Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command

by Sean Naylor

The New York Times Bestseller and Winner of the 2015 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award for Unit History

Since the attacks of September 11, one organization has been at the forefront of America's military response. Its efforts turned the tide against al-Qaida in Iraq, killed Bin Laden and Zarqawi, rescued Captain Phillips and captured Saddam Hussein. Its commander can direct cruise missile strikes from nuclear submarines and conduct special operations raids anywhere in the world.

Relentless Strike tells the inside story of Joint Special Operations Command, the secret military organization that during the past decade has revolutionized counterterrorism, seamlessly fusing intelligence and operational skills to conduct missions that hit the headlines, and those that have remained in the shadows-until now. Because JSOC includes the military's most storied special operations units-Delta Force, SEAL Team 6, the 75th Ranger Regiment-as well as America's most secret aviation and intelligence units, this is their story, too.

Relentless Strike reveals tension-drenched meetings in war rooms from the Pentagon to Iraq and special operations battles from the cabin of an MH-60 Black Hawk to the driver's seat of Delta Force's Pinzgauer vehicles as they approach their targets. Through exclusive interviews, reporter Sean Naylor uses his unique access to reveal how an organization designed in the 1980s for a very limited mission set transformed itself after 9/11 to become the military's premier weapon in the war against terrorism and how it continues to evolve today.

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

560 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Sean D. Naylor, 48, is the author of Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command, to be published in September 2015 by St. Martin’s Press. Since January 2015, he has been the intelligence and counterterrorism correspondent for Foreign Policy magazine. He previously spent 23 years as a senior writer for Army Times, where his principal beat for the last decade of his tenure was special operations forces. Prior to that, he covered combat operations, exercises, training, readiness, weapons systems, force modernization and the Army's senior leadership.
Mr. Naylor received his bachelor's degree in journalism from Boston University in 1988 and a Master of Arts in International Relations from the same institution in 1990. In 1987 he traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan as a freelance reporter covering the Afghan mujahideen, meeting and conversing with Jalaluddin Haqqani, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Hamid Karzai, among others.
For Army Times, Mr. Naylor covered military operations as an embedded reporter in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
His coverage of 2002’s Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan earned him the White House Correspondents Association’s 2003 Edgar A. Poe award for excellence in reporting an issue of regional or national importance. It also led to a best-selling book, Not A Good Day To Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, published in March 2005 by Berkley Books, New York, N.Y. Mr. Naylor is also the co-author, with Tom Donnelly, of Clash of Chariots – The Great Tank Battles, published by Berkley to favorable reviews in 1996.
Born in Canada, and raised in England and Ireland, Mr. Naylor became a U.S. citizen on March 14, 2000. He lives in Washington D.C. on Capitol Hill, reluctantly hung up his rugby boots 14 years ago after a 25-year playing career, and is an avid soccer fan.

Reviews

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting, readable and well-researched history of JSOC that will definitely appeal to those interested in the subject. Naylor does his best to detail JSOC’s rise, and he describes all of its publicly known missions---the focus, however, is on its role in the war on terror.

Given that much, if not most of JSOC’s operations are classified and every aspect of it is cloaked in at least some layer of secrecy; many of Naylor’s sources are anonymous, although of course he does rely on published memoirs and official sources. Naylor’s style is readable and engaging, and he makes sure to include some of JSOC’s more controversial aspects. In all, it does seem like Naylor exercised all of the rigor that is possible given the secrecy around JSOC, but at the same time he comes off as neither too critical or too gushing.

Naylor shows how JSOC evolved from a small organization with a limited mission and low profile to a far more prominent one with a more sweeping mission, and how JSOC was repeatedly handed missions that it was not always necessarily suited for. Originally, JSOC (as well as Delta Force and SEAL Team Six) were developed as primarily counter-terrorist organizations, with the main concern always being something akin to a plane or ship hijacking (missions that, ironically, neither unit has ever carried out). In the aftermath of 9/11, JSOC received a massive infusion in budgets, personnel, and missions, as well as a somewhat higher public profile. Because the command was so central to the effort against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, because the information age caught up to it, and because so many of its operations were fairly high-profile, JSOC has received an unusual amount of attention in recent years. Achieving some sort of balance has proven difficult; making JSOC a central component, while understandable and even defensible given these operators’ capabilities, cannot be done without an increase in public exposure, a dilemma that must be frustrating for both JSOC and the media. Naylor has also dug up a surprising number of previously unknown tidbits, such as JSOC’s use of what are basically IEDs in Iraq, the extent of its operations in Syria during the war in Iraq, and others. According to Naylor, when Anwar al-Awlaki was targeted by American drones, the CIA had actually succeeded in rigging his car with a camera.

