So there has been some discussion in the 1:6 forum that gets into some of the great books out there about modern military operations/personnel that have been documented by some outstanding writers. As a lover of all things military and books as well, I decided that I would take the time to review some of the military and CIA books that I own. I am going to stick to the modern era only, as that is what I read most often. Everything I will review is non-fiction.
"Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden, published by Atlantic Monthly Press
I chose this book first because it is just an outstanding book that covers not only the U.S. side, but also the Somali side of the story. Bowden obviously interviewed a lot of people from the United States Military, Somalis, as well as U.N. personnel I believe when he put this book together. The reader gets a lot of in-depth looks into one of the most secret U.S. military units ever (1st SFOD-D).
The reader is introduced to a plethora of "characters" from the Rangers, 160th SOAR and Delta, almost to the point that it is a little overwhelming. In the movie they merged a lot of people from the book into one character in the movie so that the viewer wouldn't get confused or lost and could better relate. Also there would have been so many more side stories in the movie that it would have been hard to follow. I must say though that the book is MUCH BETTER than the movie. It is an awesome story to say the least.
There is a lot of dated information in this book that wouldn't lend itself to today's fighting force, but there is some good information on each of the military units depicted, a good history lesson in how we got involved in Mogadishu, and a well written depiction of the events of October 3rd/4th, 1993.
"Not A Good Day To Die" by Sean Naylor, published by Berkley Caliber
I chose to review this book next because I rank it up there with "Black Hawk Down". This is a very well written book about Operation Anaconda. The book documents the events that occurred in the Shahi-Kot Valley, Afghanistan from March 1st-18th, 2002. Naylor's subjects include the AFO (Advance Force Operations) team led by Lt. Col. Pete Blaber of Delta Force, Task Force Dagger, Task Force K-Bar, Task Force Mountain (10th Mountain Division & 101st Airborne Division), JSOC elements, and some other players to include the CIA.
Some have alluded to Sean Naylor being a SEAL basher in this book. While there are some obvious issues that are documented about some of the SEAL members, there are some wonderful depictions of an awesome firefight (on the "Finger") and the heroics on Takur Ghar by the SEAL team to attempt to rescue their fallen comrade, Neil Roberts. My belief is that the book fairly documents both the errors and successes of all of the units involved. I think IMHO the depiction of Naylor being a SEAL basher is unsubstantiated.
Overall this book is great. The reader gets an inside look at some outstanding work performed by heroes from both conventional and Special Operations units. I believe there is a good balance of both covered in this book. Of note, one of the Delta Operators from India's reece team is called Bob H. in the book. This is Bob Horrigan who was killed in Iraq on June 17th, 2005.
"Robert's Ridge" by Maclolm MacPherson, published by Dell
I chose this book next only because it ties in with "Not A Good Day To Die". This book is entirely about the events on Takur Ghar with the SEALs and Rangers during Operation Anaconda. It is a good complement to "Not A Good Day To Die" and I believe it goes a little more in-depth on the events that took place on the mountain. It's been a while since I read it so I won't delve into it much more. I will try to re-read it at some point and update this review.
"First In" by Gary Schroen, published by Ballantine Books
I decided to back up a little bit. The 1st two books I talked about, "Black Hawk Down" and Not a Good Day To Die" were picked first because of how much great information and writing went into each of those books. Now I am going to back track and go back to where it all started in Afghanistan. "First In" is a first hand account of the first members of the United States to enter Afghanistan after 9/11.
Gary Schroen is the leader of a 7 man CIA team (that grows to 9 later on) that is tasked with entering Afghanistan and preparing the battle space for American military forces to wage war on al Qaeda and the Taliban. Gary Schroen was allowed by the CIA to publish this book. There are no redactions at all in this book, which makes it a very pleasant read to say the least. There is a lot of outstanding information about not only Gary's CIA team but other CIA teams operating in Afghanistan, with an account of the near miss on Hamid Karzai's life by a miss directed JDAM (this event is well documented in "The Only Thing Worth Dying For" by Eric Blehm).
Amazingly there is a lot of information in this book that is redacted in other CIA accounts. This book was sanctioned by the CIA, and I believe that may be due to how senior Schroen was at the time (Deputy Chief of the Near East Division of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, preparing to retire after 35 years). If you are interested in the CIA I highly recommend this book.
"Jawbreaker" by Gary Berntsen, published by Crown
Next up is a book that carries over from "First In". Berntsen was tasked with relieving Schroen (so that he could retire) in Afghanistan and running the operations in the country. Basically he was the station chief for the country of Afghanistan.
This book is heavily redacted by the CIA. I think that it's odd that some of the information in this book is redacted here, but not in Schroen's "First In". My thought here is that I perceive Berntsen to be a little cocky (if that is the right term) and I get the feeling he pissed off some people at the CIA.
