Customer Reviews

In the Combat Zone: Social Forces Since 1945

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The author, Robin Neillands, bragged and claimed he has extensive contacts with special force units the world over. He made so many US mistakes. For example, Delta Force is a counter-terrorism unit, and not an anti-terrorism unit. The USMC's FAST companies are anti-terrorist units. It is Major Darby, not Derby. Any former and current Rangers will know it. The US Special Forces, the Green Berets, claimed the OSS as their parent units, as Col. Aaron Banks (USA Ret.) and Gen. Yarborough indicated. UDT and SEAL Teams merged in 1983. There are no mention of the USAF's Special Tactics Squadrons, made up of Pararescuemen and combat controllers. The Rangers did not drawn many of their personnel from the OSS but from the Marauders. It is Colonel Arthur Bulls Simons, not Simmons. There are three Reconnaissance Battalions and 2 Force Recon companies. Not every police force (city, county, state) contains a SWAT team. "Three Green Berets, all from Delta Force, were killed." He should have said either Special Forces or Delta Force. 2,500-strong Delta Force, really?, and yet later he wrote "Delta Force is believed to number about 1,300 effectives." Delta troopers?? An appropriate term is Delta operators or Delta Force personnel. The U.S. Army Special Operations Command has the Army Special Forces Command (five Special Forces Groups) and the 75th Ranger Regiment and the 160th SOAR. He spelled Coronado right but not in the index (Coronada). It is not the Joint Services Force, but the Joint Special Operations Command which is under the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Furthermore, the list of special operations forces around the world was copied from http://www.blarg.net/~whitet/biglist.htm with no credit give. And as for the British Special Forces, he should have state that the Special Air Service's 4 Sabre Squadrons rotated duties. Finally, it is the Special Boat Service of the Royal Marines as indicated in their web site at http://www.mod-navy.gov.uk and not the Special Boat Squadron as it was know in the 1960's-1970s.

Great book, filled cover to cover with info about special forces. I loved the book for its complete cover on the subject. However, in my opinion, it may get alittle boring, and I jumped few not-so interesting text-parts over. And for what I would've wished for, would've been more information about recent wars, in the gulf, for example. But what was great was that it covered from 1917 (if I remember correct) to recent day, a very great deal of British and American special force activity.

And you have to love the complete index of world's special forces in the back. It even lists the Finnish Airborne Rangers. A definite plus from my patriotic point of view.