The Commandos by Douglas C. Waller

by Douglas C. Waller

Very Good to Like New condition. Single crease on spine. Bright clean cover has light edge wear. Text is perfect. Same day shipping first class.

Genres: Military Fiction, Nonfiction, History, War, Military History

Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1995

Reviews

[Bob Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to understand how our various Special Operations Forces are trained, this is an excellent book. He covers all the services. It is a bit of an outside looking in view. I always found the hardest training was the most mentally challenging. Nothing can quite compare to the Robin Sage exercise of the last phase of the Special Forces Qualification Course. Constantly being put in Lose-Lose situations is indeed a challenge.

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit dated (given its publication) but a very interesting look into the US special forces groups and their training/selection processes. Also included is first hand accounts from various members of their action in the first Gulf War.

[Lyn Sweetapple · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an exceedingly well written book, by a reporter who had unprecidented access to the training of the Green Berets (Robin Sage), SEALS (Hell Week), Delta Force (training center) and Pave Low (Kirtland). He also was also a reporter duing the Gulf War. The amount of trust and interviews he gained enabled him to get the inside view of the Commandos in American service.

[Savedbygrace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering that I read the book over 15 years after it's publication and most of it's content was based on facts that were considered top secret back then, it was still a very good read. Much of the content has been widely covered since then through video means and broadcasted on the military channel, but reading the book helped to clear up specifics that were not important enough to be mentioned in the short time slots of television programming. The author did a great job of keeping the boring bits out and maintaining the pace through each section of the book. The characters he chose to highlight were not always the key players on the field but somehow, completed the puzzle and shed light on the depth of our military operations and the train of bureaucratic malarkey that seems to corrupt our government and cripple our progress. The lists of credits and sources of information at the conclusion was epic and demonstrated the time and amount of effort he and countless other researchers pored into this project. There are many parts that I may never read again due to the publicity that those subjects have received over the years with television but there are certainly parts that I plan to re-read, simply for the information that's crammed into it.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being just about 20 years old (at the time of this review) The Commandos offers a fascinating look inside some of America's top special forces, their training and operations that they've carried out. Some of the material within the book, regarding the training of special forces such as the Army's Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Air Force Special Operations pilots, and Delta Force truly helps to elucidate precisely what it is each unit specializes in and what their capabilities are. Furthermore, since the book was written by a Newsweek journalist, and not a former member of one of the units (as many similar books tend to be) it's fairly free of the bias inherent in a more personal account. Douglas Waller does a great job of reporting what he has learned through eyewitness account (he was allowed to attend certain portions of various training) and through many interviews, and allows the reader to feel as though they were there watching Green Berets during Robin Sage or SEALs during Hell Week. Overall, I would highly recommend this book for any fan of military history, or those who simply wish to learn more about some of America's special forces units.

[Nathan Foy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts out terrific and finishes just good.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Commandos: The Inside Story of America's Secret Soldiers".

I love the depth of information that this book provides. It's right in my level of expectation.

[Wes · Rating 3 out of 5]

My dad is talked about in this book!