This book is a very exciting and well written account of the author's (Fred Pushies) experiences as an author and photographer specializing in Military Special Operations Forces subjects. I believe Fed's purpose for writing this book was to give readers an idea of what life is like as a soldier of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, especially the Close Air Support (CAS). There are many books out there that describe the battles and military strategy but this book is different because it focuses on the soldiers themselves and what is happening in their lives, as well as the operations. Throughout the book Fred tries to give the reader an understanding of how large and how critically important, and brave!) the special forces are, from both offensive and defensive perspectives.
This book is likely written for people who already have some knowledge experience in the armed forces because the author uses a lot of acronyms and military terms that most civilians would not know.Before I started reading the book my expectations were very high, since I was already thinking about a career in the Air Force, and possibly special forces. The first thing I noticed was that the book had an attractive cover, recognizing the picture of an AC-130. When I then I noticed that the author has military background, I knew that whatever he wrote about was going to be as accurately portrayed as possible. However, once I started reading the book my expectations dwindled a bit because the first few pages are all a reference to just about every acronym that Fred uses throughout the entire book. Although I guess these are probably helpful to people who may not know them, I thought they should be put in the back of the book.
Once I got into the book I realized that it was going to be be very interesting, as it was made up of many great stories that are written with a sense of humor even when the topics are a bit grim. The book is broken up into nineteen chapters, each of which is a different story about an operation or a battle that has taken place in the timeframe between Desert Storm and current conflicts in Iraq. One of the many interesting things that Fred informs us about throughout the book is the sheer stupidity of the Taliban and other related terrorist groups. In chapter four when he talks about operation Enduring Freedom, he portrays a scene where a group of U.S. soldiers were on a mission to take over an airfield in the middle east and when during a confrontation with a potentially hostile group of Taliban's one of the Taliban noticed that one of the U.S. soldiers was carrying the laser that guides bombs to their desired target he asked what the device was, the soldier told the Taliban that it was a vaporizer and that any man he shot with it would just melt. Well of course the Taliban believed him and surrendered the entire airfield the U.S. government.
Another thing that I thought was interesting was that a lot of times when you start talking about special forces and special operations, most of the important details are still classified (especially since this is such a recent topic). Therefore you have to use your immagination for some things, so in that way it makes the book eeven more fun and unpredictable.
Reading this book has made me even more excited to start my career in the Air Force. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in knowing more about the part played by the people who work in special forces, or likes to read true accounts of military battles and operations.
