SPECIAL MEN AND SPECIAL MISSIONS : Inside American Special Operations Forces 1945 to the Present by Nadel, Joel with J.R. Wright

London 1994, Greenhill, UK First edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6x9, VG /. VG condition, illus, notes, glossary, bibliog, index. ---------------------------------------------------- America's Army, Navy and Air Force have special operations components with an exciting history of high risk, high profile missions, revealed here through gripping, first-hand accounts. Details of some of the operations have never before been disclosed.Authentic oral accounts from special operations veterans, official after action reports and other sources provide the most detailed and complete history ever of the past half century of special operations, following the special operations components of the Army and Air Force and the Navy's Special Boat Units and SEAL platoons into Europe, Asia, the Caribbean Basin, Latin America and the Middle East.Army Special Forces teams travelled into the jungles of Vietnam to train indigenous tribesmen and conduct direct action missions against Viet Cong political and military structures. They targeted critical Cuban activities for attack by conventional forces before Grenada was invaded. During the Gulf War they served as Central Command advisors and instructors to allied Arab forces. US Air Force AC-130 Spectre special operations gunships were used with devastating effect against the North Vietnamese on the Ho Chi Minh trail in the 1960s, and in the 1990s over Iraq the advanced Spectre wreaked havoc against Iraqi fortified positions.Air Force special operations search and rescue crews risked capture and death both in Vietnam and Iraq to rescue pilots who had been brought down deep behind the lines. Special Boat Unit high-speed craft and Navy SEAL platoons conducted daring raids against hostile Vietnamese, Panamanian and Kuwaiti shores, carried out reconnaissance and infiltrated beach defences.Special Men and Special Missions is the first book to examine the historical development of the US Army, Navy and Air Force special operations forces in relation to each other. With the recent establishment of the United States Special Operations Command to synchronize the joint service special operations, and recent successful American special operations, a history of these organizations from the joint service perspective is essential to an understanding of the effectiveness of America's present special operations capabilities.