The most obvious concern about Naylor’s book is the amount of detail: the access and the details he discloses seem unusual given JSOC’s inherent secrecy, and throughout reading the narrative you can’t help but wonder who Naylor talked to and why. Naylor has claimed not to have revealed any classified information in the book; upon actually reading it, this seems preposterous. Naylor writes that he did not disclose any information that would put individuals at risk; however, he often discloses the names of various personnel; the sources for these names, according to the endnotes, are often anonymous.

While strong and mostly well-written, Naylor’s book can drag in places. The sheer number of names, dates, and dry anecdotal recollections often seem like deadweight, and the writing itself is dry and emotionless (Naylor comments that his research was slowed quite a bit by JSOC’s inherent secrecy). Also, it seems like Naylor could have built a stronger theme out of the question of how JSOC’s tactical mastery doesn’t always translate into larger strategic success. It’s a great read, and definitely interesting, but the story is often dull, and the conclusion isn’t particularly strong. And at one point Michael Morell is called the head of the CIA’s Special Activities Division (he was?)

[Bryn D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very very good book! I learned more about the evolution of special operation forces in this book than in any other book. It's a real page turner and major contribution to the history of warfare and the GWOT in particular. I can't really add more than that and do the book service. It's very interesting.

It's almost good to a fault. By that I mean I wonder if the author reveals too much about the organization of JSOC, the different units, their diverse skill sets, mission capabilities and tactics that the enemy might glean from this book methods to prepare and counter our efforts to fight them. Like I said I learned so much about the evolution of Delta Force, SEAL Team Six, and other special mission units and the leadership that drove them over the years under the JSOC umbrella, that I hope besides amaze the readers, doesn't tip our hat to those who would do us harm.

The author discussed the temperament and style of the various leaders since JSOC's inception, how some were too risk adverse to let the operators "do their thing" and how others unleashed them to become a superb killing machine in different theaters of operations.

My only criticism that prevented me from giving it a full five stars was its odd flow at times. The history stays fairly chronological up to 9/11 but then the chapters skip around and focus more on the theater of operations and the units dedicated there rather than the timeline of the GWOT; skipping back and forth years between Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, etc. Got a little annoying.

If you are interested in the special operations and the multiple units, their tactics, and history then check this out. You won't be disappointed!

[Molly Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has had me in a chokehold for the better part of 2 years. Glad I finally finished it. Very digestible information/historical account of GWOT.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

During the rough and tumble bureaucratic battles within the newly-formed Department of Defense following World War II, President Truman infamously sought to rebut a defense of the Marine Corps’s position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff by saying, “For your information the Marine Corps is the Navy’s police force and as long as I am President that is what it will remain. They have a propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin’s.”

In the post-9/11 world, I am sure many enlisted troops, field-grade officers, and flag officers have a similar opinion of the operators in and the literature surrounding special operations units, especially those within Joint Special Operations Command. The SEALS, Delta troopers, Rangers, Army and Air Force aviators, intelligence personnel, and hard-charging commanders of JSOC have had millions of words written about their exploits. They were some of the first Americans into Afghanistan in 2001, played a key role in the stabilization of Iraq even before the Surge, and killed Osama bin Laden. More importantly, and as Sean Naylor capably lay out, JSOC — the men, the commanders, the assets, the collective expertise — has become a key arm of America’s foreign policy, with ramifications for how the United States deploys its military and delivers military force as well as how the individuals elected to office consider the possibility of a military option.

