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No Room for Error: The Story Behind the USAF Special Tactics Unit

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Col. John T. Carney, USAF (ret.) takes the reader through his professional career and the history of U.S. Air Force special tactics units from the early 1980s through 2002.

Special Tactics, which has operated in most every American military action since Operation Eagle Claw (aka Desert One) in 1980, has its foundations in the Pathfinder units of WW2, and are often known as 'combat controllers.' They are often the first in and the last out.

In a frank and engaging manner, Carney lays out the history of special tactics and their operations, including Eagle Claw, Grenada, Panama, Achille Lauro, Desert Storm, and Somalia, through Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Given his firsthand involvement in the majority of these operations, Carney offers a unique perspective and pulls no punches in his assessment of Air Force and U.S. Special Operations. Nothing is glossed-over and the reader gets the sense that Carney bears more self-imposed crosses than he probably should.

If you are interested in a unique perspective of U.S. Special Operations and Air Force Special Tactics, this book should not be missed.

Special operations forces were all born from necessity, yet always treated as the bastard children of their traditional counterparts. So it was with the creation of the US Air Forces Special Tactics Units. They may not be as well known as the Army's Rangers and Special Forces, or the Navy's SEALs, but they are every bit as important.

Colonel Carney was personnally involved in the creation and development of these critically important units. While they have played in the shawdows of all recent conflicts, the participation of these Special Tactics Units came to the fore during Operation Enduring Freedom. There, in Afghanistan, their courage became legendary as they directed devastating bombing missions that quickly broke the back of al Qaeda and Taliban forces. With other special operations units, they fought on the ground where it gets up close and personal.

This book will give the readers an insight into a world they seldom hear about and a historical perspective of the battles of the Air Commandos - all told from the firsthand perspective of a true American hero.

You will also learn of Col Carney's continued service to the SOF community. Currently he runs the Special Operations Warrior's Foundation which provides scholarship to the children of our fallen comrades.

I am privileged to have received and read an early copy of this book, a timely reminder to all Americans that "Freedom is not Free." Colonel John T. Carney, Jr. (Retired), is President of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a very special charity that provides full scholarships to the children and families of fallen special operations soldiers, sailors and airmen. As a member of a fraternity of men known as "Quiet Professionals," it must have been terribly difficult for him to put into words acts of incredible courage which have heretofore been closely held knowledge among very few people. On the verge of retirement from the Air Force after a disappointing and stalled career, Carney gets a word of advice from an old friend, changes his career track and begins a journey down a lonely road towards the creation of a special Air Force unit that expertly handles air assets during special operations missions. The road for his "Brand X" unit is full of obstacles, but with slow acceptance among some of the Army's Special Forces legends, like Colonel Charlie Beckwith and Lieutenant Colonel Lewis "Bucky" Burruss, he doggedly champions his unit's abilities and repeatedly demonstrates the utility of having a trained combat controller in situ with the Army's Special Forces teams. Having previously been a football coach for the Air Force Academy, Carney's program for his special tactics teams is as tough as any training the services can muster, including HALO, HAHO and scuba training. Skydiving is fun. HALO and HAHO with special operations forces in the dead of night, in all weather conditions, and with 200 pounds of equipment is deadly serious business and not much fun at all. The men whose job is to maintain that edge now have a safety net for their families: the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. They can do their jobs comfortable in the knowledge that the net is held by an American hero, Colonel John T. Carney, Jr., founder of the Air Force Special Tactics teams.

Along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in the Mekong delta, and in the air, the U.S. military's special operations forces played key roles in Vietnam. After being neglected by the regular military bureaucracy for most of the quarter-century that followed, U.S. special ops forces finally got the appreciation and credit they deserved when a few hundred very smart and superbly-trained men engineered the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This book is largely about the period in between Vietnam and the post-9/11campaign, and it fills an important gap in the literature. It focuses particularly on the U.S. Air Force's Special Tactics Units, who are an essential part of the larger special ops picture, and who make many missions possible through their extraordinary skils at getting teams in and out of dangerous territory, often at night and without being detected by the enemy. This book is full of revelations, and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the field.

No Room For Error fills a gap in military history. Such gaps have existed since the beginning of time whenever a 'special' operation was conducted. What Col Carney and the late Ben Schemmer have done is describe people, places, and events that bring to light the fact that the special ops 'community' before the 80s was a close knit family whose members and even kids often knew each other by name whether army, navy, or air force.

