Customer Reviews

Delta Force: The Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was very difficult to put down once I started reading it. Beckwith has a way with words that makes it seem like he's sitting next to you telling you a story. While reading the book, I felt like I knew Charlie Beckwith and his way of thinking--that's how much personality he put into this book.

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment--Delta (SFOD-D) is the military's formal name for Delta Force. Delta is perhaps America's foremost elite counterterrorist unit along with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) and Navy SEAL Team Six. Beckwith created Delta Force after spending a year with the British Special Air Service (SAS) and seeing how the US had a void that a unit like the SAS could fill. Thus, Delta was formed with the SAS in mind.

A word of caution to people who are considering reading this book. The book tells of how Delta Force was formed...from its beginnings as a US version of the British SAS to its failed first mission freeing the hostages in the Iran. If you're looking for something on what Delta Force currently does and how its operators are currently trained or selected, this isn't the book for you. Beckwith tells us how the first Delta operators were trained and selected, but that selection process has probably changed some by now. This book is more a detailed history on the formation of the Delta Force, and not a book on its current engagements and operations (which are most likely classified anyway).

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

...

Rather, Delta Force is the plain-spoken memoir of a real-life Special Forces officer's long career advancing his art, if not his army career. Charlie Beckwith was a prophet before his time, and his campaign for the creation of an SAS-style special ops unit in the U.S. Army was stymied at every turn for nearly his entire career. Branded a rogue, even a traitor to the S.F. community, in the end, of course, his ideas won out, and Delta came into being, with Beckwith as it's first commander.

There are Vietnam war stories here, but this is not a book of "there I was. . ." tales. Beckwith also offers the reader a glimpse of Army politics, but this is not a book about vain and self-absorbed senior officers. A few chapters are devoted to Delta's baptism by fire in the Iranian Hostage rescue operation, but it's not really a book about the debacle at Desert One. In Delta Force, the reader will find a memoir of one of the pivotal figures in modern ground warfare. This is the story of one tough, dedicated hombre; what he learned, and how he learned it.

I'm not sure the average reader would get all of Colonel Beckwith's humorous asides and throwaway lines. Some are pretty wry, and would probably require that the reader have a military background to even notice. This edition has a few annoying typographical errors (is proofreading truly a lost art?), and Beckwith's prose occasionally lapses from one tense to another and then back again, which creates a slight feeling of disjointedness. Given those very minor caveats, for a reader with some familiarity and interest in the operational art, this is a must read.

Sua Sponte.

Charlie Beckwith founded Delta Force and decided to write a book about it. And that's mainly what the reader gets: the founding details and problems of this highly skilled American counterterrorist unit. If you expect blazing action sequences like the '85 resque attempt of the hijacked cruise liner Achille Lauro or the destruction of SCUD missile sites in the Gulf War by Delta in `91, you'll be dissapointed. All that happened after the publication of the book in 1983. At least a third of it consists of rather boring meetings, talks, and frustration, that Beckwith goes through trying to set up his unit, and that's a pity. Like buying a book about the Chicago Bulls and reading all about it's organization and stadium but no basketball. The last third of the book fortunately is somewhat better. It's about Delta's extensive preparations to resque 53 Americans held hostage in the American Ambassy in Iran in `79. Alas, again not much `bullet ducking action' because, as many people probably remember, the acual resque mission hardly got started, unable even to pass the first chopper refuelling point in the dessert. What went wrong? Beckwith here explains too little. Something with the RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters went wrong, but afterwards the reader still doesn't know *why* that one chopper crashed into the EC-130 transport plane and what *exactly* went wrong flying through the sand storm to the meeting point `Dessert One'. Some inside pilot information afterwards would have been more than welcome. For a more action-oriented book that involves Delta, I recommend Mark Bowden's "Black Hawk Down" about the '93 Mogadishu (Somalia) firefight in persuit of warlord Aidid.

This was a fascinating book covering a fascinating topic. The creation of "Delta Force" is a topic that should interest all military history buffs. Col Beckwith gives a blow by blow account of the obstacles endured in creating Delta. He sometimes drowns you in the day to day bureacratic fight but the reader gets an appreciation for the difficulties he faced. Col Beckwith gives an excellent narrative of the fiasco at "Desert One" in 1980 while attempting to save the American hostages in Iran. It was a difficult time for all Americans and most would not wish to be reminded, but lessons are to be learned. And in order to learn those lessons Col Beckwith takes us back to that night in the desert. Overall a very informative read.

