Gunfighter

Lodge2004 · Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 41 Location: Humble

A great story about the birth of Delta Force from the founder himself. Beckwith takes you from the original idea, based on his experience with the British Special Air Service (SAS), through their first mission (to free the hostages in Iran).

Because of his rank and the role he played in this story, you get a high level overview instead of the view from an operator on the ground (as in Eric Haney's book - Inside Delta Force). One item that was particularly interesting to me was the test (based on the SAS) they ran prior to their first real mission to determine if their operators would actually engage the terrorist. Although it was successful, they later decided to not use this test again and surmised that the British needed to determine if their operators would fire their weapons but the US needed to create rules on when to not fire their weapons. Not sure what that says about the two cultures, but it was interesting none the less.

Beckwith is definitely a strong personality who does not compromise. You learn much about the man and the government bureaucracy he fought for so many years. In the end, he was successful and we are a safer nation because of his efforts

yellowdog762 · Joined: 23 Jul 2007 Posts: 46

Good book. I endorse it as well. I read this book shortly after I read Seal Team Six. Talk about a difference in class between COs.