Col Carney brings faces and humanity to the facts. He shows what it was like to conduct special operations at a time when the majority of SOF was being disbanded after Vietnam and prior to Desert One.

Many Americans will never know the true sacrifice of some of the Quiet Professionals. Many Americans will never know how many fires were put out before they consumed nations. Read this book to discover heroes who don't see themselves as such. Unknown national heroes...of whom their families may never know of their accomplishments.

Col Carney has given credit to an honorable profession made so by honorable men...and today, honorable women.

Jim "Banzai" McClain
USAF Ret.
Desert One Iran

"No Room for Error" is a good read and provides hard hitting insights into the politics of U.S. special operations units and a glimpse at the superbly trained Special Tactics forces. These units have demonstrated their expertise in various conflicts despite Air Force organizational negligence and service parochialism on the part of the Army. Carney and Schemmer captured tremendous exploits without resorting to euphemisms used by other Special Operations books. A major unanswered question: Why aren't there more of these AF Special Tactics units? Note that I'm a former Special Tactics member enabling me to affirm the accuracy of the book.

I listened to the abridged version of this book over the course of a few days and found it to be quite entertaining and informative. Those who are intrigued by the special mission units of the US military should look no further than here for an insider's account behind the scenes as many of the heavy hitters were just getting started in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Carney is at his best telling the tale of small unit leadership in action as he fought tooth-and-nail to gain respect and a mission for his "Brand-X" airmen.

Another strength of the book is in showing how hard it was for US special operations forces (SOF) to really get their act together. His account of Desert One in Iran, which has been written about elsewhere, is still not easy to stomach. Grenada was not much better. It was not until Panama in 1989 that things were truly clicking on all cylinders. Special Mission Units didn't have much of a role in Desert Storm/Shield, at least, not at first, but later in Somalia and of course in Afghanistan they were much more than bit players. Carney calls Afghanistan the first "special operations war." But will it be the last? The book was published before Iraq kicked off, but I wonder what he would think about attempting to extrapolate the successes of SOF to that war?

The narrative loses a bit of its strength towards the end after the author retires from active duty and can only watch from the sidelines. In all, No Room For Error is a fast read/listen and quite interesting.

I'm about 2/3 done with this book. I previously read Black Hawk Down, and picked up this book next. While Black Hawk Down makes you feel like you are in the middle of the action, this book reads more like a documentary. You never quite feel for the heroes the author writes about; you never quite understand who they are, what their personalities are like, are what these people have gone through. Instead, its almost as if you are watching a black-and-white movie and are set far back away from the action. There's a lot of facts, and a lot of names. Names of people that not too many people (at least today) know about. The main point of the book seems to be that Special Operations has really grown up in America, and that frankly it was really disorganized before.

Colonel Carney and Ben Schemmer did an excellent job of describing the realities of U.S. contingencies in the last 40 years. As much as we try, the theory of the "purple suit" military and interoperability, i.e., all services working together, has not been achieved. The saving grace of this unfortunate situation is that our military forces usually demonstrate the flexibility to overcome these shortfalls and prevail. I commanded a rescue squadron which was tasked in an important support role for several of the operations that
Colonel Carney wrote of in this book and several that were not included. The Grenada mission was not the only one where we were unsure as to which command was really in charge. A well written book about a segment of the U.S.Air Force and our military forces which has not received the recognition and appreciation which they deserve. Colonel Carney is one of the Air Force's finest!

Reading "No Room for Error" reminded me of how thankful I am to be a woman who is a citizen of The United States of America. In the pages of "No Room for Error," Carney and Schemmer introduced me to numerous members of the AF Special Tactics units who selflessly gave of themselves to guarantee my freedoms and those of a few billion of my closest friends and relations. The book has something for everyone - the reference information is phenomenal and at times a bit deep for an "outsider"; yet, the recounting of the (not all strictly military) activities and missions brings a smile to the lips and a tear to the eye - all bring a warming of the heart. I worked for a defense contractor for a little over a decade, and had a sense of pride knowing that many of the products produced provided the special edge to help our military. I am privileged to personally know over 100 friends and relatives who have served over the years in various branches of the military, including a few in the Special Operations Forces. War is never an easy topic of discussion. Carney and Schemmer have been able to broach the topic and round out the discussion - all in one book.