Customer Reviews

Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading a number of rush to print books on the Iraqi War, mostly written by embedded reporters, I have been waiting for this book. None of the earlier works included the war we knew was going on in the west, north and northeast while our conventional forces drove north to Baghdad. Indeed, during the buildup and the first few months after the invasion started, I only came across one or two news accounts that even mentioned SOFs being in the area. Having read Robin Moore's, "The Hunt for Bin Laden", I knew that SOFs had to be active behind the lines in those areas.

The author, Linda Robinson, having covered numerous guerrilla conflicts and Special Forces operations before, was one of the few journalists allowed to cover the Special Forces as an embedded reporter during Operation Iraqi Freedom. She accompanied the SFs from Umm Qasr to Basra, from Nassiriya to Kut and on to the Iranian border. This fact is revealed only in the introduction as she wisely and selflessly avoids the first person in the telling of the soldiers' unique story.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book begins with a brief but informative history of Special Forces including their formation, their training, Nam, the Balkans and ends with Afghanistan and Iraq. The larger portion of the book deals with Afghanistan and Iraq. As for the Afghanistan War, a truly remarkable story, greater depth is required and this reviewer recommends the Robin Moore book above.

Before the official Iraq invasion date, 1st Battalion of 5th Group launched the first operations of Iraqi Freedom. They were in country the day before the early "decapitation strike" of March 20th. It was their job to search an area the size of New Jersey and locate potential Scud missile sites that could reach Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. In so doing, they engaged in the war's first big fight: the taking of the airfield designated H3 and the nearby city of Ar Rutba. Unlike SOFs elsewhere in Iraq, these teams did not have limited air support.

In the south other members of 5th Group moved north on Pave Low helicopters and MC-130s Combat Talon planes to conduct reconnaissance on the vital Karbala Gap. This dangerous mission, hundreds of miles behind enemy lines, was briefed on CNN two hours before it began by a retired U. S. general. Iraqi TV, apparently picking up the CNN story, broadcast the possibility of their presence to our enemy. Well done gentlemen.

In the north 10th group, with 50 teams and limited air and a force of lightly armed Kurdish militias, performed the impossible. Under Lt. Col. Waltemeyer they took on Ansar al-Islam of Zarqawi fame and racked up unprecedented victories. A Special Forces Battalion along with 26,00 pesh merga captured Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, defeated six enemy divisions, captured 600 and killed 859 enemy soldiers and seized 6,000 square kilometer's of territory. Two hundred Kurds died and only four of Waltemeyer's men were wounded.

The SOF teams performed outstanding accomplishments and deserve an entire book detailing their efforts. But this fine book will more than do until that other book comes along.

Linda Robinson has penned an impressive and highly readable work of military journalism. "Masters of Chaos" chronicles various operations the U.S. Army's Special Forces over the past 15 years through the eyes of the Special Forces operators. Those operations include El Salvador, Panama, counter-drug operations, both Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo and Somalia. Still mostly secret, even after the author's investigation, is their work with the FBI after September 11th.

The theme of the book is the sheer skill and maturity of the men who make up the Green Berets. Unlike other special operators (such as Marine Force Recon, SEALs, or the Rangers), the Green Berets are more than just commandos. Robinson shows them engaging in raids, functioning as crack light infantry, and most important, performing their primary role: organizing and training local friendlies into viable military forces. The author clearly has deep admiration for the Special Forces, and drives home the vast pool of experience and skill embodied in even a single A-Team. Robinson's writing is crisp, and she brings out the drama of the many Special Forces operations in pleasing style.

My only complaint with the book is a relatively small one, and is directed at whoever makes marketing decisions at Public Affairs: what is with the title of your book? "Masters of Chaos?" I know it is a quote drawn from the text, but combined with the two bearded-and-ballcapped operators on the cover, I could not help but make an instant association with heavy metal. Beavis and Butthead were literally chortling in my head. Furthermore, since the main theme of the book is the judgement, poise, maturity and professionalism of America's corps of unconventional warriors, "chaos" has very little to do with it. Adaptability and self-control are the two over-riding personal themes of the text.

