Download or read book The Greatest Special Ops Stories Ever Told written by Tom McCarthy and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-04-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Greatest Special Ops Stories Ever Told, editor Tom McCarthy has pulled together some of the finest writings about Special Operations that capture readers imaginations, meticulously culled from books, magazines, movies, and elsewhere. It is an unforgettable collection, and includes stories by Marcus Luttrell (author of Lone Survivor), Mark Owen (author of No Easy Day; the Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden), William Morgan, Christian McBurney, James Otis, H. Beam Piper, Duane Schultz, Hampton Sides, Michael Haas, Ben S. Malcolm, and many others. It includes legendary tales from the French and Indian Wars up through present-day Afghanistan and Iraq. We’ve all read about the killing of Bin Laden and the heroics of Chris Kyle and the SEALs and other special forces teams. Who hasn’t seen or heard about the extraordinary success of the book and movie American Sniper? But what many people don’t know is that they follow in a direct line from the earlier and equally lethal efforts of Special Forces in wars throughout our history. Special Operations have been going on since man first started fighting--from the Trojan War (think Trojan horse) to the American Revolution and the Civil War, and from World War II to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In one place, The Greatest Special Ops Stories Ever Told pulls together all of the greatest tales.
Download or read book The Greatest Stories Never Told written by Laurence J. Yadon and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2019-10-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Greatest Stories Never Told: Special Ops, attorney and author Larry Yadon has written some of the greatest tales about special forces and operations – not twice- or thrice-told tales, but the ones you haven’t heard before. It is an unforgettable collection, and includes stories of legendary operations from the late 18th century, when special forces emerged, through present-day Afghanistan and Iraq.
Download or read book Spec Ops written by William H. McRaven and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 1996-06-01 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vice Adm. William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.
Download or read book The Greatest Air Combat Stories Ever Told written by Tom McCarthy and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-10-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heroism and valor in the sky! * A new title in the relaunch of our successful Greatest Stories Ever Told franchise. * Air combat has captured the imaginations of people since the fighter plane was first introduced during WWI. * Stories of aces such as Eddy Rickenbacker and Captain Baron Manfred Von Richthofen have become staples of books and movies as well as the stuff of legend. In The Greatest Air Combat Stories Ever Told, the editor has pulled together some of the finest tales of heroism and valor in the skies over the battlefield! It is an unforgettable collection, and includes stories by Baron Manfred Von Richthofen, Len Deighton, Jay A. Stout, and many others. It includes tales of legendary aces from the Great War up through the present day, and is the newest title in the series that includes: *The Greatest Special Ops Stories Ever Told *The Greatest Sniper Stories Ever Told *The Greatest Air Aces Stories Ever Told *The Greatest Coast Guard Rescue Stories Ever Told
Download or read book Beyond Hell and Back written by Dwight Jon Zimmerman and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inside look at seven of the most harrowing and significant Special Operations missions ever. Courage beyond reason. Loyalty beyond faith. Perseverance in the face of overwhelming adversity. These are just some of the qualities of the members of the U.S. Special Operation Forces. BEYOND HELL AND BACK details the seven defining Special Ops missions that have made the Special Operation Forces the best fighting unit in the world, including: *THE RESCUE OF BAT-21: The largest and longest Combat Search and Rescue mission in the Vietnam War lasted 17 days and cost the lives of 13 Americans—all to rescue one man and the invaluable knowledge he alone possessed. * TASK FORCE NORMANDY: Planned in secrecy and executed with flawless efficiency, Task Force Normandy was an Army/Air Force Special Operations joint op that fired the opening shots behind enemy lines in Operation Desert Storm. *OPERATION EAGLE CLAW: The devastating Special Forces operation mounted to retrieve 52 American hostages in Iran resulted in the deaths of eight members of the rescue team. This failure ultimately led to the creation of Special Operations Command. *BASHER 52: Captain Scott O'Grady was shot down over the "no fly" zone above Bosnia, and his daring rescue was one of the Marine Corps' finest operations ever. These are a few of the dramatic true tales that represent the defining moments that helped shape the operational methods, planning, and deployment for all future Special Ops missions. BEYOND HELL AND BACK is the greatest collection of Spec Ops missions ever assembled.
