Special Operations are military operations requiring unique modes of employment, tactical techniques, equipment, and training often conducted in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and characterised by one or more of the following: time sensitive, clandestine, low visibility, conducted with and/or through indigenous forces, requiring regional expertise, and/or a high degree of risk. Special Operations Forces (SOF) are those active and reserve component forces of the services designated by the Secretary of Defense and specifically organised, trained, and equipped to conduct and support special operations. Since 2001, the Department of Defense (DOD) has increased the size and funding of SOF and emphasised SOF's importance to meet national security needs. SOF deployments have focused on the Middle East and placed significant demand on the force during this period. This book examines trends since FY 2001 in authorised special operations military positions; the extent to which DOD has determined total funding for SOF; and the extent to which DOD has taken steps to manage the pace of SOF deployments, among other issues.

The truth behind the SAS' most famous mission. Drawing on extensive research, Operation Nimrod dispels the myths and reveals the truth of those six long days, and the dramatic rescue that thrust the SAS into the public eye. On 29th April 1980, British police assured Iran that their embassy was secure. The very next day, terrorists stormed the embassy and took twenty-six hostages. With the Iranian government willing to let the hostages become martyrs, and the British government only willing to talk if the terrorists surrendered, twenty-six lives hung in the balance. What followed was six days of tension and terror. It was finally ended when the SAS launched a daring rescue mission, broadcast live on television. Millions held their breath, waiting to see the outcome of Operation Nimrod.

Loyal and courageous, dogs are truly man's best friend on the battlefield. In War Dogs, Rebecca Frankel offers a riveting mix of on-the-ground reporting, her own hands-on experiences in the military working dog world, and a look at the science of dogs' special abilities from their amazing noses and powerful jaws to their enormous sensitivity to the emotions of their human companions. The history of dogs in the US military is long and rich, from the spirit-lifting mascots of the Civil War to the dogs still leading patrols hunting for IEDs today. Frankel not only interviewed handlers who deployed with dogs in wars from Vietnam to Iraq, but top military commanders, K-9 program managers, combat-trained therapists who brought dogs into war zones as part of a preemptive measure to stave off PTSD, and veterinary technicians stationed in Bagram. She makes a passionate case for maintaining a robust war-dog force. With a compelling cast of humans and animals, this moving book is a must read for all dog lovers, military and otherwise.

The memoir of paratrooper Kurt Gabel-a German Jew who emigrated to the US in 1938, joined the 513th Regiment of the 17th Airborne Division, and fought against his former countrymen in the Battle of the Bulge. Gabel conveys with rare immediacy anin-depth look at the training of a paratrooper, the dangers of combat, and his transformation from romantic idealist to warrior. He vividly recounts the fire fights and such episodes as narrow escapes, separation from his battalion and his rescue by another, and the interrogation of prisoners. He tells the full story of his desperate hours on "Dead Man's Ridge" near Bastogne.

In New York Times bestseller Level Zero Heroes, Michael Golembesky follows the members of US. Marine Special Operations Team 8222 on their assignment to the remote and isolated Taliban stronghold known as Bala Murghab as they conduct special operations in an effort to break the Taliban's grip on the Valley. What started out as a routine mission changed when two 82nd Airborne Paratroopers tragically drowned in the Bala Murghab River while trying to retrieve vital supplies from an air drop gone wrong. In that moment, the focus and purpose of the friendly forces at Forward Operating Base Todd was forever altered as a massive clearing operation was initiated to break the Taliban's stranglehold on the valley and recover the bodies. From close quarters firefights in Afghan villages to capturing key terrain from the Taliban in the unforgiving Afghan Winter, this intense and personal story depicts the brave actions and sacrifices of MSOT 8222. Readers will understand the hopelessness of being pinned down under a hail of enemy gunfire and the quake of the earth as a 2000 lb. guided bomb levels a fortified Taliban fighting position. A moving story of Marine Operators doing what they do best, Level Zero Heroes brings to life the mission of these selected few that fought side by side in Afghanistan, in a narrative as action packed and emotional as anything to emerge from the Special Operations community contribution to the Afghan War.

As an 18-year-old, John Urwin was posted to Cyprus, where he was recruited into a top-secret unit called the Sixteen, whose task was to assassinate key figures throughout the Middle East. Now he breaks his silence to tell their story. Their training was said to have surpassed that of the SAS in unarmed combat and weaponry. His description of their four key missions is explosive and a riveting account of the turbulent 1950s in the Middle East. The Cold War was approaching its height and when there was a mission to be undertaken that no government could be seen to endorse, the Sixteen would do the job. No previous depiction of a military group, in book or movie, has remotely compared to the secrecy, skills and sheer professionalism of the Sixteen.

What does it take, both physically and mentally, to join the world's most respected--and feared--military units? Lewis looks at the origins, training, tactics, weapons, and achievements of regiments such as Britain's SAS and Paratroopers, the US Navy SEALS, Delta Force, Army Rangers and Green Berets, Russia's Spetsnaz, and the Israeli Special Forces, as well as the codes that bind their members together. He looks at training in everything from wilderness survival to hand-to-hand combat.

"Major Jim Gant, a man seen by many of us as the 'perfect insurgent, '--an inspiring, gifted, courageous leader... -- GENERAL DAVID H. PETRAEUS (U.S. Army, Ret.) THE PAPER THAT ROCKED OSAMA BIN LADEN Team members during the May 2, 2011 U.S. military raid that killed Osama Bin Laden seized piles of Al Qaeda intelligence. One piece of evidence found in Bin Laden's personal sleeping quarters was an English language copy of Jim Gant's One Tribe at a Time. It contained notes in the margins consistent with others identified as written by Osama Bin Laden. A directive from Osama Bin Laden to his intelligence chief was also discovered. It identified Jim Gant by name as an impediment to Al Qaeda's operational objectives for eastern Afghanistan. Bin Laden ordered that Gant be assassinated. " One Tribe at a Time] was hugely important...at a time when I was looking for ideas on Afghanistan... Gant] was the first to write it down, in a very coherent fashion, very readable, very encouraging frankly...and there is enormous power in that." --General David H. Petraeus (U.S. Army, Ret.) quoted in American Spartan: The Promise, The Mission, and The Betrayal of Special Forces Major Jim Gant by Ann Scott Tyson