This book is a fantastic read except for the redactions. They are annoying as hell. If you read this book, read "First In" before you do. You can tie in information from that book to help fill in some of the blanks. There is a lot of great info in this book about CIA operations and it brings the reader up to the events at The Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001 when Schroen was replaced by Rich, the chief of the Bin Laden Unit.
"Kill Bin Laden" by "Dalton Fury", published by St. Martin's Press
"Kill Bin Laden" picks up where "Jawbreaker" left off, except the story shifts from the CIA to Delta Force. "KBL" is written by a retired Delta Force Major who uses the pseudonym "Dalton Fury". The book recounts the events in the Battle Of Tora Bora by the Delta Force element involved as well as the CIA and some Special Forces and SBS commandos from the UK.
"Dalton Fury" has received a lot of flack from Special Forces veterans for his violation of the "Silent Professionals" motto. Fury recounts a little bit of his early history in the Ranger battalion as an enlisted soldier before his Delta Selection (which he gets into a little bit in the book).
Overall the book has a lot of good information. The book doesn't flow well and there is some bouncing around, but the book provided a detailed look at the composition of a Delta Force squadron and the events that took place in the battle. If you are into Delta Force then get this book. It's worth it.
"The Only Thing Worth Dying For" by Eric Blehm, published by Harper
This wonderfully written story documents the exploits of Special Forces ODA 574 from September - December 2001. Blehm does an outstanding job recounting the men and their brave actions in his writing. Some biographies/documentary books can be dry, but I didn't experience that at all. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.
The book does a fantastic job of explaining to the reader how the ODA's work, their composition, what mission prep is like and the roles and responsibilities of each team member.
"The Mission, The Men, And Me" by Pete Blaber, published by Berkley Caliber
Pete Blaber is a retired Delta Force Lieutenant Colonel. In this book Blaber recounts some of the missions that he and his men performed during his time with Delta Force. After each story Blaber explains how leadership can be applied in the civilian sector to duplicate the successes he had. This book is intended to be a lesson in leadership, but the "war stories" are fantastic. I have a deep respect for Pete Blaber. You can tell that he is an outstanding leader of men and would be the kind of officer that I would want to follow into battle. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes Delta for and/or leadership lessons.
I will review many more books and add more info as I can. I will put the rest of the reviews in this 1st post to keep them together.
Feel free to offer your own reviews as well. I like to know about other books that I may not have read yet and to discuss impressions and information found in these books.
Semper Fi!
Jeff
"Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden, published by Atlantic Monthly Press
I chose this book first because it is just an outstanding book that covers not only the U.S. side, but also the Somali side of the story. Bowden obviously interviewed a lot of people from the United States Military, Somalis, as well as U.N. personnel I believe when he put this book together. The reader gets a lot of in-depth looks into one of the most secret U.S. military units ever (1st SFOD-D).
The reader is introduced to a plethora of "characters" from the Rangers, 160th SOAR and Delta, almost to the point that it is a little overwhelming. In the movie they merged a lot of people from the book into one character in the movie so that the viewer wouldn't get confused or lost and could better relate. Also there would have been so many more side stories in the movie that it would have been hard to follow. I must say though that the book is MUCH BETTER than the movie. It is an awesome story to say the least.
There is a lot of dated information in this book that wouldn't lend itself to today's fighting force, but there is some good information on each of the military units depicted, a good history lesson in how we got involved in Mogadishu, and a well written depiction of the events of October 3rd/4th, 1993.
"Not A Good Day To Die" by Sean Naylor, published by Berkley Caliber
I chose to review this book next because I rank it up there with "Black Hawk Down". This is a very well written book about Operation Anaconda. The book documents the events that occurred in the Shahi-Kot Valley, Afghanistan from March 1st-18th, 2002. Naylor's subjects include the AFO (Advance Force Operations) team led by Lt. Col. Pete Blaber of Delta Force, Task Force Dagger, Task Force K-Bar, Task Force Mountain (10th Mountain Division & 101st Airborne Division), JSOC elements, and some other players to include the CIA.
Some have alluded to Sean Naylor being a SEAL basher in this book. While there are some obvious issues that are documented about some of the SEAL members, there are some wonderful depictions of an awesome firefight (on the "Finger") and the heroics on Takur Ghar by the SEAL team to attempt to rescue their fallen comrade, Neil Roberts. My belief is that the book fairly documents both the errors and successes of all of the units involved. I think IMHO the depiction of Naylor being a SEAL basher is unsubstantiated.
Overall this book is great. The reader gets an inside look at some outstanding work performed by heroes from both conventional and Special Operations units. I believe there is a good balance of both covered in this book. Of note, one of the Delta Operators from India's reece team is called Bob H. in the book. This is Bob Horrigan who was killed in Iraq on June 17th, 2005.
