For four decades after World War II, U.S. Special Operations Forces--including Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, Air Force special operations aircrews and Special Tactics Group--suffered from mistrust and inadequate funding from the military services. They were nearly eliminated from the active force following the Vietnam War. But in the past fifteen years, special operations forces have risen from the ashes of the failed 1980 rescue of American hostages in Iran to become one of the most frequently deployed elements of the U.S. military. They are now adequately funded, better-equipped, and well-trained. Special operations forces are often the nation's first military response when faced with a crisis in today's uncertain and unstable international security environment. What caused this dramatic turnaround? As this book shows, it was a long way from congressional outrage at TV images of burned bodies of U.S. servicemen in the Iranian desert to the establishment of a special operations force of nearly 45,000 active and reserve personnel. The drama of how this happened sheds light on how public policy is made and implemented. It illustrates the complex interaction between internal forces within the special operations community, as well as between the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. The implementation of legislation establishing a special operations capability is seen to rebuild and protect these forces to an extent never imagined by the early " quiet professionals." While offering insights into how the U.S. government makes policy, Susan Marquis also offers a revealing look at the special operations community, including their storied past, extremetraining, and recent operational experience that continues to forge their distinctive organizational mission and culture. She describes the decade-long struggle to rebuild special operations forces, resulting in new SOF organizations with independence that is unique among U.S. military forces, an independence approaching that of a new military service.

25 Days to Aden is the story of how in a week in 2015 the Gulf States pulled together a ten-nation coalition and the biggest military operation they ever launched unilaterally. It is an amazing account of Arab militaries doing what America would not, preventing Iran from taking a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula. The risks for global security were huge: Iran already overshadowed one of the world's greatest maritime straits, at Hormuz, and now it sought to dominate the southern approaches to the Suez Canal as well. Aden had to hold out against the Houthis. The Gulf States were used to America stepping up at such moments, but the White House was partway through negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran. No help would come from Washington. Instead, for the first time, the Gulf States acted alone. Told by an expert communicator on the region, it is a unique story. If the US is truly a global empire in decline, then the story may hold important pointers for a future of warfare driven by emergent powers in the gap left by the withdrawal of American influence.

Life and leadership lessons from the Special Forces, from the stars of Channel 4 series SAS: Who Dares Wins - including Sunday Times bestselling author of FIRST MAN: LEADING FROM THE FRONT, Ant Middleton Are you up to the challenge of SAS leadership? Only the best will succeed... Britain's SAS (Special Air Service) has an unparalleled reputation for soldiering excellence. Their skills and techniques have been perfected in the most demanding environments imaginable, but many of these can also be used in our everyday lives. This book takes situations all of us will experience during our lives and presents tactical lessons drawn from SAS training and battlefield experience. Its four authors - stars of the hit Channel 4 show SAS: Who Dares Wins - how their finely honed understanding of how to handle extreme challenges can be applied in any environment. Their advice on negotiation, people management, self-motivation and resilience, among other things, can transform your performance in a whole range of scenarios: from buying a house, nailing a job interview, and the experience of dealing with rejection, to maintaining a diet, or managing that pushy colleague at work. This is the ultimate guide to leadership and personal achievement.