Anyway, that is a very small gripe, but I hope someone from Public Affairs reads it. Get yourself a copy of this enjoyable book.

I was disappointed by this book. For one thing, it's one of the few cases in which I have been totally misled by the reader reviews on Amazon.com, which liberally use the word "excellent" to describe this book. The book isn't excellent, it's good, which given the exciting subject is a real shame.

The author was an imbedded journalist with the Special Forces during the Iraq War, but for whatever reason she was not able to turn her experiences into the kind of vivid, well-informed writing that makes BLACK HAWK DOWN and GENERATION KILL, also written by journalists, such superb and accurate books.

The decision to grant Linda Robinson the kind of access she obtained was really an opportunity wasted. I think the basic problem is that Linda Robinson just isn't a very talented writer or a particularly insightful thinker. Her descriptions of the Special Forces personnel are a long series of tired cliches: "he had a thousand-megawatt smile", "Jimmy could charm the pants off any friend or foe", "he was as loyal as a Saint Bernard", yadda yadda yadda. This kind of crap writing comes close to cancelling out the benefits of her unparalleled access to the Special Forces, which should have produced the kind of gripping accounts that one gets from other people who have had privileged access, whether journalists like Mark Bowden and Evan Wright or former operators like Eric Haney ("Inside Delta Force"), Charles Beckwith "(Delta Force"), and John Plaster (numerous great books on the Vietnam-era Studies and Observation Group "SOG") or Frank Greco ("Running Recon").

This book is not a total write-off by any means. The book has some interesting information that is not obtainable elsewhere. The accounts of Special Forces operations in Iraq, although afflicted by bad writing, stale cliches, and a general tactical vagueness, are worth reading, even if one regrets what they might have been like if written by somebody like Bowden or Wright.

Her larger themes about the importance of the Special Forces in the unconventional wars of the present and future, the value of often non-violent solutions to dangerous tactical challenges, etc. are accurate and it is helpful for them to reach a larger audience via this book, but it is apparent that Robinson is simply transcribed the views of her sources rather than adding her own fresh thinking or new details provided by any sharp-eyed reporting skills. She doesn't seem capable of either.

Robinson did have terrific access, after all, to Special Forces ODA-level operators and the command hierarchy. But the Special Forces have a great story to tell, even the declassified stuff, and sadly this book isn't it. It reminds me of how the old Soviet economy used to turn high quality raw materials into poor quality finished goods. Linda Robinson has taken a great subject and turned it into a good book.

"De oppresso liber"--Free the Oppressed--the motto of the fabled Green Berets--has stood for over half a century as a beacon to bold Americans who believe that freedom is a universal blessing for all people.

Robinson portrays the challenges and complexities of the global insurgency that threatens that freedom and provides rare insights into America's Green Berets and their special operations comrades in the Navy SEALs and Air Force Air Commandos. Drawing on extensive experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, Robinson has produced the best yet account of these daring warriors.

As I listened to the Presidential debates, Kerry says that he intends, if elected, to double the size of the special forces. John Edwards in another debate was critizing the administration for using Afgan Warlords to go into the Tora Bora mountains rather than American troops. This would indeed be interesting news to the Special Forces teams that went in with the Afgan troups. It is clear that the history of the Army's Special Forces is just beginning.

A lot was written about the Special Forces during the Viet Nam era. Even down to songs and movies. Since then, they've been around, they were in Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia, the Balkans. Lately the center of their activities have been in Afghanistan (Yes, even at Tora Bora) and Iraq. It's clear that they are going to be around for a long time to come.

This book kind of brings us up to date on what these forces have been doing for the past 15 years. It's well researche, well written and a very interesting read.

