Terri’s Reviews > Beyond Hell and Back: How America's Special Operations Forces Became the World's Greatest Fighting Unit > Status Update

ha Ha.... NOT!

Not the greatest you mean? Ah..yeah..I agree. Subtitle is a little misleading! :D

There are many elite forces up there, that quietly go about getting the job done without all the Hoohah & fanfare that the US special forces seem to enjoy (self-congratulate I mean by that) but Oh so often end in spectacular failure & there's been a few..... ;)

They even make films about them but mostly get the endings wrong too! :D

There well equipment thou' I'll give them that.

"By strength and guile" rate quite highly.

There is no 'Greatest'. That's my issue with the subtitle. The US are only 'one of the greatest'. They share that title with other fighting units from other countries. :)

I would certainly add our Aussie SAS, and even some of our Commando units, to the list of the greatest SOF in the world and I know that plenty of US SF guys would say that too.

I wouldnt have mentioned the SAS tbh as they at times have become quite public too.

Many of the missions we dont get to hear about especially British forces over the years. GS9 & Israeli commando units were very highly rated in the plane hijack decades & the SBS performed deeds in the Falklands & other regions & they're numerous other forces to mention & thats why I have a problem when I see a title of a book thus esp when you can rattle of numerous spectacular failures which suggest otherwise. And American forces are quite vociferous, gung-ho is a term I would use, with affection of course :D

Sceadugenga wrote: "I think this is a relatively recent phenomenon, back in my day they were a lot more low-key. With all the film hype of the late '80's and '90's coupled with 9/11 it mushroomed."

fair comment.

I don't think an SF unit's greatness should be graded only on fails and success. Too many factors can turn a brilliant plan into a fizzer. Nor should they be judged solely on their own in-country performances.
To me their greatness comes from many facets...evasive ability, trustworthiness, fieldcraft, technical skill, weapons and combat ability, ability to work within and beside other military units from any country, ability to be self dependent (survival, medical, blending), ability to adapt to any climate or environ...etc etc etc.. takes more than an ability to sneak around in the dark, track a prey and kick in a door to be one of the greatest. In my opinion. Some of the Units mentioned above wouldn't know what the hell to do in white out, cold environments or thin air. Likewise, some would be like aimless schoolgirls if dropped in humid, high rainfall, tropical jungle environments.

I find the title very misleading, because many of the US special forces are made of up of specialised folk from other countries. Not just a few Canadian snipers spending time with the units down south. So a bit of hubris methinks to use a title thus.

As we all know, the practice of sharing specialities isn't exclusive to the US.

Sceadugenga wrote: "My problem with the title is the use of the term "fighting unit" (whether greatest or not fills discussion boards on other sites) many of the most "hard-core" special operations units are intelligence-gathering in nature and contact with the enemy is to be avoided at all costs (in my unit we used to say if we had to fire our weapons something went wrong.) "

Too true that. All my military friends say the same.

I get the feeling that the sub title may have been a publishers choice more than the authors. The writing within this book does not reflect the sensationalism of the title. I expect the sub title has even made this book less popular than it should have been.
If I were to make a call on the sub title, I would say the publisher wanted to target the American audience more than an International one. Which did it a disservice. (I may end up just reiterating all this in my review lol).

The rest of the world is constantly rolling its eyes everytime an American says that 'America is the greatest country in the world'.
We all get sick of hearing how America is the best at everything. The greatest of all. Better than everyone else. (granted, the US is the greatest in the world at dessert pies. I'll give them that) :)
This sub title plays to that all too familiar American sentiment about being the greatest in the world.
The author's writing the book do not act like they think that way at all.