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The mother of all books on Spec Ops.McRaven's master thesis where he basically invents the principles of modern spec ops warfare.
A little dry for the casual reader, but an excellent source for anyone wanting to study and understand what a special operation is, who conducts them, and what makes them so special.
The most effective analysis of Special Operations Warfare that I have ever read. Another one of the books that sits on the shelf in my office.
First of all, this book is part narrative and part instruction manual for professional soldiers and their civilian counterparts. Raven set out to develop a methodology for evaluating special operations missions with an eye towards teaching planners of future operations.So, the narratives are interesting but the application of the methodology to each historical mission can be a bit dry and repetitive to the lay reader.I was certainly aware of each chapter's mission although not to the level of de...
Thoroughly researched and documented. This is an excellent series of case-studies of special operations from world war 2, vietnam and israeli hostage rescue. The author lays out 8 cases of well planned, practiced, and executed operations covering different venues of war and terrain. Through the different actions, he gives great analysis of the operations, how they came to be, the training and planning, the execution, then the analysis of the ops. We go through the ops with the personnel that pla...
Spec Ops is essentially an academic paper presented in a book format. Through 8 historical case studies, McRaven explores his theory of what makes modern special operations succeed. It is designed purely for the student of warfare as a discipline. A casual reader more interested in in-depth accounts of the historical events outlined would be better served with other books on the events in question that have more of a narrative focus. That said, McRaven achieves his stated goal of quantifying the...
Great Read!I've been a fan of military stories since I was a kid, and this book is among the best I've ever read. Not only are each of the stories interesting, but McRaven's analysis is enlightening and instructive. One can clearly see the influence of these Principles in the Abbottabad raid where bin Laden was finally put down.Highly recommend 10/10
Moved to gwern.net.
I rated this book 2 stars, but to be honest I only read the first 100 pages and then the last chapter 'Conclusions'. In my opinion the writing is not great, and the content is not as focused as I would like in a book of this type. The author gives a great deal of detail in the first 3 cases which I read, but not all of that detail is useful or even interesting. Perhaps I am the wrong reader for a book of this type, perhaps the intended audience is the group of people actively engaged in special
If You have studies Special Operations then this book will not likely bring you too much new information but it is worth a read. If you are a student of warfare and have little frame of reference for special ops in history, then I would suggest this book. There are certain principles of war and these principles can be used to advantage. Special Ops applies these certain principles in order to reduce what Clausewitz calls friction. The author explores and analyzes eight combat operations to deter...
“Spec Ops by William McRaven uses a case-study methodology for illustrating his six-principles of special operations. Most of the case studies used occurred in WWII, although he also includes one from Vietnam and one of a terrorist airplane hijacking involving Israeli citizens. In the case studies, McRaven analyzes in what ways the operations were successful, and in what ways the operations could have been improved.I would like to compare the raid on bin Laden's compound, which McRaven was the a...
Vice Admiral William McRaven is a bit of a legend in the Special Ops world. The current head of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been leading, planning and directing SEAL Team Ops since Jesus was playing fullback for Nazareth.Word on the street is he played a pretty key role in the death of Bin Laden. He may not have pulled the trigger but it was his command that planned and executed the Op. Panetta, former head of the CIA, is said to have handed Operation Neptune's Spear over to McRa...
Overall an interesting read from the angles of military history and from the point of view of theory development. The author states that "first and foremost a theory must have the power to explain" and it must also be timeless, it should not change with technology or philosophy. I should be able to explain success or failure in modern and historical operations. To summarize the book, the author, in the attainment of his masters degree, sought to develop a theory of special operations. In his vie...
