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Summary: Special Forces in the Shadows of Wars.
Review: A most prolific writer, Tom Clancy has led his followers on seven Guided Tours with his nonfiction series, one inside The Special Forces of U.S. military. This is the third in-depth study he cooperated on with a retired general who had expertise of that aspect of war. Previously, he examined a study in command with Fred Franks, Jr., and 'Every Man A Tiger' (I like that title) with Chuck Horner.
"Shadow Warriors" was a detailed endeavor to explain special operations forces by a specialist from the top ranks. Carl Stiner, a resident of LaFollette, TN -- a town made famous in James Agee's A DEATH IN THE FAMILY -- had served as Commander in Chief of SOCOM. He relates in terms a civilian can understand the purpose and working of Green Berets of Viet Nam (who would ever forget that dramatic song performed by an actual member of the Green Berets, Barry Sandler, making it more authentic -- not just a musical interpretation of an unimaginable event?). Navy SEALS, and other specialized units.
The shadow warriors were an unknown undercover group starting out small in the 1950s which has evolved into the largest, most complex of missions in the U.S. military. They not only fight the wars but rebuild settlements, clean up afterwards, save lives of innocent civilians, rescue hostages (wish they were more effective in 2004 Iraq), and work in reconnaissance among other 'special' duties.
Specially trained to deal with situations where the traditional soldiers would be ineffective they comprise an elite group. Lt. Col. Bill Yarbrough's phrase "there are itches that only Special Forces can scratch," a metaphor for getting to impossible places to achieve the impossible.
Kinda like the itch of a healing injury under the bandage you are instructed not to remove after foot surgery (which I've just endured), or the place across your back after having all those needles inserted in a row (to aggravate the nerve endings) to discovre allergies which four years later you can't see or reach but they still itch. Of course, Yarbrough's 'itches' are more serious but no less irritating or easily remedied.
Carl Stiner has the hands-on experience to inform us of some of the situations and, as we all know, no one else is better able to put it in the storytelling manner Tom Clancy uses so masterfully. I remember when Helen Booth reviewed his first novel, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, for our literary group, The Magazine Club (a historical endearment of Pulaski, TN) and looked directly at me when she declared, "You'd enjoy it." Me?
He's come a long way since then with a dozen achievements in the same vein and on the highest level of writing. He not only informs the reader of important military practices throughout the years but makes mundane, serious matters understandable and interesting, sometimes exciting. Movies have been successful of his books, PATRIOT GAMES, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, and RED OCTOBER.
The insignia of the Shadow Warriors imbedded in the binding (underneath the book jacket) makes this book about Special Forces "special" in its own right. In "Shadows in the Storm," Saddam Hussein was in his prime as a conqueror, a far cry from the defeated man who was found hiding in an underground bunker in 2003, a la Hitler -- only alone when discovered.
This chapter was about the 'other' Gulf War in which General Norman Schwarzkopf was described as "a good example of senior officer who did not understand Special Operations and was afraid of it." He did appreciate the ability of these soldiers to speak the languages of both sides, calling it "the glue that held the coaliton together." Egypt was an ally in the coalition, and Cairo is the Arab Media center, their "Hollywood." America used this center to combat propaganda and inform the world of Saddam's 'character.'
Even then, Colin Powell warned that "Saddam is making threats about waging a worldwide terrorist campaign" which was kept quiet. And we thought in 2002 it was Bin Laden (whatever happened to him, I wonder). History in the making, some interesting and some not so interesting is the basis of this book. There's even a "Bat Cave" involved (p.454).
Tony Koltz has contributed to Clancy's book, BATTLE READY, and this one. He was also co-author of UNTITLED on Special Forces with John Gresham. He was author of various "choose your own adventure" series of childhood books published by Skylark in the 1980s using spies, mind control, dictators and such. Makes him quite capable of knowing what goes on in the Special Forces of U. S. military! In that series, the #59, "Terror Island," was his exclusively.
