Rating: 
Summary: Truly a Disapointment for My First Clancy Book
Review: ...Although I still enjoyed reading the book, I thought it would be a lot better. They should just call this Stiner's biography. (Not necesarrily a bad thing, just not what I was expecting) I was expecting a pretty even account of special operation units and missions. What I got was one commando story told by someone other than Stiner and Stiner's biography. Stiner's story is very exciting at times, but also gets bogged down in administrative wranglings every now and then which slows the pace of the story down. This is a decent read, but you will be disapointed if you do not know what you are getting into. Check out the other negative reviews for more details; it is unnecessary for me to repeat what they say. If you want a more even account of US Special Forces along with slightly more entertaining account of missions and training check out The Commandos : The Inside Story of Americas Secret Soldiers
by Douglas C. Waller. Other books in this genre I love are Black Hawk Down and Bravo Two Zero.
Rating:
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: Make believe to the max
Review: Another fictional tale by Clancy passed off as the truth. Those who know the truth behind the Special Forces and Stiner are laughing their heads off. Well, after they wake up from reading this boring fabrication. It's a boring waste of time and money. Whats next for Clancy? Is he going to write a bio about the "Men in Black" and try to get the readers to believe that crap too? Maybe Stiner should try to write his own book without riding on Clancy's name. He could call it "How a four star general survives in the military without any leadership skills." Now thats a book we could all believe.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre, if even that...Clancy phones one in
Review: Having spent a chunk of my 12-year military career in and around Special Ops, I looked forward to reading this book. And as a continual student of unconventional warfare, I was expecting the book to be a detailed history of Special Forces, peppered with stories and detail from Stiner, someone who had obviously "been there, done that". It is not. The subtitle of the book is "Inside the Special Forces", and it is very misleading. Early in the book, some of the history of the Jedburghs and the OSS is given, but the book soon turns into a memoir for Stiner, with Clancy giving a few explanations here and there, and basically heaping his stamp of approval and admiration on the material written by Stiner. That's pretty much about all there is to the book. As far as the material goes, Stiner was on the inside during Just Cause, and so he presents an extremely glossed over and sanitized version of events. Anyone who was in or studying the military during that time knows that Just Cause was the epitome of a "charlie foxtrot" operation that barely came off. Special operations guys were used as shock troops and some of them - among them a platoon of Navy SEALs - were killed because the 'regular' military didn't know how to use them. He barely mentions this. Stiner was far enough away from the action not to have his career sacrificed by the fallout from Just Cause, so he gets to tell the story of how the military reorganized it's Special Operations Forces after that time. He had a part in that, so for that I guess the book is useful. All in all, don't be fooled into thinking that the book is as advertised. A few tidbits of useful information are presented here, but not anything that isn't easily found elsewhere. Obviously Stiner is a mover and shaker, and deserves all the respect he commands, but I think it's too bad he felt he had to conceal his memoir in this book. I would have read his story if it was published seperately, but I guess if you could get Clancy to front for you, this makes a great deal of sense. I'm a huge Clancy fan, fiction and non-fiction, but it's obvious he phoned this one in. Too bad.
Rating:
Summary: Probably not what you expect...
Review: I am a big fan of Clancy fiction, but this is the first nonfiction of his that I have read. While really only glancing at the cover before reading it, I incorrectly assumed a book about special forces training and combat. That turns out to be a small part of what this book really is. It is a mini-biography of Carl Stiner (a true American hero), a development history of special forces, and examples of American combat from WWII to the the Gulf War. This is a book that every soldier and sailor should read, because it really explains how winning is so much more than just fighting with weapons. Winners need to fight with psychology, civil affairs, training others, etc. But while every soldier and sailor may benefit, it is not quite exciting for the average reader. I read this on the heels of Blackhawk Down, which is infinitely more electrifying, but understandably a different type of book. Shadow Warriors is really almost a text book, and a good one, for some.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I wanted
Review: I don't pretend to know much about U.S. Special Forces...precisely the reason I purchased this book. Having now read it, I continue to feel I know very little about this subject. While I've never been a Clancy fan and have the utmost respect for General Stiner and his work and sacrifices for our country and its foreign "relations," I walked away from this book feeling like the title was very much a misnomer. While the stories in the book are interesting in and of themselves, they failed to paint any cognizable picture of Special Forces operations I might have hoped to gain. For any novice, like myself, interested in learning about the Special Forces (i.e. all the U.S.'s Special Forces) I would recommend looking elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Shadow Warriors: Silent, but Deadly defenders of our nation.
Review: I just bought this book last night at the local bookstore, but I had wished I bought it at Amazon because it would've saved me ...[money]. I've only read the chapter on Panama and a little on the Gulf. So far, I find this book excellent and up there with my favorites such as Black Hawk Down or We Were Soldiers. This is my first Tom Clancy novel and I highly recommend him. This doesn't really go into all the uneeded mumbo jumbo, it gives you the straight facts and what happened, great maps also. Believe it or not, there is some humor in this book, like the time some SF guys blew a door up and the doorknob flies up the warlord's rectum who is trying to sneak away. Must-have for anyone having interest in special operations or the military in general. The book is titled Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces. Special Forces is actually the official name for the U.S. Army's Green Berets. Thus, this book, evidently, focuses mainly on the Army's Special Operations such as the 160th SOAR and Rangers, not the Navy or the Air Force even though they are just as good at what their business.
Rating:
Summary: Not Tom's best
Review: Some of the events mentioned in the book were not detailed enough for the reader to reach to the same conclusions that the author did. Maybe because I know these events and I some what disagree with him. But I can't talk on behalf of the people that are not aware of these events.
I would like to stress that I did not rate 3 stars because I disagree with the author, a lot of other topics I think that he was spot on and could not agree more with him. The reason I gave him 3 because The author lost my attention in the middle of the book and because it is not TOM's best work.
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: Clancy clunker
Review: This book is a total lack of time. Clancy has no military background and it shows. He should stick to his make believe fictions. I live in the same town as Stiner and the General in the book is not the one we all know. I suggest you buy anything but this boring account of someones imagination.
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