Rating: 
Summary: Very Accurate and Insightful
Review: This book has all its dates and places correct; a rarity when it comes to books about special ops. Very informative and straight-forward. I'd follow Gen. Stiner to hell and I know he'd bring me back. He makes me proud to have served in the Army.
Rating: 
Summary: An Invaluable and Insightful Report
Review: This is an excellent introduction to the rise of the Special Forces and their strengths as adversaries, particularly in small wars and in anti-terrorist contingencies. This is the third of Clancy's military leadership books (the first two were with Chuck Horner and Fred Franks about the air and land campaigns in Iraq in 1991). They are a useful and very readable basic introduction to the American military as it has evolved over the last decade. In a few years, Clancy will have to start a new series on the ongoing transformation of defense and the military that will emerge from that process. For the moment, these books are invaluable as insightful reports on a generation of effort. Stiner's reports on the early years of the terrorist wars (the mid 1980s when he was in the Middle East and Don Rumsfeld was the special Ambassador for President Reagan) and on the ambiguity and even opposition from Italy and Egypt to our efforts to capture terrorists gives you a better understanding of how we drifted into 9/11. Stiner's explanation of the rise of Special Forces and the necessity for President Kennedy and Congress to impose the concept of Special Forces on the Army and then impose a Special Operations Command on the entire system is a powerful reminder that large military bureaucracies almost never reform themselves. It is a useful introduction to the fights currently underway to transform the military. Stiner's frustrations with the regular military and especially the regular Army in trying to get the right use of Special Forces in Iraq and Kuwait in 1990-1991 and reflection on the extraordinary use of both CIA teams and SOF teams in Afghanistan are reminders of what modern enlightened military commanders can do when they stretch their thinking. Finally, Stiner's account of the Special Forces' contribution to the survival of Kurds in northern Iraq is a vivid reminder of what we could be doing in Afghanistan and in Colombia if we were willing to design a sustainable, affordable fulfillment strategy the right way and use our specialists along the lines of their strengths. As we continue to pursue Al Qaeda and confront anew our responsibilities around the world, this is a very useful book to reflect on what needs to be done. I recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Blah, blah, blah
Review: I've read most of Clancy's novels and a few of his non-fiction works. This was by far the most disappointing. If you are interested in military history -- not military history as in battles and great campaigns -- but in the constant infighting and bureaucratic scheming that inevitably occurs, then this book is for you. The accounts of combat are sparse and most of them I've seen before in other places. Actual facts about Special Forces techniques, training, equipment, roles, and missions are not real prominent in this book which makes you wonder why it's even worth the time. Clancy must have needed a new house or something and decided to clear out his files. While I'm sure the military men that were involved with this book are all great guys, you'd have to draft me and order me to read this book, if I were to read it again.
Rating: 
Summary: More of a History of General Carl Stiner
Review: If you are truly looking for a book on "The Shadow Warriors" read The Commandos by Douglas C. Waller or Delta Force by Charlie A. Beckwith. This book is much more of a history of General Carl Stiner. Great man, great leader, and great American, and you will appreciate the heart and character of our special forces after reading this book, but the two listed books are much better. Reading the rescue of Kurt Muse in The Commandos makes you truly realize what fantastic talent we have in our Special Forces, and this book barely describes the rescue. This was written pretty much after the World Trade Center attack and our success in Afghanistan, so don't look here for how truly high tech and focused our special forces have become.
Rating: 
Summary: Three's a crowd
Review: First of all, anytime a book has three authors you're asking for trouble. This book lists (in descending font height) Tom Clancy, Gen. Carl Stiner, and barely visible on the cover, Tony Koltz. My guess is Tony did the heavy lifting on this book. In fact, I don't believe for a minute Tom Clancy did anything but dress up in his ridiculous pseudo-miltary uniform for the back picture. Stiner seems like a good guy in this book, and some of the stories are good. But it's also completely disjointed, disorganized, and in some spots, hopelessly confusing.