Extraordinary Valor is the true story of American Special Forces officer John Duffy, and South Vietnamese paratrooper, Le Van Me, as they fight to defend Charlie Hill, a key to holding Vietnam's Central Highlands during North Vietnam's 1972 Easter Offensive. John Joseph Duffy was born in Brooklyn, New York; Le Van Me in a small village outside the old imperial capital of Hue in South Vietnam. Living on opposite sides of the globe, they come together in the heat of war in Southeast Asia when Major Duffy is assigned as the American advisor to the elite South Vietnamese 11th Airborne Battalion where Me is second in command. The battalion receives the order to "Fight to the death" on Charlie Hill. After two weeks of intense combat, hundreds lay dead and those still standing are out of food, water, and medical supplies. Their ammunition is nearly gone. Duffy and Me draw on their bond of friendship and trust to make a selfless two-man last stand against the final North Vietnamese human wave assault. Both are badly wounded, Duffy multiple times. Their heroic action allows 36 members of the 471-man battalion to escape and be rescued. The rest are killed, captured, or missing in action. This is their story.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. 'The SAS and all it stands for is exemplified in men such as Mark 'Billy' Billingham. They are the backbone of the British military and I for one am thankful he is on our side!' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes 'The most experienced Special Forces soldier in recent memory. The Hard Way is brutally brilliant.' - Tom Marcus, Number One bestselling author of Soldier Spy 'Billy is inspirational and always humble. A giant of a man!' - Bear Grylls Billy Billingham grew up tough. Leaving school at eleven, the threat of borstal hanging over his head, running with gangs in Birmingham, and almost being killed in a knife fight eventually led to Billy discovering the British armed forces at sixteen. It would be the making of him. Billingham would graduate from the Royal Marine cadets to enlisting with the Parachute Regiment in 1983, where he would serve with distinction as a Patrol Commander and expert sniper. In 1991 he applied to join the SAS - the fearsome and secretive elite special forces unit with a well-won reputation for excellence in operating in extreme and hazardous conditions. He excelled in this life, rising to the rank of sergeant major for the regiment, and undertaking dozens of classified and extremely dangerous missions. He spent seventeen years with the SAS, serving in countless war zones, winning a commendation for bravery and was awarded the MBE. After leaving the army, he embraced the life of a bodyguard to Hollywood stars such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Sir Michael Caine, Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe, before being recruited as one of the lead instructors on SAS - Who Dares Wins for television. Billy has a reputation for excellence, honesty and integrity, supporting his comrades Ant Middleton, Jason Fox and Ollie Ollerton, but alos intimidating and inspiring the contestants who take on the gruelling challenges each week. The Hard Way details Billy's story thus far, but will also educate and enthral those wishing to seek a challenge and conquer it - the SAS way.

This is a first-hand account, never before in English, of a secret World War II mission in 1944 called Operation Salamander, in which Tadeusz Chciuk (writing as Marek Celt) parachuted into German-occupied Poland with the enigmatic political advisor Dr. Jozef Retinger. The goal of the mission was to persuade the Polish underground forces and political leadership to accept the fact that it was imperative to start negotiating with the Soviets right away, as they were now to be considered Poland's allies and had the full support of the British and Americans. The story culminates in Operation Wildhorn III, in which Chciuk and Retinger were picked up in Poland by a British plane that landed just a short distance from a significant detachment of German forces, and flew them to safety.

This fascinating look at the life of a modern-day professional soldier gives the reader an inside view of the deadly global war on terror. Herd argues that conflicting political objectives have muddied the way forward for the on-the-ground commanders and thus threaten the prospect of any real victory in Afghanistan. He uses everyday stories to make his points: ""One of the local leaders pointed to his wrist and said to my interpreter, 'the Americans have all the watches but we have all the time.' That made a lasting impression on me."" Colonel Herd was one of the highest ranking officers on the ground with a command of some 4,000 elite soldiers from all branches of the U.S. military and five other coalition nations. It was a mission he had trained for all of his life. A sixth-generation soldier, Herd became a master parachutist, a combat scuba diver, a Green Beret and an Army Ranger. He conducted combat missions against the Taliban by using the Special Forces mandate of working by, with and through the local population.

Joe Owen tells it like it was in this evocative, page-turning story of a Marine rifle company in the uncertain early days of the Korean War. His powerful descriptions of close combat on the snow-covered mountains of Chosin Reservoir and of the survival spirit of his Marines provide a gritty real-life view of frontline warfare. As a lieutenant who was with them from first muster, Owen was in a unique position to see the hastily assembled mix of regulars and raw reservists harden into a superb company known as Baker-One-Seven. His fast-moving narrative describes enemy night assaults, foxhole fights, patrols through Chinese lines, and dramatic examples of Medal of Honor gallantry, and he supports his account with tales from other survivors.

JOIN SAS LEGEND PHIL CAMPION AS HE SHARES HIS DEEPLY PERSONAL LIFE STORY, WARTS AND ALL In WHO DARES WINS Big Phil Campion reveals his chequered past, from terrible abuse suffered in a string of kids' homes to psychological abuse suffered at a top public school. Phil guides you through his soldiering career, from the so called "green army" to the brutal trial of SAS selection and all that followed. This includes years spent providing private military services across war-torn and risk-laden Africa; in between he was body-guarded the likes of Led Zep, Oasis, Kasabian, Dizzy Rascal and Pro Green. Phil takes you on his gripping, behind-the-scenes adventure acting as a roving reporter for Sky TV in Syria and Northern Iraq, more often than not under fire. Brave, riveting and truly revelatory, WHO DARES WINS is packed full of jaw-dropping stories to quicken the blood, while also telling of the psychological toll a life in conflict took on the author. 'One of the best first-hand accounts of life in combat ever written' Andy McNab on Born Fearless

This book tells the stories of forty heroes, all awarded bravery medals for their conduct during Special Forces missions over the last 150 years. Often covert hit-and-run operations involving very small numbers of highly skilled men, those who partake in these missions know that their goals involve a high level of risk. They are men who would die for their country, no questions asked. With many incredible stories, particularly from the Second World War, including the Cockleshell Heroes, and other conflicts from the twentieth century, such as the Iranian Embassy siege, this collection of real-life action adventure brings the bravery of Britain's heroes to life. Every medal in Lord Ashcroft's extensive collection tells a story and these are some of the most thrilling.