"Robert's Ridge" by Maclolm MacPherson, published by Dell
I chose this book next only because it ties in with "Not A Good Day To Die". This book is entirely about the events on Takur Ghar with the SEALs and Rangers during Operation Anaconda. It is a good complement to "Not A Good Day To Die" and I believe it goes a little more in-depth on the events that took place on the mountain. It's been a while since I read it so I won't delve into it much more. I will try to re-read it at some point and update this review.
"First In" by Gary Schroen, published by Ballantine Books
I decided to back up a little bit. The 1st two books I talked about, "Black Hawk Down" and Not a Good Day To Die" were picked first because of how much great information and writing went into each of those books. Now I am going to back track and go back to where it all started in Afghanistan. "First In" is a first hand account of the first members of the United States to enter Afghanistan after 9/11.
Gary Schroen is the leader of a 7 man CIA team (that grows to 9 later on) that is tasked with entering Afghanistan and preparing the battle space for American military forces to wage war on al Qaeda and the Taliban. Gary Schroen was allowed by the CIA to publish this book. There are no redactions at all in this book, which makes it a very pleasant read to say the least. There is a lot of outstanding information about not only Gary's CIA team but other CIA teams operating in Afghanistan, with an account of the near miss on Hamid Karzai's life by a miss directed JDAM (this event is well documented in "The Only Thing Worth Dying For" by Eric Blehm).
Amazingly there is a lot of information in this book that is redacted in other CIA accounts. This book was sanctioned by the CIA, and I believe that may be due to how senior Schroen was at the time (Deputy Chief of the Near East Division of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, preparing to retire after 35 years). If you are interested in the CIA I highly recommend this book.
"Jawbreaker" by Gary Berntsen, published by Crown
Next up is a book that carries over from "First In". Berntsen was tasked with relieving Schroen (so that he could retire) in Afghanistan and running the operations in the country. Basically he was the station chief for the country of Afghanistan.
This book is heavily redacted by the CIA. I think that it's odd that some of the information in this book is redacted here, but not in Schroen's "First In". My thought here is that I perceive Berntsen to be a little cocky (if that is the right term) and I get the feeling he pissed off some people at the CIA.
This book is a fantastic read except for the redactions. They are annoying as hell. If you read this book, read "First In" before you do. You can tie in information from that book to help fill in some of the blanks. There is a lot of great info in this book about CIA operations and it brings the reader up to the events at The Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001 when Schroen was replaced by Rich, the chief of the Bin Laden Unit.
"Kill Bin Laden" by "Dalton Fury", published by St. Martin's Press
"Kill Bin Laden" picks up where "Jawbreaker" left off, except the story shifts from the CIA to Delta Force. "KBL" is written by a retired Delta Force Major who uses the pseudonym "Dalton Fury". The book recounts the events in the Battle Of Tora Bora by the Delta Force element involved as well as the CIA and some Special Forces and SBS commandos from the UK.
"Dalton Fury" has received a lot of flack from Special Forces veterans for his violation of the "Silent Professionals" motto. Fury recounts a little bit of his early history in the Ranger battalion as an enlisted soldier before his Delta Selection (which he gets into a little bit in the book).
Overall the book has a lot of good information. The book doesn't flow well and there is some bouncing around, but the book provided a detailed look at the composition of a Delta Force squadron and the events that took place in the battle. If you are into Delta Force then get this book. It's worth it.
"The Only Thing Worth Dying For" by Eric Blehm, published by Harper
This wonderfully written story documents the exploits of Special Forces ODA 574 from September - December 2001. Blehm does an outstanding job recounting the men and their brave actions in his writing. Some biographies/documentary books can be dry, but I didn't experience that at all. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it.
The book does a fantastic job of explaining to the reader how the ODA's work, their composition, what mission prep is like and the roles and responsibilities of each team member.
"The Mission, The Men, And Me" by Pete Blaber, published by Berkley Caliber
Pete Blaber is a retired Delta Force Lieutenant Colonel. In this book Blaber recounts some of the missions that he and his men performed during his time with Delta Force. After each story Blaber explains how leadership can be applied in the civilian sector to duplicate the successes he had. This book is intended to be a lesson in leadership, but the "war stories" are fantastic. I have a deep respect for Pete Blaber. You can tell that he is an outstanding leader of men and would be the kind of officer that I would want to follow into battle. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes Delta for and/or leadership lessons.
I will review many more books and add more info as I can. I will put the rest of the reviews in this 1st post to keep them together.
Feel free to offer your own reviews as well. I like to know about other books that I may not have read yet and to discuss impressions and information found in these books.
Semper Fi!
Jeff