Naylor notes that he set out to tell the story of JSOC since September 11, but found that his was an impossible task without telling how the command got to that point. The fast, agile, self-sufficient unit that has been a fixture of the past two decades was born out of a failed attempt to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980, and this failure left a searing imprint on the command long after some of its veterans left JSOC or the military. This failure made clear that America lacked an integrated command that possessed its own strike, intelligence, and transportation capabilities, that trained together and at a prodigious rate, was ready at the drop of a hat, and possessed a short chain of command to the president. What was born eventually had those characteristics, but as a new unit drawn from the services with, theoretically, a global reach, it had to fight the Pentagon bureaucracy, inter-service rivalries, and the egos of combatant commanders. Between its birth and 9/11, JSOC became the “National Mission Force” with a strategic importance equal to that of a ballistic missile submarine. In short, by itself and without the support of a larger command, JSOC could be called upon by the National Command Authority to carry out the most important missions of the United States, missions that would be larger than the individual battlefields on which they were conducted.

But the majority of this book focuses on the JSOC of the Global War on Terror and the various campaigns conducted under the auspices of war authorities now 19 and 18 years old. Since 9/11 JSOC has been unleashed. The title of Naylor’s history was the operational name for a set of missions conducted in southwest Afghanistan in fall 2001. Those missions, while spectacular in their execution, did not live up to their name. The true ‘relentless strike’ of the title was the capability JSOC built to produce, analyze, and act upon its intelligence, conduct missions rapidly on the grounds of that intelligence, sweep up more intelligence after a mission and immediately set out again. As the author notes, JSOC became a machine, especially in Iraq following the 2003 coalition invasion. This was largely in part to the leadership and tenacity of Stanley McChrystal and Michael Flynn, who served as JSOC’s 3-star commander and director of intelligence, respectively. McChrystal understood that JSOC would not be able to fulfill its responsibility to destroy terrorist and insurgent networks without intelligence, so he tasked Flynn to create a gathering and analysis system robust enough to work quickly and at all hours. At the same time, he tasked his strike commanders to be able to act quickly upon anything Flynn discovered and to remain flexible enough to conduct multiple missions in a single night. What JSOC became in Iraq was an extraordinary military command that was vertically integrated and could control entire processes within its own infrastructure. This rankled conventional commanders, but they quickly learned that for all the frustrations of dealing with the hard-charging operators of JSOC, it was the only unit nimble and autonomous enough to capably target and destroy the leadership, logistics, and morale of the enemy networks in Iraq. The system, however, may have been lightning in a bottle. It could not be replicated in Afghanistan nor in other counterterrorism battlefields around the globe. Outside of Iraq, JSOC continued, and continues now, to conduct raids, gather intelligence, and develop networks. But it has not had the success it had in Iraq between 2004 and 2008.

‘Relentless Strike’ was published five years ago, and Naylor closes on an Iraq rapidly being gobbled up by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In the past five years, however, an international coalition, some of our Iraqi and Syrian allies, and the operators of JSOC have turned the tide. The attempt at a caliphate has been stopped, and a 2019 JSOC raid deep into Syrian territory — the type of mission JSOC has created to conduct — led to the death of ISIS’s ruthless leader. The other side of the coin, though, is that since this book was published, special operator deaths in combat have far exceeded casualties from conventional forces. The servicemembers within JSOC and Special Operations Command, nominally JSOC’s parent unit, have become at times the only option successive presidents have taken when utilizing the military. Part of this is a natural response to their expertise, but it is also stretching the command nearly to the breaking point. For example, JSOC is now conducting missions that in fact Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) should be doing, such as training and assisting partner military forces. This reliance on special operators, for all their dedication and skill, is not something that should be countenanced. Just as armed drones lowered the threshold for targeting suspected enemies away from declared battlefields, the use of special operators as America’s only military options risks lowering the threshold for deploying troops. This has consequences for both America’s strategic posture and for civil-military affairs.

I was drawn to this book for several reasons, not least of which was a desire to learn more about the immensely brave, dedicated, and capable Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines who have served the United States at the very ragged edge of the military option. But more broadly, I wanted to read this book because I am not sure one can fully understand America’s modern military or its foreign policy without examining the role of clandestine military operations, especially those conducted under the secret auspices of Joint Special Operations Command. The major strategic missions of the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community since 9/11 have been counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, very often in tandem. While millions of servicemembers, government employees, and contractors have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the overwhelmingly majority of the tragic deaths since then have been members of conventional forces, the special operations community, and specifically JSOC, has repeatedly been drawn upon for the men and expertise to execute the most challenging missions, with the lowest margins of error, against the hardest targets, and with the least amount of publicity. This shift has led to JSOC becoming, without a doubt, a primary instrument of national policy and the president’s first option whenever military force is required. Naylor’s sprawling, heavily sourced and reported 35-year history captures this journey remarkably well as JSOC went from a one-room outfit born out of desperation into one of the world’s premier military units with a direct line to the Secretary of Defense and the President of the United States. His achievement also becomes my first 5-star rating of 2020.