In this original and revealing work, Jeremiah B. McCall challenges the generally accepted view of the Roman cavalry and explores the fundamental connections between war and society in republican Rome, c.300-100 BC. McCall describes the citizen cavalry's equipment, tactics, and motivation in battle, and argues for its effectiveness in the field. This success is proof that it cannot finally have been disbanded for purely military reasons; he shows that victories in the law-courts, and lavish displays of wealth, came to supersede cavalry service as a way of building the reputations of the Roman elite. The clear structure and fresh approach of the book, combining insights from both Roman military and social history, will be useful to readers at all levels of study.

The men of 1st U.S. Marine Raider Battalion, known by the name of its legendary commander Merritt Edson, provided the vanguard of an experiment with special lightly armed commando units in the Pacific. On August 7, 1942, together with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, they landed on Tulagi, British Solomon Islands. Two days of severe fighting secured this strategic island in the Battle of Tulagi. After relocating to Guadalcanal they conducted raids on Savo Island and at Tasimboko, on Guadalcanal. From 1942 to 1943, they fought seven critical battles in the Solomon Islands against some of Japan's most experienced jungle fighters. Twenty-four Raiders had ships named in their honour, all but one posthumously. Joseph Alexander's book presents an abundance of first-person accounts of the conflicts, from Edson himself to such hard-nosed NCOs as Angus Goss, Walter Burak and Anthony Palonis. About the Author Col. Joseph H. Alexander, a Marine combat veteran, is the award-winning author of six books and helps produce documentaries about Marines. He lives in Asheville, NC.

Black Ops is a thrilling compendium of undercover warfare from around the world. Here you will meet the most hardened soldiers and operatives facing extraordinary dangers deep behind enemy lines. The book features many amazing stories from World War II, such as the assassination of Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich by Britain's Special Operations Executive, which in 1940 received its mission from Churchill to 'set Europe ablaze' in the battle against Nazi tyranny. Also told are the stories of Stalin's favourite spy; the little-known account of how Japanese military codes were cracked; and Operation Mincemeat, which led to the invasion of Sicily. Written by a leading military intelligence expert, Black Ops ranges across a century of remarkable clandestine operations. Starting with Hans Carl Lody, the first German spy during World War I, we also have the plot to assassinate Lenin; the origins of strategic deception; and the Cold War defection of Oleg Gordievsky from the Soviet Union. The book is brought right up to date with the plot to assassinate Osama bin Laden by Navy SEALS in 2011, and the attempted assassination of the Skripals in the UK in 2018, leading to fears that the world is on the brink of a new Cold War. A compelling anthology of spies, soldiers, mercenaries and assassins, Black Ops tells the secret history of 20th- and 21st-century warfare.

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.

Poland was the first country to stand up to Germany in 1939, and maintained an underground army during the years of World War II. The underground army was organized in occupied Poland in October 1939 and worked until April 1945, hoping to establish a legitimate authority in post-war Poland while liberating territory with the aid of Polish Forces from the west. This military history covers the attempts of General Wladyslaw Sikorski and his successor (General Kazimierz Sosnkowski) to integrate the Polish forces into Western strategy, and trying to have their clandestine forces (the Armia Krajowa) declared an allied combatant and legitimized by the Western powers before the eyes of both Germans and Soviets who sought Poland's destruction. The work opens with some general remarks on the inter-war period of 1919-1939, and then concentrates on the period of October 1939 through January 1945 and V-E Day. It covers such topics as Poland's part in the Norwegian and French Campaigns, the Battle of Britain, Polish Intelligence Services, Military Radio Network, Feluccas, the creation of the Polish Parachute Brigade, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Bomber Offensive, the Katyn graves, Polish air crews in RAF Transport Command, Tehran, Polish Wings in the 2nd Tactical Air Force, the Bardsea Plan, the invasion of Normandy, the Pierwsza Pancera, the Warsaw Uprising, Operation Freston, the disbanding of the Polish Home Army, and Yalta. A conclusion and several appendices (including a chronology, costs of the Polish forces based in the UK, list of Polish squadrons in UK, and the texts of Polish-British agreements) close the work.

