Born in his grandfather's house during a blizzard, breech baby Martin George Le Blanc was not expected to survive. Instead of baptism, he received last rites. Lack of birth registration made him the ideal future "warrior of last resort" a blank slate.
Le Blanc enlisted in the U.S. Army as a footloose 20-year-old Canadian, during the early days of the Vietnam War. His rapid ascent to elite black-ops warrior transformed the small-town Nova Scotia kid into a clandestine force in the Vietnam and Cold War eras (1966-86). He finally became an American citizen years after retiring from military service.
In A Warrior of Last Resort, a work of autofiction, Le Blanc sheds sharp new light on a period that foreshadowed today's geopolitics. He explores how a rugged childhood and intensive military training toughened him; the dangers and hard-won satisfaction of defending freedom; and the damage military service inflicted on body, mind, soul, and relationships.
Le Blanc's character, a U.S. Airborne Army Ranger and member of Special Forces, had a hand in historic events, from Israel's victory in the 1967 Six Day War to the Soviet Union's failing grasp on Afghanistan in 1983. He completed 16 major missions and many operations in South and North Vietnam, Cambodia, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, Grenada, Italy, Lebanon, and along the Pacific Shelf.
After each of three nearly-fatal missions, once suffering the loss of all nine men under his command, he broke down, withdrew, healed, and returned to battle, despite his enduring pain and trauma.
A movie producer, whom Le Blanc served as a bodyguard, mined the retired warrior's life, character, and quirks to create hit man Martin Blank in the dark-comedy film Grosse Pointe Blank (1997).
A Warrior of Last Resort weaves the tale of one remarkable life. Martin Le Blanc will inspire, amaze, horrify, and deeply move you.
"Let every nation know whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of Liberty."
- John F. Kennedy
