Customer Reviews

The Guts to Try

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was the commander of the MC-130 squadron chosen to participate in the mission. Jim Kyle, author of "The Guts to Try", was my boss throughout the preparation for the mission. I had kept detailed notes on all the training, rehearsal, etc., with the intent to write my own book. I am the one mentioned on page 7 in the "guts to try" story that lead to the book's title. I was the commander of the 5 Air Force fatalities at Desert One. Col Kyle and I were raked over the coals by the US Senate and House military committees with Kyle taking most of the heat over the accident. I went on to be the chief air planner for preparation for the second attempt buy Kyle was replaced by General Richard Secord as the senior Air Force member of the task force. I therefore surrendered by notes to Kyle and helped him put together the book rather than pursue my own. He did a remarkable job in telling the story correctly. Out of the ashes of Desert One has emerged a capability to do Special Ops better and with few casualties. "The Guts to Try" is an important accounting of the bottoming out and rebirth of Special Ops. Few people realize how much our capability improved during the 5 1/2 months of preparation--this book helps the reader realize that there was more to be proud about associated with Desert One than is apparent. Special Ops would have achieved its current high capability eventually---but Desert One and Jim's book got us there quicker. Roland Guidry,...

I consider Colonel Kyle's book the one that opened the floodgate on consequent books about special operations and forces. While it is mainly an after action report of a perceived failure by US military forces, it is also a personal account of one of the task force commanders in charge of several hundred hand picked volunteers who earned their degrees at the 'University of Blood, Sweat, and Tears'. What makes it unique is Colonel Kyle's desire to be accountable for what happened that night when so many who were involved, both political and military, chose to save their own skins and point fingers. It is a good read for those who say history can and will repeat itself. For those who were there, it is the 'welcome home' parade that we never got. It is an attempt to honor those who gave their all to rescue Americans they didn't know. For me, it is a well-worn aid I carry with me everywhere to remind me how fragile life is, how precious, and how wonderful it is to live in a country where those who serve their country do so in honor, unlike many of those who are appointed over them. For me, it is very personal. I lost my crew that night. My brothers. Very special men who taught me in the years since, to live life with purpose. This book tells their story as much as it tells what happened that cold clear night in the desert, when Americans flew from their homeland to that of an opressor, in the name of humanity.

This exhaustive description of the planning and execution of Operation Eagle Claw, the attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages, gives the reader a sense of how complex the mission was. There is an old aphorism about the military that says, "The amateur talks about tactics and strategy while the professional talks logistics." This is one of the few military books I have read that provides enough (almost too much depending on your taste) detail about what it takes to carry out a mission deep in enemy territory. At the beginning, after realizing the problems they faced, I could not see how they could succeed. That they came as close as they did is what is truly amazing. It also speaks to the decrepit state of the military seven years after the end of the Viet Nam War. They had the men but lacked adequate resources. Fortunately changes were coming. This story helped to lead the way.

Excellent account of the planning and execution, and ultimate failure, of Operation Eagle Claw. This book is just as good as Charlie Beckwith's "Delta Force," but much less famous. It covers the overall planning of Eagle Claw at a joint-forces administrative level above Beckwith, and covers the joint-forces command of the actual mission, since Kyle was the overall commander at Desert One. The mechanical and personal failures of the helocopters and their crews are also discussed, as well as Kyle's conclusions on why the mission failed. Beckwith's book covers SFOD-Delta issues more closely, but Kyle's book examines why Eagle Claw failed.

Very accurate account of Operation Eagle Claw, Iranian Hostage Attempted Rescue. I also recommend reading Delta Force by Col. Charlie Beckwith.

Readers will finally see in his book that the Iran rescue failed due to the usmc demanding it get a role it was not qualified or equipped to fill. This ad hoc attachment of helicopter pilots using untried equipment doomed the mission and led to the 8 men dead in the desert. Col. Kyle goes into great details about the dynamics of Special Operations flying and it becomes clear that the MC-130 Combat Talon I is one heck of a fine airplane that saves the day when the helicopters failed.

Looking at history with 20-20 hindsight it seems more reasonable to have used USAF Special Operations combat pilots still on active duty from the nearly flawlessly executed Son Tay POW camp rescue in 1970 and flown them and their helicopters inside transport planes to Manzariyeh airfield secured by U.S. Army Rangers from the first than to have messed around with Desert One in the first place. Delta Force itself should have parachuted into the outskirts of Teheran met up with the trucks with hidden compartments to infiltrate into the city for the assault to free the 52 American hostages. The helicopters would only have been used to fly to the soccer field and back to Manzariyeh, where the entire force could have flown out by USAF jet transports.

