Never Quit: How I Became a Special Ops Pararescue Jumper

Gr 8 Up—Jimmy Settle had left the Naval Academy due to a heart condition and was a struggling shoe salesman in Alaska when an acquaintance suggested he become a pararescueman. Settle then recounts the rigorous training he went through for the next few years, including Air Force basic training, dive school, medical training, and intense physical workouts. Through Settle's self-effacing narrative, readers learn of the obstacles he faced, including near-impossible situations he had to overcome. Readers will feel his pain. Through every failure and triumph he was determined to make it and earn his maroon beret. The final chapters relate his harrowing experiences rescuing the wounded in Afghanistan, wherein Settle is forced to leave his fellow pararescuemen behind in the middle of a grueling battle. Settle provides an intriguing and fascinating story, and the fact that it is all true only adds to this fine autobiography.