Rating: 
Summary: A waste of time and money...not worth reading
Review: This book fails to live up to its title - Inside the Special Forces. First, it isn't about SF, its about Special Operations. Second, it isn't Inside anything - its a poorly researched and poorly resourced piece that fails to offer any new material on Special Operations other than some barely believable anecdotes of several retired general officers (come on, Mr. Clancy, we all know Sergeant Majors tell the best stories...). Before and during my 16 year career with the Army and the Special Forces, I have enjoyed Tom Clancy's novels and respected his deep understanding of modern warfare. Unfortunately, this hardly extends to the supposed subject of this book, Special Forces. It is quite obvious that Mr. Clancy made the most minimal contribution to this book, both in concept and writing. In my opinion, Clancy's name is on the cover to sell copies. Clancy's co-author, General Carl Stiner, appears to have done a little more work. Unfortunately, while Stiner's record is full of high-profile jobs, including the Commander in Chief of Special Operations Command, he fails to provide more than a few superficial anecdotes to a number of special operations missions that have been told and re-told in far greater detail by other authors. As an example of Stiner's failure to provide substantive information on Special Forces, the book takes two chapters, nearly 100 pages, to give a totally misleading account of one of the military's most-poorly led and executed invasions, that of Panama in 1989. While there are plenty of details on Stiner's relation to the XVIII Airborne Corps, there is very little information on Special Forces training, planning, or execution. Even the details on conventional units (why they are even mentioned in this book is incomprehensible) are misleading. The 82nd Airborne Division's decision to jump into Tocumen Airport hours after the Rangers had secured it is not criticized or even analyzed. (Could it be that Stiner was one of the supporters for this Hollywood-type maneuver when the 82nd could have landed quickly and safely at Howard or Tocumen and executed their mission by air assault or simply by walking out of their airplanes?). Stiner completely glosses over the worst operation of Just Cause, the failed Navy SEAL attempt to take over Paitilla Airport, a mission that never should have been approved by higher (failed not because of the brave men who executed the raid but because of the egos above them who approved an absurd concept of operations). Instead, he spends page after page congratulating himself on a perfectly planned and organized operation. Can you imagine how perfect Iraq would have been if the battalion level commanders had been able to do monthly rehearsals and terrain walks throughout Iraq? How could you lose? Don't buy this book for details on Somalia, Haiti, or any of the other SF operations in the 90s. They wouldn't fit with the 100 pages on Panama. In my opinion the problem with this book is that it claims to be about Army Special Forces. In fact, the book completely fails to focus on what makes Special Forces great, which is the non-commissioned officer. Instead, Clancy and Stiner spend the entire 500 plus pages talking about how this general did this and that general did that. What really makes SF is the NCOs, not the Generals. If you want to read a good book about Special Forces, read John Plaster's SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam, Greg Walker's At the Eye of the Hurricane (fantastic info on El Salvador, Panama, and the Gulf War), or Orr Kelley's Brave Men, Dark Waters. These books tell you all about Special Ops without any of the bravado that permeates Clancy and Stiner's unfortunate work. My advise to Clancy: stick to what you do best, fiction. My advice to you: skip this book!
Rating: 
Summary: A little something
Review: When I first opened this book I really didn't know what to expect. I've read many other Tom Clancy fiction and non-fiction books and have enjoyed them.
This book felt like a clutter reading it. It didn't seem organized and just seemed a bit half-done. I was fairly disappointed on how it was written but still all the information was useful and left me a bit satisfied.
This book isn't for someone who wants to be introduced to America's Special Forces unit and what they do and their nature, but this book is for people who already have and enjoy a knowing knowledge of America's military.
The contents are very accurate historically of course as most non-fiction books, but this definitely shows a raw side of SF in which msot books don't show; that not all missions have the greatest outcome.
This book can be read with some satisfaction to some, but it is not one that I would come and recommend much about.
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Summary: Have the SOGs ever been successful???
Review: This is sopposed to be an inside account of the Special Forces. Instead it seems to be a water logged account of a series of totally useless failures of the Special forces. Now I dont know if this is what Clancy intended but its what the result was. The Special forces in fact were very effective in Vietnam and in other secret operation throughout the world but we dont seem to hear about much success in this novel. Instead we are treated to long build ups to failed or aborted operations. Take the Achille Loro inceident. The ship was hijacked. THen it wondered around the mediteranean, from egypt to lebanon and back again. AND THE SOG COULDNT FIND IT!!!! GIVE ME A BREAK! Its a big ship, its not that big an ocean, your telling me the sum total of americas security aparatus couldnt find it. That one sentence in the book just made me want to throw it away. Here are the SOGs sitting on the beach in Italy ot cyprus 'contemplating a take down'. Thats the end, if your guys cant get their craop together enought o go find a boat that size and board it then we might as well disband the SOGs. The book goes on to detail more failures in Greneda and in another incident where an american navy man is killed aboard a hijacked airplane. In this incednet what did the Special ops do? Nothing. They flew back and forth across the mediteranean and then wen thome after allowing the hostages to be taken into the labrynth of beirut. And Clancy spend a chapter on this, detailing all the sopposed importance of Special Ops. What was the help of having these anti-terror groups if we do NOTHING but watch. THis is a totally useless book. It doesnt do anything justice and voers operations that were all either aborted or failures. Like the operation it spoends pages talking about to free the embassy in kuwait, and then all of a sudden ABORTED. So why not tell us about something successful? I think the reality is that the co-author Mr. Stiner was a totally indecisive individual who mostly was not able to carry out orders because he didnt have a plan in mind and when he finally came up with a plan washington cancelled it. I think Mr. Clancy should have profiled a more interesting officer who actually took part in a successful operation. In fact Sepcial forces have been succesful recently in iraq and Afghanistan, but they were totally useless in the 80s, the period the book focuses on. And why doesnt Clancy talk about our work in Nicaragua and Afghanistan in the 80s, where our men did train guerillas? An awful book, that makes one question our anti-terror ability.
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