[Jesse Tischauser · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a very informative collection of the leadership, organization and purpose of the recent and current special operations community. I quit reading about 1/2 way through because it lacked any first hand accounts of any special operations missions. It lacked the personal connection to any character or conflict to keep my attention.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to say how much of Naylor's book is original reporting, because there are extensive footnotes, citations and references to other books, but this was a good survey read of JSOC up to and after 9/11, and carrying forward to just last year. Gripping narrative in spots, although most of the chapters read--or at least start--the same way. Disheartening how much bureaucracy and interservice rivalry come into play over and over again. But a very good book that was an interesting read. I certainly haven't seen some of these stories told elsewhere.

[Tzu · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have all heard of the missions, the men, the successes and failures, but to read about them in such great detail is something else. The writing was very technical and less story-like as say "Rise and Kill First", a history of Israeli intelligence services and spec ops, but it did the job. I'll probably reread it sometime as it was a lot to take in.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic. Another great book by Naylor. Extraordinarily detailed, thorough, and informative.

[Hassan Alaali · Rating 1 out of 5]

ترجمة سيئة جدًا .. على الأغلب هي ترجمة موقع قوقل مع تنقيح بسيط من شخص غير ملم بأبسط قواعد اللغة العربية. وعنوان رنّان لا يعكس طبيعة المعلومات العادية جدًا الواردة في الكتاب.

[Romany Arrowsmith · Rating 1 out of 5]

Useful insofar as it confirms the absolute laughable clown shoes nonsense of JSOC and special forces history - I think unintentionally?

Sean Naylor is an AWFUL writer who produces terribly earnest paragraphs like this:

The four helicopters scythed through the air, two Black Hawks full of Delta operators covered by a pair of AH-6 Little Birds, all headed for the Syrian border near Al Qaim. The aircraft were flown by Night Stalkers but it was broad daylight--4:45 p.m. on October 26, 2008. They were on their way to kill a man.

I mean, where to start, the self-serious "scythed", the clunky parenthetical details about equipment/personnel/time/date, the criminally dopey "They were on their way to kill a man". You can tell exactly the sort of person who would eat this shit up too, perhaps someone who has always secretly thought they could have made it through BUD/S if their recruiter had not lied to them and sent them up with OS orders instead. LMAO. Sometimes the writing was so bland that I thought maybe Naylor could be a secret genius who is conducting counter-propaganda against JSOC by hiding in plain sight...but looking at the praise for this book everywhere, if that was his aim, he didn't succeed.

So much wasted money (discretionary funding...). All derision aside, so many dead Americans, some of them among the most physically gifted, genetic monsters in each generation (filtered by the grueling training process) dead as a result of pointless operations drummed up by several deluded military officers measuring dicks with each other and starving to get a war under their belt. Kind of a bucket list thing for some, it seems. Right under "Learn to play bass guitar".

McChrystal and Petraeus in particular come off as complete lunatics, suffering from extreme tunnel-vision (at best) and narcissistic splitting at worse. I GUFFAWED when I read about how the first SEALS were chosen by (now convicted criminal and famous asshole) Dick Marcinko. He just, like, offered them jobs after having a couple of drinks with them. I took a photograph of the relevant pages to show to the next military dude who wants to tell me a story about quotas and how he definitely got passed over for a promotion because some girl or black guy "stole" his spot.

The way these ops are named too, "Operation Prometheus"???? Are you fucking serious???? How vainglorious can you get? And I ask this rhetorically, because having met some of these guys, it is actually profound how consistently dumb and vain they appear to be. Should I speak of the holocaust denier who couldn't stop compulsively talking about how much money he makes, or the medic who thinks he is [literally...LITERALLY] a reincarnation of Martin Luther King Jr. [he is white] and writes some of the worst instagram war poetry I've ever read in my life, or the guy who thinks American citizens should be able to own tanks? That's just the moronic belief systems, too. How to describe the obsession with fast cars and nice clothes and large belt buckles...the defensive, juvenile reaction to any perceived slight? It is so strange to see a 6"4 man built like a mack truck with hands the size of parachutes act like a very small Chihuahua. I constantly feel like I'm dissociating into some Tim and Eric sketch from 2003 Adult Swim. Very funny for me. Not so funny for any of the countries these idiots have meddled in with their parachute-sized hands. You can hear it from the quotes Naylor straight-facedly includes in the book too, the "yeah, and dude it was totally awesome to blow that shit up" quotes (a closer paraphrase than you might imagine).

