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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad..., 7 May 2008
Anyone more used to reading books by ex SAS soldiers might be somewhat disappointed by this. There is nothing about how these American 'special forces' get that title, nothing to suggest they are 'special' in any way. This might as well be any other American unit. The Author assumes we all know about American Green Berets, and i for one have no idea how they differ from say, the Rangers.
Anyway, that aside, the book starts slowly, and the author feels the need to drum into us just how great the unit performed. I don't just mean a few pats on the back, but he makes it very clear that this was some huge amazing feat that no-one else in the world would have survived. I found this annoying, but stuck with it, and eventually you get down to the action, and its not bad from there.
Its interesting to see how these guys operate differently from UK troops (there seems to be alot of fight picking!) and theres some very good advertising for the makers of Javelin anti tank missiles!
All in all - not bad.
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2.0 out of 5 stars
Made Andy McNab sound credible, 13 May 2011
The author drags out one event, one action for a lot of pages. Most of the book is made up of talking up all the 'stuff' they buy on credit cards to take into battle. He is very critical of the ruck teams and seems less like special forces and more like a small team of guys armed to the teeth with hummers fully loaded with half of the US armory.
They have a run in with an Iraqi unit and the iraqi unit whilst numerically superior is in no condition to take these guys on owing to the high tech gear they have.
I found the author annoying, he came across as brash, boastful, and sounded like a over hyped teen bumping chests with his buddies and high fiving - sounded more like a Navy SEAL than a member of an ODA. At no point does Frank come across as a quiet professional, he comes across as someone on a frat weekend with some big guns and a dumb enemy.
I was disappointed and felt it portrays operators in a poor light.
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9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
US Special Forces laid bare, 1 Aug 2006
This review is from: Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-Team at War (Hardcover)
American Special Forces at their best, almost (they had an officer problem). This is essentially the story around the incident early in the 2003 invasion of Iraq in which a BBC News crew and several Kurdish fighters were killed and injured by a misdirected bomb dropped from a Navy F14 which was covered intensively by the world's media at the time. As usual of course, the reality differs somewhat from those reports. The book gives much needed enlightenment into the seemingly complex world of US Special Forces and amply demonstrates the magnificent quality of the men involved. Great read, highly recommended.
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