Great book. Outlines the difficulties in getting a new idea sold in a rather inflexible/bureaucratic system.
It is a long way from identifying a requirement, to actually get someone interested to set measures to fill a deficiency. A lot of turf wars involved.
I actually expected a fact book on Delta's history/capabilities and ops involved. What I found was a really well written story of the man who pursued the issue of creating Anti-Terrorist capability within the US Forces. Now everybody will understand the vision this man had and how important this topic always was and always will be.
I liked the credit given to the SAS, that I consider the finest unit in this area of work.
I would have liked for the book to continue further than the Iran operation (especially as I actually bought the book for the purpose of getting information about the Somalia Ops), but it is clear the it ends when Col Beckwith left the unit, as he is the author. Great book that is really hard to put down.

I picked up this book thinking there was going to be a good amount of detail of past missions. After reading the book I found that my assumption was wrong. The book starts out with the author's career during the Vietnam War and ends with a description of the Iran hostage rescue operation in 1980. The majority of the book is a review of the author's struggles to set up the Delta Force and a lot of detail on the training that took place. If this is what you are looking for then the book will interest you. If you are after a lot of combat action then you will be disappointed.

I did find the slow and painful description of how the Army bureaucracy works to be an eye opener. I would have thought all the higher ups would have jumped at creating a group like Delta but that just was not the case. This could be a case study for persistence in how the author got his group up and running. Overall I found the book to be well written and interesting. There were a few slow spots in the middle, but not so bad that it would make you put down the book.

I first thought that this book would probably be a bit dull, since it didn't have a lot of combat experiences in it, but is mostly about the formation of Delta. But it's now one of my favorite reads. A real page-turner, it only took me a couple weeks to get through it. I admit that it's enjoyment is probably limited to those with a serious interest in special ops. It has an honest and candid tone that lacks the the egoism of Marzcinko's book about SEAL Six. If your interested in learning more about Delta, I also reccomend reading Eric Haney's book, and Blackhawk Down. All three are very interesting and informative books, that take you inside, are hard to put down, and inspire profound respect for those who serve their country in this capacity.

This book covers the creation of Delta Force from the perspective of Col. Charlie Beckwith, who recognized the United States' need for an elite antiterrorist unit based on his experiences working with the British SAS and in Vietnam.

Both military and political aspects of the Delta Force's creation are addressed and covered with a focus on the Iran Hostage Crisis. I found the book an easy and enjoyable read. Those mainly seeking fast-paced action may find it dry, but it tells a very interesting story. As nonfiction/military history, I gave it 5 stars. It was published in 1983, and I was left wishing it covered through the early 1990s.

Well worth the money and the book reads fast. The prologue itself is a history lesson in itself and offers insights into Carter, Mondale, and Warren Christopher that few see. The account of Col. Beckwith's service is both interesting and impressive and the perspective he offers on the Desert One mission is unmatched.

If you are a student of special ops warfare this is definitely a welcome addition to your shelf. I concur again with the reviewer from Ft Bragg and would suggest THE RAID if you can get it and would also add SPEC OPS by William McRaven. DELTA FORCE is both a good biography of an American patriot but also a good reference on the evolution of both American special operations thinking and resolve.

Bottom line -- BUY this book if you like reading real life histories of modern warriors, Col. Beckwith will not disappoint you.

COL. Charles A. Beckwith (Ret.) tells a great story.
The book is a page turner and I had a hard time putting it
down. This is a story of the creation of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta (SFOD-D), aka Delta Force.
The story is told from COL Beckwith point of view and
written with Donald Knox.
The story starts with a prologue of a meeting
with President Jimmy Carter in volving the rescue operation
of Tehran hostages crisis.
Then we go back to June 1962, when Green Beret CPT Beckwith and Sergeant Rozniak would participate in an exchange program with the British 22 Special Air Service Regiment aka SAS.
The story progresses forward from there to the creation of 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta (SFOD-D) to finally the mission to rescue the hostages being held at the U.S. Ambassy in Tehran.

The structure of the book is broken down as followed:
(This is a pocket book, 365 pages, 24 hours read time)
Glossary
Prologue
1-42 Chapters
Epilogue by C.A. Morbley.
Index