Hunting al Qaeda: A Take-No-Prisoners Account of Terror, Adventure, and Disillusionment

by Anonymous

Active-duty special forces units tend to look down their noses at National Guard special forces, calling them the “summer help.” But the men of Beast 85 were much more than summer help. They were experienced, highly qualified Green Berets in every sense of the term, with the kind of exceptional skill and insight necessary to fight an unconventional war. They were anxious to prove themselves in Afghanistan. High adventure, heavy combat, but in the end, these Green Berets were left disillusioned by what might have been as overly cautious military and CIA superiors let Al Qaeda slip through their fingers.

Genres: Military Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 29, 2005

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 2 out of 5]

So - I have mixed opinions about this book. As a former officer in the U.S. Army, I recognize the people and tone of this book, and not for the best. The "we know best what's going on, we don't need anyone telling us what to do, we're the best, every one else is ate up, we're the best unit and no stinking rules are going to keep us from doing our mission" attitude is certainly not rare to encounter in the Army, and the military writ large. I think this book suffers from its informality, changing perspectives (is it first person or third person?), and not knowing whether it's speaking to non-military or a military audience. I also think this book could have had a second pass with its editor - at times, it is as if each chapter is starting all over again -- introducing people we've already met, explaining abbreviations it didn't explain for three chapters, and deciding whether it's going to explain all the terms for a non-military audience or cut down on all the abbreviations (count how many times "FOB" is used). All that said, it was an interesting look at one Special Forces Group's experience in Afghanistan -- for anyone interested in that theater of operations, I would still recommend this book. But if you are looking for a general 21st century U.S. military operations book, I would give this one a pass. I think the soldiers obviously are intelligent and brave, and they certainly deserve praise for the HVT (high value targets) they captured. But I also think the "we're the only ones who want to take the fight to the Taliban/al-Qaeda" is tone-deaf to the greater OEF mission. They may know more on the ground, but what is the actually strategic mission? If it's create a stable government and trained military to prevent that country from remaining a reliable base of operations for al-Qaeda, then maybe different missions are required.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Beast 85 (call sign for Special Forces A-team) conducted operations under the label of 'route reconnaissance' and 'area assessment' for about a month and a half, and they became quite successful, both at catching the Taliban snd al Qaeda operatives and their equipment, and at flying below the CJSOTF radar screen. By fudging the aggressive and overly restrictive guidelines set up by the clowns at Bagram, which would otherwise have delayed their missions, they managed to go out on 45 missions, capture three high-value targets, and destroy tens of thousands of pounds of ammunition." (pages 186-187) (CJSOTF = Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force)

"What really made Beast 85 so successful was our ability to think outside the box, to focus on the mission, and to aggressively pursue the enemy regardless of the obstacles, including the insane administrative burdens placed on us by our own headquarters." (pages 238-239)