Download or read book Ashley s War written by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2015-04-21 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of the New York Times bestseller The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, comes the story of a unique team of women who answered the call to get as close to the fight as the Army had ever allowed women to be, including one beloved soldier who was killed serving her country’s cause In 2010, the Army created Cultural Support Teams, a secret pilot program to insert women alongside Special Operations soldiers battling in Afghanistan. The Army reasoned that women could play a unique role on Special Ops teams: accompanying their male colleagues on raids and, while those soldiers were searching for insurgents, questioning the mothers, sisters, daughters and wives living at the compound. Their presence had a calming effect on enemy households, but more importantly, the CSTs were able to search adult women for weapons and gather crucial intelligence. They could build relationships—woman to woman—in ways that male soldiers in an Islamic country never could. In Ashley's War, Gayle Tzemach Lemmon uses on-the-ground reporting and a finely tuned understanding of the complexities of war to tell the story of CST-2, a unit of women hand-picked from the Army to serve in this highly specialized and challenging role. The pioneers of CST-2 proved for the first time, at least to some grizzled Special Operations soldiers, that women might be physically and mentally tough enough to become one of them. The price of this professional acceptance came in personal loss and social isolation: the only people who really understand the women of CST-2 are each other. At the center of this story is a friendship cemented by "Glee," video games, and the shared perils and seductive powers of up-close combat. At the heart of the team is the tale of a beloved and effective soldier, Ashley White. Much as she did in her bestselling The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, Lemmon transports readers to a world they previously had no idea existed: a community of women called to fulfill the military's mission to "win hearts and minds" and bound together by danger, valor, and determination. Ashley's War is a gripping combat narrative and a moving story of friendship—a book that will change the way readers think about war and the meaning of service.
Download or read book Special Ops written by Orr Kelly and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2017-08-08 with total page 915 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Four military histories from a writer “whose fine work should be of great interest . . . both to casual readers and to uniformed students of special ops” (Publishers Weekly). An expert in military affairs, Orr Kelly reveals the cutting-edge technology and jaw-dropping courage of the US military’s elite forces on land, sea, and air. Brave Men, Dark Waters: Originating in World War II as Underwater Demolition Teams, the Navy SEALs are the best of the best in the armed forces—known for their toughness and fearlessness, and their remarkable ability to get the job—any job—done. Facing America’s enemies across the globe, these modern warriors were the first to enter the fight in Vietnam, Panama, Grenada, and Iraq. Brave Men, Dark Waters is “the most complete in-depth study of this fabled elite unit” (Library Journal). Never Fight Fair!: Here, in their own words, are the true accounts of the US Navy SEALs—from their formation in World War II to the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq. In this riveting oral history, these brave men speak openly about their training and their missions, offering the uncensored, inspiring, and sometimes shocking truth about their combat triumphs and their rare but devastating failures. Hornet: Born in 1978, the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet has forever changed the way America’s wars are fought. This is the fascinating true story of the controversial development and deployment of the state-of-the-art supersonic fighter and attack aircraft with a top speed of more than one thousand miles per hour. Kelly details how Hornet came to be, how it was nearly doomed by an unprecedented political battle, and how it has served ably in combat from its first mission in Libya to Operation Desert Storm and well beyond. From a Dark Sky: Very little is known about US Air Force Special Operations—yet their exploits have been as daring and their achievements as remarkable as anything accomplished by their brother warriors. Since World War II, these ultrasecretive air commandos have routinely performed the nearly impossible, from providing air support for partisans in Nazi-occupied France to participating in clandestine CIA operations in Vietnam and Cambodia to secretly inserting covert operatives into North Korea. From a Dark Sky is “a well-conceived and well-executed, well-deserved tribute to an uncommonly fine body of American warriors” (Booklist).
