U.S. military forces: the ascendancy of technology at the expense of moral values that underpin the true spirit of the Profession of Arms. A must read for those amongs us who really consider themselves warriors."
—Michael E. Haas, Lt. Colonel, United States Air Force; Head, Air Force Special Operations

“What a story this is! Strozzi-Heckler’s chronicle of the army’s daring experiment in awareness training for twenty-five Green Berets is must reading for anyone interested in the role of the warrior in a technological age. But more than that, it is an illumination of courage and vulnerability and what it means to be a man. I couldn’t put it down.”
—George Leonard, author of The Silent Pulse and The Ultimate Athlete

“The Marine Martial Art program grew out of the conviction that every Marine must be imbued with the values that have sustained the Corps throughout its 227-year history—honor, courage, and commitment. These warrior values are at the heart of Richard Strozzi-Heckler’s work with the Marine Corps and the other services to strengthen those who go in harm’s way in order to preserve our freedom. In Search of the Warrior Spirit reminds us of how urgent that task is.”
—R.D. Hearney, General, United States Marine Corps (Ret.); former Assistant Commandant

"An exciting journal of discovery...Essential reading for military leaders who want to broaden their ability to adapt to a world characterized by ambiguity. Strozzi-Heckler's original work helps readers link the important of mind-body-spirit integration to cutting edge leadership in a pragmatic and thoughtful manner."
—Fred T. Krawchuk, Lt. Colonel, United States Army Special Forces

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