Special Men and Special Missions: Inside American Special Operations Forces, 1945 to the Present

This 256 pages volume charts the history of America's Army, Navy and Air Force special operations, which have been and are known to be involved with exciting, high-risk, high-profile mssions; and it is these activities that are detailed here through gripping, first-hand accounts. Some of these operations have never been described in print before. The book includes authentic oral accounts from special operations veterans, official after-action reports and information from other sources, all combined to provide the most detailed and complete history ever of the past half century (looking back from publication in 1994 that is) of special operations such as the U.S. Navy's Special Boat Units and SEAL platoons taking action in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean Basin, Latin America and the Middle East. Army special forces teams have travelled into the jungles of Vietnam to train indigenous tribesmen and conduct direct action missions against Viet Cong political and military structures. The targeted critical Cuban activities for attack by conventional forces before Grenada was invaded. US Air Force AC-130 Advanced spectre gunships were used in the 1990s over Iraq wreaking havoc against Iraqi fortified positions. Special Boat high-speed craft and Navy SEAL platoons conducted daring raids agains hostile Vietnamese, Panamanian and Kuwaiti shores in their respective conflicts, carrying out reconnaissance and infiltrating beach defences. Interestingly, this is thought to be the first book that looks at the history of special operations in relation to each other. With the recent establishment of the US Special Operations Command to synchronise the services' special operations, and recent successful missions, this book comes at the right time to give a proper understanding of the US special forces capabilities.