Rating:
Summary: Misrepresentation and Disappointing
Review: The title is disengenuous! The book is not about Special Forces but the biography of a man who became a four-star general despite being tainted by a brief tour in Special Forces in the States before going to Vietnam to a "leg" infantry division. It does present proof that the Army hated(s) Special Forces a number of ways. First of all, General Stiner's career progression was through the conventional Army career pattern. Other than his brief pre-Vietnam tour at Fort Bragg from which I'm sure he manipulated his way out to avoid any further taint, he never served in Special Forces where it counts--at the A-Team and B-Team levels--certainly never in combat or combined operations. Second, it points out how much General Schwartzkopf hated and mistrusted Special Forces (pretty conventional thinking in the Army). Having served with Schwartzkopf when he was a lieutenant colonel, he obviously had not progressed in his thinking by the time he reached the four-star level. This book is an obvious attempt to capitalize on the current publicity Special Forces is receiving and promote General Stiner's biography. In that respect, there are too many "I"s in this book to suit me!! If Stiner wants to publish his auto-biography, he obviously can do that. Or, if Clancy wants to write the biography of Stiner, he can do that, also. All I would ask is that they both be honest in the labeling of their works. I don't know Stiner from anyone but I'm sure he's probably a fine man. He obviously "punched the right tickets" and had a successful Army career. But I think both he and Clancy did Special Forces a disservice by this allegory! As a former Clancy fan, I'm extremely disappointed in his prostituted effort. I'm sorry I wasted my money.
Rating:
Summary: Verbose, Boring and Inaccurate
Review: Mr. Clancy has written a verbose book which is also boring and would have been better served as being a 3 page magazine article.
He has also made a false bald-faced inaccurate statement where he say's on P.76, (there being no atheists in foxholes). This statement has no validity and Atheists should receive an apology
from Mr. Clancy.
Rating:
Summary: Shadow Warriors: Excellent for those interested in Spec Ops.
Review: This book begins by introducing Special Operations and its history. After this, it goes into General Stiner's life and then into many of the big conflicts in which special operations troops were used. The sections on Panama and the Gulf are excellent, I wish there were more stories but special operations are a fairly new branch so there aren't many wars to write from. However, one negative aspect is that it doesn't talk about the battle at Mogadishu or Somalia that much. I'm sure in future books, they will many more stories to tell because of the current ongoing war in Afghanistan. It ends with a brief overview of the September 11th attacks and what is in store for the United States. I bought my book at the perfect time! General Stiner, himself, came by to the local military base and gave an autograph session. If you want to read about Panama, the Iranian hostage crisis, or the "Scud Hunting" missions in the Gulf, GET THIS BOOK!
Rating:
Summary: Not up to the usual Clancy standard
Review: If you read "Into the Storm" and "Every Man a Tiger" and were expecting a repeat - don't. This is not even about Special Forces. It discusses the career of General Carl Stiner and a few others, but does not focus on Special Forces. It does provide some interesting stories about the US invasion of Panama, Carl Stiner's tour of duty in Beirut, and a few interesting adventures from the Gulf War, so it is not a total loss, but not something that I would recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Neither fish nor fowl
Review: This was the worst Clancy work that I have read yet. The book cannot make up its mind, is it a study about Special Forces and how they evolved, or is it a book about an American general who may or may not be compelling enough to justify a biography? The book does justice to neither the factual stuff about Special Forces nor the accomplishments of General Stiner. Most of the vignettes related about his life seemed forced and trivial to me. I kept asking myself, "why am I reading about this guy; why should I read about this guy?" Had I served under him, or with him, the answer might have been more positive, but since I never served in the Army (I was in the Navy), I knew nothing about him to start with, and saw little reason as the book progressed to change that. I am not saying that he wasn't a good general and leader of men. I am sure he was, but there has to be more to it than that to make a biography interesting. In conclusion, the book wanders without focus. When I finished it, I felt little elation or ilucidation for having done so, only relief that I had gotten through it. Like the shoemaker who should "stick to his last," Clancy should revisit what made him famous and successful. He should go back to what has been solid ground for him and try to carry on. This book was not worth the effort for him to write, or me to read. Sorry.
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