Download or read book Special Ops written by W.E.B. Griffin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-01-29 with total page 904 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this explosive novel by W.E.B. Griffin, immerse yourself in the action-packed world of Special Ops. This military thriller follows a team of skilled Special Forces warriors as they face off against the legendary Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. Set in the 1960s, the story takes you to the heart of Washington, D.C., where political tensions are high and covert operations are in full swing. With gripping suspense and meticulous attention to detail, Griffin weaves a tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Download or read book One Hundred Victories written by Linda Robinson and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One Hundred Victories is a portrait of how—after a decade of intensive combat operations—special operations forces have become the go-to force for US military endeavors worldwide. Linda Robinson follows the evolution of special ops in Afghanistan, their longest deployment since Vietnam. She has lived in mud-walled compounds in the mountains and deserts of insurgent-dominated regions, and uses those experiences to show the gritty reality of the challenges the SOF face and the constant danger in which they operate. She witnessed special operators befriending villagers to help them secure their homes, and fighting off insurgents in the most dangerous safe havens even as they navigated a constant series of conflicts, crises, and other “meteors” from conventional forces, the CIA, and the Pakistanis—not to mention weak links within their own ranks. They showed what a tiny band of warriors could do, and could not do, out on the wild frontiers of the next-generation wars. One Hundred Victories also includes the inside story of the dramatic November 2011 cross-border firefight with Pakistan, which sent the US commander into a fury and provoked an international crisis. It describes the murky world of armed factions operating along the world's longest disputed border, and the chaos and casualties that result when commanders with competing agendas cannot resolve their differences.
Download or read book SAS and Elite Forces Guide written by Alexander Stilwell and published by SAS. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Narrates key events in recent history of special forces operations around the globe, from the Gulf War through Iraq.
Download or read book Chosen Soldier written by Dick Couch and published by Crown. This book was released on 2008-03-25 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An unprecedented view of Green Beret training, drawn from the year Dick Couch spent at Special Forces training facilities with the Army’s most elite soldiers. In combating terror, America can no longer depend on its conventional military superiority and the use of sophisticated technology. More than ever, we need men like those of the Army Special Forces–the legendary Green Berets. Following the experiences of one class of soldiers as they endure this physically and mentally exhausting ordeal, Couch spells out in fascinating detail the demanding selection process and grueling field exercises, the high-level technical training and intensive language courses, and the simulated battle problems that test everything from how well SF candidates gather operational intelligence to their skills at negotiating with volatile, often hostile, local leaders. Chosen Soldier paints a vivid portrait of an elite group, and a process that forges America’s smartest, most versatile, and most valuable fighting force.
Download or read book Special Forces in the War on Terror written by Leigh Neville and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating insight into US and Coalition Special Forces operating in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Mali. Within weeks of 9/11, United States Special Operations Forces were dropping into Afghanistan to lead the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. For over a decade, special forces have been fighting a hidden war in Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia, Mali and Afghanistan, facing off against a range of insurgents from organisations like al Qaeda, al Shabaab, Boko Haram and the Taliban. Leigh Neville draws on recently declassified material and first-hand-accounts from his SOF contacts to lift the veil of secrecy from these operations, giving an unprecedented blow-by-blow description of major Special Forces operations, culminating in SEAL Team 6's Operation Neptune Spear and the killing of Osama bin Laden. Detailing the special equipment, tactics, machinery and training that these Special Operatives received and used this impressive volume shows how the world's elite soldiers fought against overwhelming odds around the world.
