Scars and Stripes

Physical Copy:

Audiobook:

By: Tim Kennedy

Rating: B+

Let me tell you about my brother’s man crush, Tim Kennedy. 10 years ago, he would tell me that Tim Kennedy was my doppelganger. That hurt my feelings then because his face is smashed up and he has big cauliflower ears. My ears are just big, they aren’t cauliflowered. 

Over the years, I have run into Tim Kennedy 3 times. Twice at the airport and once at a conference where I got to talk to him long enough to tell him the paragraph above. (Okay well parts of it. Basically just that my brother has a man crush on him. I am not going to tell the “Most Dangerous Man in the World” that he has big ears like me but his are uglier.)

Tim is a monster. His arms are giant and hairy and he has always been super cordial even when I have approached him at the airport. I guess I have developed a bit of a man crush over the years too but I didn’t know half of his story.

I listened to this one while running and it is a great listen. Tim narrates the entire thing and it is fascinating.

Here is a bullet point sample of some the stories the book touches on:

• Growing up as a rough trouble seeking boy (stealing, fighting, near-death misses)
• Killing evil men on multiple continents
• Swimming naked hours out into the ocean in the Winter
• Fighting in main-event bouts in the UFC
• Serving as a
  • Green Beret
  • EMT
  • Firefighter
  • Cop
• Hunting:
  • Nazis
  • Drug runners
  • Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
  • Human traffickers
  • Rhino poachers
  • Al Qaeda
  • The Taliban

His war stories were super intense and unfathomable listening to him describe the torture war puts on the body and mind. Tim is a bad A. But what makes the book interesting is how honest he is about what he was thinking or feeling in those situations. There is a lot of self-deprecating talk and insecurity. There are a lot of stubborn ego driven mistakes that he turns into lessons.

I am more of a Tim Kennedy fan now than I was before. My favorite story was him retelling the journey of the tv show Hunting Hitler. It was such an unexpected pivot but was wild the actual missions he put the tv crew through.

Recommended if you want an entertaining read!