The term Panzergrenadier was introduced in 1942 and applied equally to the infantry component of Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and later Waffen-SS Panzergrenadiere divisions. As this classic new Images of War book describes, these elite divisions fought as mechanized infantry and escort for and in close cooperation with panzers and other armoured fighting vehicles. Trained to fight both mounted and on foot, their priority was to maintain the fast momentum of armoured troops on the battlefield. Using a wealth of rare, often unpublished, photographs with detailed captions and text, the author charts the fighting record of the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe Panzergrenadiertruppe units. This includes their initial successes on the Eastern Front. But as defeat approached, they were forced on the defensive on all fronts including the bitter fighting in Italy and the Western Front. As well as describing their many actions, the book details the vehicles and weapons used and main personalities.

These 100 skills, adapted for civilians from actual field experiences of Special Forces operations, offer a complete hands-on and practical guide to help you survive in the wild no matter the climate or terrain; be prepared for any crisis; and have the critical life-saving knowledge for staying safe in any hostile environment or disaster. 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition is what you need for today's world, combining survival hacks developed on the battlefield with the low-tech tools you have on hand. This book is your essential prep manual, from securing shelter, building fire, finding food, and navigating back to civilization no matter the environment to thinking like a special forces solider so that you can survive a hostage situation, an active shooter, a suicide bomber, or a terrorist threat on the subway, and even apply trauma medicine as a first responder. Full of specific scenarios to help you get in the mind-set of survival, 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition is better than a Swiss Army knife whether you're lost at sea, forced to land a plane, fighting off a bear, or deciding whether to run, hide, or fight. Next to each skill are easy-to-grasp detailed illustrations, because when you need to survive the apocalypse, you don't have time for complicated instructions.

This highly illustrated title traces the development of mercenary soldiering from individuals and small units in the African wars of the 1960s-90s to today's state-employed corporate military contractors. The phenomenon of mercenary soldiering has constantly recurred in the news since the 1960s and has always attracted lively interest. The concept of 'mercenaries' began in the former Belgian Congo during the 1960s when men such as Mike Hoare and Bob Denard assembled hundreds of military veterans to 'do the fighting' for a particular leader or faction. This idea soon evolved into small teams of individuals training and leading local forces with varying success; wars in Rhodesia and on South Africa's borders attracted foreign volunteers into national armed forces, and veterans of these conflicts later sought employment elsewhere as mercenaries. The wars in the former Yugoslavia also attracted foreign fighters inspired as much by political and religious motives as by pay. This picture then evolved again, as former officers with recent experience set up sophisticated commercial companies to identify and fill the needs of governments whose own militaries were inadequate. Most recently, the aftermath of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has seen such contractors taking on some of the burden of long-term security off major national armies, while the subsequent rise of ISIS/Daesh has added a parallel strain of ideological volunteers. The author is well placed to describe how the face of mercenary soldiering has evolved and changed over 60 years. Using first-hand accounts, photos and detailed illustrations, this book presents a compelling snapshot of the life, campaigns and kit used by mercenary operatives engaged in fighting within both larger and more specific conflicts around the world.

In the dark and uncertain days of 1941 and 1942, when Rommel's Afrika Korps was sweeping towards Egypt and the Suez Canal, a small group of daring raiders made history for the Allies. They operated deep behind the German lines, driving hundreds of miles through the deserts of North Africa. They hid by day and struck by night, destroying aircraft, blowing up ammunition dumps, derailing trains and killing many times their own number. The men were the Special Air Service, the SAS, the brainchild of David Stirling, a deceptively mild-mannered man with a brilliant idea. Under his command, small teams of resourceful, highly trained men penetrated beyond the front lines of the opposing armies and wreaked havoc where the Germans least expected it. Virginia Cowles's The Phantom Major is a classic account of these raids, an amazing tale of courage, impudence and daring, packed with action and high adventure. Her narrative, based on the eyewitness testimony of the men who took part, gives a fascinating insight into the early years of the SAS.Virginia Cowles was an American war correspondent and historian. Her book about her own experiences as a journalist from 1936-42, Looking for Trouble, has recently been re-issued by Faber Finds. Her play, written with Martha Gellhorn, Love Goes to Press!, will have a revival on Broadway in 2011. Among her biographies are: Winston Churchill: The Era and the Man, The Astors: Story of a Transatlantic Family, The Romanovs, The Rothschilds: A Family of Fortune and Great Marlborough and His Duchess.