This is a book that anyone with an interest in Special Forces can read. Easy to follow and understand ( not too technical) I am very pleased with her accounts and discriptions of her "cast of charactures". Having been embedded with some of these men and her interviews with them, you can tell she got to know the men, not just as soliders, but as people. And she did them justice. Most people have the impression of "green berets" as a Rambo type He-man, but not only did the book portray what highly skilled soldiers these men are, but gave them depth and you got to see other sides that the media often fails to show. It is incredible what a 12 man ODA can do, and never take credit for their accomplishments. This is why they are called "The quiet Profesionals", but I have to thank Linda Robinson for giving them a voice. This isn't your typical "war" book, but it offers great insite that both men and woman can appreciate. Would be a nice gift in your husband's stocking for Christmas.

This is one of the first books to give detailed insights into the actions of the Army Special Forces (Green Berets) during the most recent conflict in Iraq, and the author writes with a keen attention to detail. Her account is exciting in places, intriguing and instructive - the lessons drawn from the incidents illustrate how the SF can be used to greatest advantage.
The final chapter provides a concise analysis from the perspective of the SF of what went wrong on the ground in Iraq.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in how these brave and honorable men operate, the lengths they go to to protect civilians, and the discipline and skill with which they approach their tasks.

Excellent book! It was well written and accurate. I had the opportunity to speak with a friend of mine who is one of the officers featured in the book. He verified that Linda Robinson did a good job of depicting the events as they actually happened on the ground.

I highly recommend it!

This book is a history of the Army's Special Forces over the last decade and a half, covering wars in Panama, Kuwait, Southeastern Europe, Afghanistan, and finally Iraq. All of the wars listed above get a chapter each, with the exception of Iraq which gets six. Theres's also a chapter on the stateside involvement of the Special Forces in the War on Terror, where their language expertise was used for translation purposes.

Ms. Robinson is a senior reporter for U.S. News & World Report, but she doesn't suffer from that disease that often afflicts journalists who try to write books. I think I'll coin a word and call this affliction articlitis. It occurs when someone who's used to writing a 2000 word article is suddenly asked to produce 70,000 or 150,000 words on something. Everything comes out short and choppy, as if they can't help but edit themselves to leave room for the Target ad. Anyway, this book doesn't have that problem at all: it was clearly written pretty much as is, and it also is clear that the author spent some time on the book.

The result is an interesting recent history of the Army's Special Forces, known sometimes as the Green Berets. The author interviewed a number of the men who serve in these units, and weaves together their accounts of what happened in various situations with histories of the wars and the involvement of the U.S. Military in them. Much attention is paid to how the Special Forces fight: everything about this part of the U.S. Army is at least a bit different from the regular army, and some things (doctrine and tactics) are almost completely foreign. Where it's incomplete is in details: some of the participants didn't even want their names used, and while some operations are described in detail, in others broad strokes are used, whether for operational security or editorial reasons I couldn't tell.

Books like this are valuable, but only to a point. As time passes by history expands. More sources become available, interpretations change, theories abound. At this close range, the War in Iraq especially looks very much like a current event instead of history. The more something becomes history, the more perspective is gained and the better the interpretation gets. With a book like the current one, as far as the Iraq war goes anyway, there can't be much perspective at all: events are too fresh. Nevertheless, this is a good first step: the first-hand accounts of various operations will no doubt serve as a stepping-stone for future writers who wish to expand on the subject.

Robinson is very very gung ho as far as the Special Forces are concerned. I happen to agree with her, for the most part. As wars become less regular, units like the Special Forces will pushed to center stage, and will take on more and more of the burden of combat. As they do so, it's important that we (and the Pentagon) understand these units and what they do, and this book goes a long way towards explaining that.

I picked this book up at my local library, I went in with no certain expectations but came away very impressed. If you're interested in an in depth historical account of the forming of Special Operations Forces in general, I'd reccomend "Shadow Warriors" by Tom Clancy.

This book deals more with the individials and missions they have been apart of (With Iraq and Afghanistan receiving the most attention due to their larger role).

From training to implementation of their skills in the field Robinson keeps you interested and puts names and faces to the anonymous warriors who put themselves in amazing danger often at the mercy of local guerilla forces who allegiances shift as often as the winds.

A very quick, interesting read for anyone with an interest in special forces, or secondarily guerilla warfare from Vietnam, to Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central America, etc.