Download or read book Eagle Down written by Jessica Donati and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2021-01-19 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Wall Street Journal national security reporter takes readers into the lives of frontline U.S. special operations troops fighting to keep the Taliban and Islamic State from overthrowing the U.S.-backed government in the final years of the war in Afghanistan. A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “Powerful, important, and searing." —General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (ret.), former commander, U.S. Central Command, former CIA director In 2015, the White House claimed triumphantly that “the longest war in American history” was over. But for some, it was just the beginning of a new war, fought by Special Operations Forces, with limited resources, little governmental oversight, and contradictory orders. With big picture insight and on-the-ground grit, Jessica Donati shares the stories of the impossible choices these soldiers must make. After the fall of a major city to the Taliban that year, Hutch, a battle-worn Green Beret on his fifth combat tour was ordered on a secret mission to recapture it and inadvertently called in an airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital, killing dozens. Caleb stepped on a bomb during a mission in notorious Sangin. Andy was trapped with his team during a raid with a crashed Black Hawk and no air support. Through successive policy directives under the Obama and Trump administrations, America came to rely almost entirely on US Special Forces, and without a long-term plan, failed to stabilize Afghanistan, undermining US interests both at home and abroad. Eagle Down is a riveting account of the heroism, sacrifice, and tragedy experienced by those that fought America’s longest war.
Download or read book Masters of Chaos written by Linda Robinson and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2009-03-05 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Special Forces soldiers are daring, seasoned troops from America's heartland, selected in a tough competition and trained in an extraordinary range of skills. They know foreign languages and cultures and unconventional warfare better than any U.S. fighters, and while they prefer to stay out of the limelight, veteran war correspondent Linda Robinson gained access to their closed world. She traveled with them on the frontlines, interviewed them at length on their home bases, and studied their doctrine, methods and history. In Masters of Chaos she tells their story through a select group of senior sergeants and field-grade officers, a band of unforgettable characters like Rawhide, Killer, Michael T, and Alan -- led by the unflappable Lt. Col. Chris Conner and Col. Charlie Cleveland, a brilliant but self-effacing West Pointer who led the largest unconventional war campaign since Vietnam in northern Iraq. Robinson follows the Special Forces from their first post-Vietnam combat in Panama, El Salvador, Desert Storm, Somalia, and the Balkans to their recent trials and triumphs in Afghanistan and Iraq. She witnessed their secret sleuthing and unsung successes in southern Iraq, and recounts here for the first time the dramatic firefights of the western desert. Her blow-by-blow story of the attack on Ansar al-Islam's international terrorist training camp has never been told before. The most comprehensive account ever of the modern-day Special Forces in action, Masters of Chaos is filled with riveting, intimate detail in the words of a close-knit band of soldiers who have done it all.
Download or read book Rogue Heroes written by Ben Macintyre and published by Crown. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix! “Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year) Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.
Download or read book Sea Stories written by Admiral William H. McRaven and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the success of his #1 New York Times bestseller Make Your Bed, which has sold over one million copies, Admiral William H. McRaven is back with amazing stories of bravery and heroism during his career as a Navy SEAL and commander of America's Special Operations Forces. Admiral William H. McRaven is a part of American military history, having been involved in some of the most famous missions in recent memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Sea Stories begins in 1963 at a French Officers' Club in France, where Allied officers and their wives gathered to have drinks and tell stories about their adventures during World War II-the place where a young Bill McRaven learned the value of a good story. Sea Stories is an unforgettable look back on one man's incredible life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military sites to a day job of hunting terrorists and rescuing hostages. Action-packed, humorous, and full of valuable life lessons like those exemplified in McRaven's bestselling Make Your Bed, Sea Stories is a remarkable memoir from one of America's most accomplished leaders.
Download or read book The Greatest Stories Never Told written by Laurence J. Yadon and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Greatest Stories Never Told: Covert Ops, attorney and author Larry Yadon has written some of the greatest tales about covert operations, which are military operations that conceal the identity of the sponsor of the operation. These are not twice- or thrice-told tales, but the ones you haven’t heard before. It is an unforgettable collection, and includes stories of legendary operations from early in the history of covert operations up through present-day Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere in the world.
