Special Forces History

In this honest, hard-hitting look at war and peace, a Navy SEAL and experienced security consultant explains that force is sometimes necessary, that persuasion is more powerful, and that some conflict is unnecessary and preventable. The goal of Powerful Peace is to open the listener’s mind about other cultures to comprehend that different does not have to mean wrong - and that an individual’s life can be richer and more enjoyable when conflicts are handled wisely.

Brian Cramer enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2003, shortly after his 17th birthday, and embarked on a journey to become one of the world's elite marksmen. The lessons engrained in adolescence taught him to strive for nothing less than excellence, and culminated into the dream of earning the coveted Hog’s Tooth.

Crossbow was Don Bendell's first book ever, but many still say that it was his best, as it was written very much from the heart. It is the autobiographical story of a young very gung ho Green Beret first lieutenant in 1968 and 1969 and his love affair with the Jeh tribe of Montagnards, a proud, family-oriented tribespeople in Vietnam's mountainous Central Highlands region, the action and intrigue of a horrific war, and the plight of the Montagnards who were racially-discriminated against by our allies in Saigon.

Wenn es für die Polizei zu brenzlig wird, tritt das Spezialeinsatzkommando auf den Plan. Die anonymen Elitekräfte mit den Sturmmasken sind da, wenn die Gefährdung am größten ist: bei der Terrorismusbekämpfung, Geiselbefreiungen, Razzien und gefährlichen Zugriffen. Der ehemalige Polizist mit dem Decknamen "Kuni" war lange im SEK tätig. In 25 Episoden blickt er auf seine Zeit beim Kommando zurück und bietet einen fesselnden Blick hinter die Kulissen.

The Navy has the SEALS, and the Army has the Green Berets. They are masters of asymmetrical warfare, trained to immerse themselves in hostile territory, sleeping near their enemies and building relationships with people who may want to kill them. Retired lieutenant colonel Tony Schwalm knows this group well, because he is one of them and he trained them. In The Guerrilla Factory, he provides an unbelievably gripping inside look into the grueling training that every army officer must endure to become one of America's elite Green Berets.

Soon after the declaration of war on Japan, a secret military reconnaissance unit was established, based on the British Special Operations Executive (known as SOE) and called the Inter-allied Services Department. The unit was tasked with the role to "obtain and report information of the enemy...weaken the enemy by sabotage and destruction of morale and to lend aid and assistance to local efforts to the same end in enemy occupied territories."

One month after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, when President John F. Kennedy pressed Congress about America’s “urgent national needs”, he named expanding US special operations forces along with putting a man on the moon. Captain William Hamilton was the officer tasked with creating the finest unconventional warriors ever seen. Merging his own experience commanding Navy Underwater Demolition Teams with expertise from Army Special Forces and the CIA, and working with his subordinate, Roy Boehm, he cast the mold for sea-, air-, and land-dispatched night fighters.

In One Hundred Victories, acclaimed military expert Linda Robinson shows how the special operations forces are - after a decade of intensive combat operations - evolving to become the go-to force for operations worldwide.

In the late summer of 1968, several intelligence sources stated that numerous American POW's were being held in bamboo cages for transport by vehicle up the Ho Chi Minh Trail from the North Vietnamese Army stronghold the Plei Trap Valley. Special Forces CPT Joe Dietrich and 1LT Don Bendell volunteered to lead a helicopter assault into the Plei Trap Valley with 100 Montagnard mercenaries as the point element of a joint task force of soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division.

The Benghazi crisis that occurred exactly 11 years after September 11, 2001 led to the loss of the US ambassador, Christopher Stevens and, hence, stands as one of the worst attacks against the US. This book goes beyond the events of September 11, 2012. It explores what went wrong; the things that could have been prevented; the best kept secrets of CIA operations abroad; and presents recommendations that may avoid the loss of more lives as the inevitable war against terror rages on.

From their birth in World War II as combat swimmers clearing the beaches of Normandy to their evolution into fighting men who could operate anywhere in the world by sea, air, or land, the intrepid story of the United States Navy SEALs is one of courage, sacrifice, and world-renowned toughness that echoes of other great military units of history - the Spartans, the Roman legions, or the samurai. Take a look inside to find out what makes the SEALs America's deadliest warriors.

Seven Troop is Andy McNab's account of the time he served in the company of a remarkable group of men - from the day, freshly badged, he joined them in the Malayan jungle, to the day, 10 years later, that he handed in his sand-coloured beret and started a new life.

In the inspiring tradition of Black Hawk Down, this is the riveting real-life story of how an Australian SAS signalman's courage under fire saved more than 80 lives. It is an enthralling eyewitness account of the war on terror. Jock Wallace was pumped. It was the start of Operation Anaconda, the US-led military offensive to flush out al Qaeda and Taliban from their last stronghold in the Shahi Kot Valley in Afghanistan.

We need someone with the British mentality to get it done. You Brits are great at what you do. The only problem is that I know when I unleash you I’m going to get a lot more than I ever bargained for’ said the US State Department official who hired Howard Leedham, a former British special forces officer living in America. The task was to energise and lead an American sponsored border security program on the Pakistan side of the Afghan border... And they did get much more than they bargained for.

Rob had a pretty rough childhood: He was given up for adoption as an infant, brought into a family of highly decorated military men, suffered the loss of his mother to cancer, rebelled, and landed himself in military school. When he finally returns home, he meets Cindy, who quickly becomes his best friend. After graduation the two go off to college at opposite ends of Texas, and their paths diverge.

The challenges facing General Dwight Eisenhower before the Invasion of Normandy were not merely military, but political as well. He knew that to liberate France, and to hold it, the Allies needed local help, which would necessitate coordinating with the highly independent French resistance groups known collectively as the maquis. The Allies' objective was to push the Germans out of France. The French objective, on the other hand, was a France free of all foreign armies, including the Allies.

From the jungles of the Southern Philippines to the Horn of Africa to the deserts of Iraq and lonely outposts in Afghanistan, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines of U.S. Special Operations Command undertake daring missions in some of the most difficult and dangerous places on the planet. These champions risk their lives so the hope of liberty can shine....

The legend was forged in the fires of World War II, when special units of elite navy frogmen were entrusted with dangerous covert missions. These Underwater Demolition Teams, as they were then called, soon became known for their toughness, fearlessness, and their remarkable ability to get the job - any job - done. Years later, the renamed US Navy SEALs (for Sea, Air, and Land) continued to be a wartime force to be reckoned with throughout the remainder of the 20th century and into the 21st.

The General’s dysfunctional home life drove him to apply to the Air Force Academy almost 40 years ago, where he was provided with a new family and sense of worth he had never gotten from his own father. This purpose has driven the General throughout his remarkable career, taking him to Alaska, the Pentagon, and Germany; to Florida during Hurricane Opal, and has also allowed him to work alongside Presidents Bush and Obama and Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Ashton Carter. Journey is a book about leadership. It is packed with the General’s lessons from life in the military.

On November 25, 1950, during one of the toughest battles of the Korean War, the US Eighth Army Ranger Company seized and held the strategically important Hill 205 overlooking the Chongchon River. Separated by more than a mile from the nearest friendly unit, 51 soldiers fought several hundred Chinese attackers. Their commander, Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, was wounded three times before he was evacuated. For his actions, he received the country's second-highest award for courage on the battlefield and resumed active duty later that year as a living legend.