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Now for a truly behind-the-scenes look at Act of Valor. We think this “story within the story” about how Act of Valor came to be made in the first place will resonate with you. It is a story that is as intriguing as the movie and novelization.

Like many things that still impact us today, it started on September 11, 2001, a day that is riveted into the consciousness all Americans. That day caused a national catharsis and forced civilian and military leaders within the Department of Defense to begin to rethink how to deal with threats to the Nation in the twenty-first century.

As this re-evaluation began to take shape, one thing became immediately apparent, the U.S. Special Operations Command – or SOCOM – would have a vastly more prominent role in dealing with emerging threats to the United States. As explained by Rear Admiral Denny Moynihan, the Navy’s Chief of Information, in a February 19, 2012 article in the New York Times:

Every four years the Defense Department looks at itself and says, “What is it that you need to be moving forward and where do you think you are?” For the Navy and the SEAL community it was, “Hey, you need 500 more SEALs,” and that launched a series of initiatives to try to attract more people. This film was one of those initiatives.

For the U.S. Navy SEALs, knowing they would have to have 500 more enlisted SEALs serving in SEAL teams within five years presented a unique challenge. But as all SEALs know, you cannot create SEALs overnight. The U.S. Navy SEALs received an incredibly tough challenge. But true to their nature, they didn’t shrink from that assignment. But how tough an assignment was it? That is the challenge that led to movie Act of Valor as well as the subsequent novelization Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor.

Act of Valor, a Bandito Brothers/Relativity Media production, has hit over 3,000 screens these past two weekends, and claimed the number one box office spot (with $24+M) its first weekend ($45+M after ten days). It is not hyperbole to say that Act of Valor is the most unique movie ever made. Those who have seen the movie, and even those who haven’t but have heard the “buzz” know that this is the first movie ever starring active duty U.S. Navy SEALs. There is a great deal about the movie on Act of Valor’s official website at: http://actofvalor.com/. This post, and two to follow, will take you inside and behind-the-scenes to understand the “story within the story” about how this incredible movie came to be made.

We’ll also share how this first-of-a-kind movie spawned a novelization, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor. More faithful to the movie than most novelizations, the book has enjoyed unprecedented success because it is tied so closely to the movie. And success begets success, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor has enjoyed several months on both the New York Times and Publisher’s Weekly mass market paperback best-seller lists, rising as high as #4 on both lists and moving into its second printing only six weeks after its initial publication date.

It is not hyperbole to say that Act of Valor is the most unique movie ever made.  In much the same fashion, the novelization of this movie, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor is also a unique novel.  The book was published on January and has enjoyed a steady presence on the New York Times best-seller list, residing in the top-ten for an extended period.  It has also been recognized with the Military Writers of America Book Award in the Thriller/Mystery category. you can visit Amazon.com to pick up your own copy.

While some novelizations bear little resemblance to the movies they purport to ‘novelize,’ due to our close coordination with Act of Valor directors Mike ‘Mouse” McCoy and Scott Waugh, as well as our first-person association with members of the Navy Special Warfare community, Tom Clancy Presents: Act of Valor is truly aligned with the movie Act of Valor and the two are virtually inseparable. This reader/viewer’s reaction is typical:

I was really glad I had read the book before I saw the movie. They did such a good job of pulling things together in the book. I think the movie is even more enjoyable after reading the book. I also liked how the book developed the family.

We believe the saga behind how we came to write the forthcoming Naval Institute book, The Kissing Sailor, is a story unto itself, really a “story within a story” that has enriched the experience of writing the book and also, we believe, has made this a vastly better book than it otherwise might have been.

In much the same way as the principals involved in this most famous photograph – Alfred Eisenstaedt, George Mendonsa, and Greta Zimmer Friedman – were drawn to that location, at that time, by forces in many ways outside control to make that photograph happen, the factors that brought us together to write this book were truly remarkable.

And like the links in a chain, if one of these events did not happen, there would be no book, this story might have remained forever untold, and this historical record would have remained unfinished.  Larry has been the prime mover in making this book happen during this over decade-and-a-half period so we’ll begin in his voice.

When Tom Phillips and I first conceived the book almost six years ago in a chance encounter at the 2003 Naval Helicopter Association Symposium, we had no idea what this journey would be like and no idea how enriched we would be hearing from and reading about the heroes who have risked their lives to rescue their comrades from the clutches of the enemy.

Nor did we have an idea how big the book would be. When we first contracted with Zenith publishers to do this book we all thought 100,000 words sounded like a “good number.” But the more stories we uncovered the more the book grew and to our editor’s and publisher’s great credit they allowed this saga to grow into the substantial book it is while pricing it competitively in a tough book market. You can get your copy of Leave No Man Behind on Amazon.com