Meet Jack Carr – The Real-Life Navy SEAL Author of The Terminal List
July 1 marks the premiere of Amazon Prime Video The list of terminals – the latest in a series of action thrillers on the platform such as the release debut 22, Reach.
The series sees guardians of the galaxy Actor Chris Pratt plays Lieutenant Commander James Reece, a Navy SEAL who finds himself the sole survivor of an ill-fated mission and, moreover, at the center of a murderous government plot.
While director-producer Antoine Fuqua has regularly employed combat veterans as advisers for his films – like 2013’s Olympus has fallen. Regarding the scenario of The list of terminalshowever, he didn’t really have to look much further than the original novel’s author – Jack Carr.
The man himself #TheTerminalList author @JackCarrUSA. pic.twitter.com/DwYH7GEhXA
— The list of terminals (@TerminalListPV) June 23, 2022
Carr’s own special forces career spanned 20 long years, during which he served on a variety of fronts ranging from counter-insurgency operations in the Philippines to assignments leading assault and sniper teams in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, the author tops several bestseller lists in the action thriller genre (the most recent being 2022). In the blood), while spending his days hunting and traveling with his family. Here are a few things you didn’t know about Jack Carr, ex-Navy SEAL and New York Times bestselling author:
He descends from a World War II martyr
“My grandfather served in WWII and he was killed in WWII – he was a Navy airman,” Carr explained in a recent interview with FoxNews. “He was killed in May 1945 towards the end of the war.”
Carr’s grandfather, although he died long before his own birth in 1975, left many photographs, medals and even the iconic silk cards used by WWII airmen, which may survive deployments. sailors unlike paper charts. These formed early dreams of joining the military, which Carr soon realized.
‘Black Sheep Squadron’ was on TV, with Robert Conrad playing legendary Marine aviator Pappy Boyington,” he continued. “I watched it with my dad and it was the power of popular culture. It was his connection to his father – my grandfather – so I was headed in that direction.
He was inspired by war novels early in his life
Curiously, the other side of Carr’s interests came from her mother – a librarian. One could almost say that he was destined to become a military author! It was at the library with his mother that he came to learn about the Navy SEALs, and he quickly devoured all the literature he could find, fictional or otherwise.
By the time Carr enlisted he had already read all of the classic Tom Clancy novels such as The In search of Red October – naming David Morrell, Nelson DeMille and Stephen Hunter as some of his childhood favourites.
“All of these guys had protagonists that I wanted to be one day. Navy sniper in Vietnam… Army special forces in Vietnam… I had such a great time reading these books and I keep going reading them to this day,” he shared.
Carr wrote her novel as a form of therapy
By the time Carr posted The list of terminals, he was already in his 40s and had spent two decades as a special operations soldier. While that meant he had a lot of experience and passion to put into his book, he certainly wasn’t immediately looking for fame.
The book was basically written for me – it was very therapeutic,” he admits. “I revisited what was important to me over the past twenty years, including emotionally, strategically and tactically. I combined them into a fictional thriller in hopes of making the guns and the people feel authentic. It was me pouring out my passions and emotions.
It is interesting to note that the List of terminals The series will deal heavily with PTSD as a central theme, explored through its eight first-season episodes.
Some of his books have text redacted by the US government
As a true military veteran, many of Carr’s works have come under scrutiny from the United States Department of Defense, particularly the Office of Pre-Publication and Security.
The official objective of this department is to “ensure that information published is both accurate and represents the official position of the department”, with respect to manuscripts, theses, official documents and several works of fiction. Carr has publicly criticized the department – while he admits “some information must remain classified”, he also accuses the review process of being ineffective and inefficient.
This makes sense given that Carr’s chosen subjects reflect very real military scandals associated with the US government and military. The list of terminalsfor example, was partially inspired by the 1970s hearings on experiments conducted on Navy divers by the government.
“These guys were used as guinea pigs. I molded a lot of that information into a fictional story,” he said in an interview with Crimespree Magazine.
Chris Pratt – who previously played a Navy SEAL in zero dark thirtyalso continued Jimmy Kimmel live recently – discussing his experience reading the book and finding great potential for a series:
“Damn, this could be a pretty cool series” – Chris @prattprattpratt after reading THE TERMINAL LIST by @JackCarrUSA.
That, in addition, he reveals more about how he got the book originally and much more in his @JimmyKimmelLive interview. #TheTerminalList
📺 https://t.co/OGNI9dMB3n pic.twitter.com/JheUD7LZar
— Atria Mystery Bus (@AtriaMysteryBus) June 9, 2022
The list of terminals will stream on Amazon Prime Video on July 1.
(Featured image credits: Amazon Prime Video, Jack Carr)
