Customer Reviews

Combat Search & Rescue

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is highly inaccurate and very poorly written. For example, the author's portrayal of the O'Grady Rescue is full of factual errors regarding mission execution and it contains numerous misrepresentations of individual roles during the mission. One glaring misrepresentation can be found on pages 153 through 158, where the author names Captain Ian "Blondie" Walsh as "the lead Cobra pilot in the rescue mission for USAF pilot Scott O'Grady". This is completely false. Captain Walsh was only the co-pilot in the lead Cobra; the lead Cobra was commanded by another Marine Aviator, who was also the Escort Flight Leader for the entire rescue force. (Hopefully this misrepresentation was the result of an oversight, and not a deliberate attempt to give Captain Walsh the credit for another Marine's leadership and actions in combat.) The author also plays it "loose" with other facts relating to the mission, which severely undermines his attempt to present this work as a realistic portrayal of actual events. How do I know this? I know all of this because one of my closest friends was a member of the 24th MEU(SOC) TRAP Team that rescued Captain O'Grady from Bosnia, and I know what the facts are. I would not recommend that anyone even read this book, let alone buy it. It would be a complete waste of time and money. Other, more accurate sources of information regarding CSAR and TRAP operations can be found at any library. "Combat Search and Rescue" clearly deserves the lowest reviewer rating.

This book offers an interesting history of combat search and rescue from WWII to the Gulf War; however, it is loaded with inaccuracies - in many places, the author doesn't even have the pictures of the various USAF helicopter's correctly identified! Don't waste your money on the hardback, get it in paperback or from the library.

This book is nothing but a series of third version accounts based on other people's work. Almost no footnotes and many factual errors.

The book is something all parties interested in SAR and CSAR should read. These men are the true heroes of any military operation.