The majority of the operations described herein were embarrassing failures, with these guys just shooting up whole towns, killing hostages they're trying to rescue, and then covering for their failures badly. Here's one from the Rangers, after they shot an Afghan civilian and his teenage son, then several more relatives including two pregnant women:

"...the surviving family members later accused the JSOC troops of trying to hide evidence of what happened by digging bullets from the women's bodies with knives. ISAF headquarters put out a series of erroneous*** reports that said that the men killed had been insurgents and that the women were victims of "honor killings" by "insurgents...the affair came to a bizarre conclusion when, in an extraordinary scene, [USSOCOM Commander] McRaven himself, accompanied by a large retinue of US and Afghan troops showed up to the family's home in Gardez with a sheep he was ready to sacrifice in ritualistic apology".

Nice!!

***Do you see how Naylor described that ISAF report as "erroneous" though? As opposed to "factitious", "fabricated"..."utter lies"...

When they do succeed, as in, "we successfully killed the target(s) we were supposed to kill", it's dubious if that ever actually results in stabilizing the region, anyway, right?

https://www.amnestyusa.org/files/left...
Here's a better-written report of wrongdoings if you feel like crying for a very, very long time.

ENDURING FREEDOM! I hate everything.

[Caleb Deck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very technical and over my head for most of the book. The last 30% or so was more narrative as to JSOC’s missions and really enjoyable!

[Emylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good overview of JSOC-it’s evolution and it’s role in the war on terror. I plan on raiding the bibliography because there is so much Id like to follow up on.

[Charlotte Carstens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Even if you were a military expert who knew all the Special Operations / Department of Defense acronyms going into this book, you would have had a hard time following this book. It is not well structured, jumping from place to place geographically; it is not in chronological order, either. Naylor could have at least explained his reasons for ordering it the way he did to capture a general "arc" of the history, but fails to do so. Additionally, the style of writing seemed to jump around depending on the context - the "blow-by-blows" of certain missions (hostage rescues, etc.) was indeed exciting to read about, but they felt out-of-place given just how vividly described they were. Nevertheless, I did learn a lot. In short, if you don't mind the utter slog, the book might be worth it.

[Medusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, and often troubling, book that does just what it says, in a clear-eyed and unflinching manner- offers an operational and organizational history of JSOC. I learned a great deal about its origins, operation, and organization - especially instructive were discussions of operations that were planned, but never executed. There’s also some interesting discussion of recent operations outside of Afghanistan and Iraq.

What I find troubling, though, is that I was left with a sense of both the incredible capabilities of JSOC forces and the at times unchecked arrogance and hubris of those forces and of the government entities who choose to deploy them. Then there is stuff like certain JSOC forces casually and habitually being referred to internally as “The Army of Northern Virginia,” aka an actually treasonous army raised against the United States by the Confederacy which warred with her. Some of these JSOC forces have been involved with torture and mistreatment of prisoners, and more than once operators quoted in the book have cavalier attitudes toward, hey, if we knocked down some wrong doors, oh well.

Side note - I think this book was also the occasion of some inferences on my part about the relationship between the GWOT and forces who have been in it coming into law enforcement - really seeing the way in which that cross pollination is occurring, and understanding why policing has taken the shape it has in the last 20 years.

The capabilities possessed by the United States can be fearsome. It is necessary that she develop and maintain a real sense of conscience about their use, and if you’re like me, you’ll finish this book wondering how much that conscience have eroded and what checks are in place to prevent further erosion.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

An impressive amount of research. This guy clearly had amazing sources. But this wealth of information is also the book's downfall. It's Too. Damn. Long. Couldn't see the forest because there were just too many flipping trees. In particular, a mind-numbing amount of unnecessary tactical detail. This guy would benefit from a master class with Mark Bowden, who writes about SOF issues with much greater finesse.

