Frank Antenori

A mediocre book about great people involved in important events. Basically, a brief intro to life in US Army Special Forces, with some about 1990s life and then a focus on ODA 391 and a few of their early Iraq war missions. The main focus is on tactical aspects of combat and grinding an axe against "MAJ X" (unnamed in the book, but not hard to identify) who appears to be a fucking piece of shit, at least based on the evidence provided in the book. The story of the battle is a fast read but not really particularly insightful.

There are only really 3 takeaways:
1) mountain/UW SF is less useful in a more conventional light infantry/raider mission than fully motorized SF

2) the Javelin is a good missile system, and the Dragon was so shitty that it poisoned the well for many

3) light units like SF are safer when on the attack/advance than when stuck in a static position.… (mehr)