This work details the state of British counterinsurgency knowledge by 1945, and shows how wartime special forces and unconventional warfare affected many postwar counterinsurgencies. The vital role of the Special Air Service (SAS) is revealed here for the first time.

Drawing on unpublished personal journals, this long overdue and bestselling account of Jock Lewes' life, tragically cut short on 31 December 1941 during an SAS deep penetration patrol, makes compelling reading. His exceptional talents found expression in the development of the SAS concept and ethos. Without his and David Stirling's partnership there would have been no Special Air Service; as Stirling later chivalrously admitted, 'Jock Lewes could far more genuinely claim to be the founder of the SAS than I'.

Historically, special forces have been prone to misuse or misapplication. In particular, how special operations achieve their strategic effects has not been well understood. This stems in part from the Western historical tradition of the independently decisive 'great raid'. This work examines how a number of different special operations, in conjunction with more conventional military actions, achieve and sustain strategic effect(s) over time. In particular, this thesis argues that the root of effective special operations lies in understanding the relationship that exists between moral and material attrition at the strategic level through an examination of strategic theory and case studies.
The key to understanding how special operations improve strategic performance resides in the concept of strategic attrition, and by extension, the nature of strategy. The nature of strategy reflects the complexities associated with moral and material interactions between competing adversaries. Theorists including Carl von Clausewitz, Hans Delbruck, and Mao Zedong, understood that attrition has a moral dimension at the strategic level in addition to its more commonly known material one. By focusing a number of special operations against enemy moral and material vulnerabilities over time, and in conjunction with conventional operations, an enemy's will to fight can be eroded more quickly and efficiently. However, the use of the Special Air Service Brigade during the Normandy campaign in 1944, in this case incorporating special operations into a campaign of attrition, may not succeed for reasons related to the nature of strategy even when the desired goals are clearly understood.

Called to action on 2 April 1982, the men of 45 Commando Royal Marines assembled from around the world to sail 8,000 miles to recover the Falkland Islands from Argentine invasion. Lacking helicopters and short of food, they 'yomped' in appalling weather carrying overloaded rucksacks, across the roughest terrain. Yet for a month in mid-winter, they remained a cohesive fighting-fit body of men. They then fought and won the highly successful and fierce night battle for Two Sisters, a 1,000 foot high mountain which was the key to the defensive positions around Stanley. This is a first hand story of that epic feat, but it is much more than that. The first to be written by a company commander in the Falklands War, the book gives a compelling, vivid description of the 'yomp' and infantry fighting, and it also offers penetrating insights into the realities of war at higher levels. It is a unique combination of descriptive writing about frontline fighting and wider reflections on the Falklands War, and conflict in general. Gritty and moving; sophisticated, reflective and funny, this book offers an abundance of timeless truths about war.Postscript: 'Yomping' was the word used by the Commandos for carrying heavy loads on long marches. It caught the public's imagination during this short but bitter campaign and epitomised the grim determination and professionalism of our troops."One of the finest accounts by a front line officer ever written."~ Professor Eric Grove. Via The Phoenix Think Tank article The Falklands - Lessons Learned

In Powerful Peace, J. Robert DuBois takes on a crucial, unprecedented mission for a U.S. Navy SEAL: the relentless pursuit of interpersonal and international peacemaking. With gut wrenching candor and surprising moments of comedy, he narrates a personal journey through decades of conflict, its often-absurd origins, its ever-present innocent victims, and its potential solutions. Most importantly, Robert delivers practical recommendations for private citizens and policy makers alike. He offers rare context for students of international relations, community leaders, and soldiers bound for unfamiliar lands.

Powerful Peace is the unvarnished ground truth on face-to-face engagements worldwide. Robert DuBois demonstrates that prevention of hostile intent is far more necessary to genuine security than the race for tactical or technological superiority. Whether countering Soviets, terrorists, insurgents or improvised explosive devices, he observes and reports on the fundamental similarities behind hatreds. Ignorance and misunderstanding poison human potential. Dignity and respect are powerful antidotes.

Powerful Peace is the fascinating story of human beings--in war and peace and school and work and play--learning to better understand others to avoid unnecessary conflict and enrich the world. Seasoned by professional experience in more than thirty countries, Robert has plainly "been there, done that..".yet his insightful conclusions on fighting may surprise you.