Highlights/bright spots include interesting details on the UBL raid, specifically the helos and how their vulnerabilities had been identified beforehand. Also more insights into the Capt Phillips rescue than appear in accounts like No Easy Day.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book that is a must read for anyone interested in the history of US Special Forces, especially Tier One SOF, or in the GWOT.
Other reviews cover every aspect of the book including my only complaint which is just a concern that too many details are given that can be used against JSOC by our enemies or even by the press and others in the US that would want to limit the kinds of missions it undertakes, increase external meddling or otherwise use the information against it and their missions.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was solid and Scott Naylor thoroughly researched the Special Operations history - through 2014. What I felt was missing was an analysis of the value of special operations. What became apparent to me was our investment in war has not had the effect that I would want - essentially a global decline in radical Islam. While Relentless Strike clearly illustrates that our capabilities have increased tremendously, it also shows that our enemies continue to multiply.

[Nathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very dry and joyless step by step history of special forces operations from 9/11 onward. Which were very few, as there were very few leads to go on. The book is just so clinical and boring, giving by by step reenactments of battles. There are some interesting parts, but they are the diamonds in the rough.

[Yong Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Sean Naylor's Relentless Strike, a JSOC history. An organization born of failure, redemption came from relentless dedication to craft.

[C Teahouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is more of a compilation of (better) books than anything new or definitive

[Sashank Mohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

From its electrifying inception to activities, operations and politics which no spec ops admirer (myself included) ever knew... Sean Naylor delivers an absolute masterpiece with Relentless Strike.

The fact that Naylor could uncover so much about perhaps the most secretive organisation (which once claimed that 80% of its exploits are still classified) in military history is a testament of his audacity, skill and his ability to craft a story which turns into a high-octane blow-by-blow account before you know it.

From a spec ops buff's standpoint... it's an absolute treat. I have been waiting for a comprehensive account of JSOC for years and this book was where all those years of curiosity and 'relentless' pursuits for info on the organisation's history came to a beautiful end.

Complete accounts of near misses, close shaves, devastating losses, legendary operations and heroic exploits of Navy SEALs and Delta Force operators in theatres such as Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan and those unknown (which I'll leave you to discover) have been covered in scintillating fashion.

For those looking to finish this in a day or a week... beware. This book is amazingly heavy with acronyms and phrases that are exclusive to the world of special operations.

For those who've been waiting long and hard for this book just like I did... it's one that you'll hold high for years to come.

[Foxtrot · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Glimpse into the Shadows: Understanding JSOC's Evolution in "Relentless Strike"



“Relentless Strike” by Sean Naylor offers an intriguing, detailed account of the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) and its evolution into an impactful military force. With an analytical eye, Naylor explores the colorful personalities and strategic decisions that shaped JSOC, delving into both triumphs and failures.

One of the most captivating elements of the book is the narrative surrounding General McChrystal, a figure pivotal to JSOC's development. His strategies, leadership style, and anecdotes shed light on both his character and the intricate workings within the military hierarchy.

As a blend of military history, strategy, character study, and raw anecdotes, “Relentless Strike” provides a comprehensive look into the dynamic world of JSOC. It's an essential read for those interested in the behind-the-scenes maneuvers that shaped modern special operations. Whether you are fascinated by the "most-wanted" playing cards created for Saddam Hussein's regime or the collaborative efforts between different military units, Naylor’s storytelling is bound to engage and enlighten.

[Roy McCullough · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a surprising book in many respects. First, it is a surprisingly well-written and well-researched account of the history of JSOC as it evolved from being one of the most shadowy and secretive organizations in the United States military to being the lead organization for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas around the globe (with all the front-page visibility, increased resources, and organizational growth that entailed). It is also surprising that the author was able to convince so many members of some of the military’s most elite units – Seal Team 6, Delta Force, the 75th Ranger Regiment, as well as other lesser-known entities – to sit down for what appear to have been lengthy and candid interviews. Finally, it is surprising to see how much of the text appears to have survived the rigorous gauntlet of DoD’s prepublication review process. As a result of these and other surprises, Naylor has produced an exciting and informative read that will likely be eye-opening for many.