Its clear from Col Kyle's book that the Rescuers "had the guts to try" but not the political guts supporting them to keep unqualified participation away so the very BEST plan could be put together instead of a compromised one. The Goldwater-Nichols Defense Act has corrected this today by insuring SOF units have their own aviation assets fully qualified to fly such daring missions. But it came at the price of 8 men dead and at least 1 man's career ruined--Colonel "Charging Charlie" Beckwith who became the "fall guy" for the operation when it should have been the usmc.

Col Kyle's book is a must read for every military professional alive today.

Airborne!!

Mike Sparks 1st Tactical Studies Group (Airborne)

I was there working for the 1st SOW in Egypt when word came that the ec-130 (formerly ABCCC bird from Keesler AFB) had burned on the ground at Desert One. This book answered some haunting questions I have had for many years and asks some more.

Well written, with insight and understanding.

The Hostage Rescue Mission was a bold undertaking and the participants should be honored with more exposure to their story. Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend this book as the way to accomplish that objective.

In his own book, Colonel Kyle appears as a somewhat capable career military man, but not as a strong and confident leader. I kept asking myself why he was chosen to take part in any aspect of the operation. He sounds like a nice guy, but all along he seems very passive... hoping someone would take care of such-and-such a point, wishing they had more of this or that, wondering if they would be able to whatever.

While interesting to a degree, the large section covering the planning and rehearsal phase seems to be more the focus than the actual mission. Yet, there is very scant detail about the mission beyond Desert I. Here's the entire description of the planned embassy incursion: "Once Delta enters the compound, Charlie [Beckwith] will call for the helos. Four choppers will fly to the Amjadieh soccer stadium... It is estimated that the hostage release will take forty-five minutes (with most freed within 30 minutes). Once liberated, the hostages will be moved across Roosevelt Avenue into the soccer stadium."

The Epilogue is a mystery. Colonel Kyle's biting criticism of various members of the operation seems disjoint from the rest of the book. It is as if the Epilogue had been written years after the main part of the book on a day when Kyle was in a bad mood. The final sentence of the Epilogue left me infuriated, but not for the reasons intended by the author.

Still, I wanted to get the story of the operation, and after reading this book, I believe that the information is accurate. I certainly know more about the failed mission now than I did before. The story is compelling even if the telling is boring. For that, I give the book three stars. Five stars for the brave men who had the guts to try.

"The Guts to Try" is a first hand, first person account of the heroic raid to rescue the 50+ Americans who were held hostage after Iran seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran in November, 1979. The author was the American air Commander of the unsuccessful mission of April, 1980. The hostages were not repatriated until the winter of 1982. This reviewer remembers the seizure as the most embarrassing episode for the U.S. in his lifetime. GT is deep in detail, full of military terminology and acronyms but is written in clear and concise prose, with a helpful glossary. A military background is not essential to following the action. A key aspect of the raid was its' sheer and utter complexity. To merely write that it was intricate does not tell the story. All 4 branches of the military were involved: The mission itself was launched from bases in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman and an Aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. Units were marshaled from worldwide commands. Intense training was also held at widely scattered locations, always in secret so as not to divulge the nature of the rescue. It was stated above that GT is clear and concise. Indeed the actual text is all of that. Yet the reader may still become confused by the sheer scope of the mission. The most challenging point, for this reader, was the communication equipment. That was technical and hard to grasp! But since the author was a pilot, the intense air operation is relatively easy to follow. This reviewer was impressed by the professionalism of the aerial refueling crews. Those guys were good! Most Americans are well aware by now that this mission was not successful, though many may not know why. Many media reports were pointedly inaccurate or incomplete. Some blamed the failure on missing sand screens for the choppers; the author never mentions this. A key element of GT is an excellent epilogue, which examines the mission component by component. The rescue was aborted inside Iranian territory but before proceeding to Teheran. Good hard reasons for failure are given, blame is laid where appropriate and no excuses are offered. Bad luck or Murphy's Law is not offered as culprits. The author plainly believes that the rescue could have proceeded and should have succeeded. This reviewer was sad to read of a powerful U.S. military with wonderful equipment, highly trained and dedicated professionals- many of them hardened combat vets, a striking worldwide capability with fixed and mobile bases everywhere all led by strong and determined commanders. Yet the mission still failed! The unsuccessful raid is no reflection on men like the author who tried to do the right thing at the right time only to be stymied by events they could not directly control. GT is highly recommended for military history devotees as well as straight history fans that desire more knowledge of a key event of the early 1980s. This reviewer's private opinion is that as well as a tremendous black eye for the U.S.; the embassy capture and failed raid finished Jimmy Cater as President and ushered in the Reagan era. Author Kyle is a man of great courage. As an author, he has performed a fine job of relating an exciting, exacting and complex military operation to his fellow Americans.

Very accurate account of Operation Eagle Claw, Iranian Hostage Attempted Rescue. I also recommend reading Delta Force by Col. Charlie Beckwith.