[Gregory Stark · Rating 3 out of 5]

4 stars for interesting information and deep research, 3 stars for the patchy quality of the writing itself. As someone too young to really know much about the beginnings of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there was a lot of insightful history here. My main takeaway from both conflicts was that the effort and blood of so many incredibly talented and capable Americans was totally wasted for years, bogged down fighting Iraqi insurgents and Afghan Taliban. Learning the chronological series of events in both places has made me even more certain of my general understanding that most of the time we spent in both places was a wasted effort to modernize/“improve” societies that just were not interested in that.
The only real consolation is the beautifully efficient tactical machine that was honed there has since been employed in much more strategically beneficial ways in a truly global “Global War On Terror”. People who wish to do Americans harm anywhere in the world have good reason to fear the good people of JSOC.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read this book, I wondered how the author was able to reveal some of the information which I would expect to still be classified. I knew very little about the history of JSOC, but had a great deal of familiarity with the incidents.

Some parts of the book do get a little hard to follow because of name changes and so many people involved. I, however, loved already being familiar with just about every incident and then with the new details being able to quote Paul Harvey because now I knew the rest of the story.

The actions in Afghanistan for Part 2 dragged a little because it seemed bogged down with too many details. When McChrystal and Flynn entered the picture in Part 3, the pace really picked up. Part 4 included the most recent incidents, and in some cases you could tell that some information was lacking due to the classified nature and only a short time having passed.

Overall this was a well-researched history that read like an action book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly comprehensive organizational history of JSOC and its rapid expansion during the Iraq and Afghan wars. McChrystal's drive for high-tempo network targeting / intelligence exploitation operations in Iraq and the broader adoption of that model forms the core of the book. Special operations forces activities in both those theaters have been fairly well covered in other books, but I found this helpful as a single source overview and helps to connect and explain the frequently (deliberately) confusing structure of the various task forces and units and how they relate to one another. Naylor seems quite well-sourced on the internal command politics of these organizations as well, although interactions with other elements of the military or intelligence services are perhaps less fleshed out, and books like "Way of the Knife" offer more of the view from the national political leadership perspective. But on the whole very useful for trying to get a handle on contemporary SOF.

[Am · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling and interesting history, obviously with much attributed to sources that won't be named, must be taken with a grain of salt. However, the author seems to have done substantial research and commands the terminology with precision and detail.

The challenge is always how to organize a historical telling, and while it is largely chronological, in the post-9/11 war on terror portions, he covers story arcs based on regions and targets, sometimes covering a decade or more before abruptly changing to a new story arc and reverting back to the early 2000s. It occasionally was jarring to have just finished a chapter in 2012, and then be back to 2004 in a different country, for example.

Overall still easy to follow and very enjoyable and enlightening history, with many details on the personalities and leaders that crafted and shaped the organization over time.

[Chad Chasteen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relentless Gossip

Interesting — and disappointing.

Relentless Strike is well worth the read for anyone interested in JSOC given the vivid detail of the brave teams committed to the worldwide manhunt for terrorists, insurgents and foreign fighters after 9/11, but the biased, character attacks on senior leaders, such as Dell Dailey and Bill McRaven, compromised the value.

Clearly, Mr. Naylor combed sources that violated their oaths by sharing classified, need to know information with the world, which is alarming, while openly criticizing the leaders responsible for everything that the unit did or failed to do.

The criticisms come across as petty, below the belt punches, especially for a book focused on ‘history.’

[Dameon Launert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot. How much? I'm a relatively slow reader, but I devoured all 440 pages in only four days.

The book was informative and exciting. If I could relive my life as many times as I desire, I would pursue a career with JSOC a good number of them.

The author seemed fair, sharing multiple versions of stories or opinions where necessary and sometimes including biting critique of decisions.

Included were quite a few names of individuals and organizations that would have been more difficult to keep track of, except for the fact that the author often reminded the reader who or what they were. I found that helpful, but I wonder when authors will start including an appendix summarizing such.

[Brad Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of the JSOC. I found most of the details and missions to be a compilation of stories that had already made the news. The only exception, to me anyway, was the detail in which JSOC took out Anwar al-Awlaki--not sure if this had been made public knowledge yet or not, or if it matters at this point.

The segment dealing with General Stanley McChrystal is very enlightening and very flattering to him. His successor, Admiral McRaven, on the other hand, doesn't come out near as well as too much of a micro manager and one who didn't listen to his people.

Overall, an excellent read.