 "A disappointing account of Delta" | 2007-12-24 |
| - Reviewed By zon_fiar |
The promise was always present, always ready to poke its head out and play peek-a-boo with the reader. Unfortunately it was never able to gain enough ground and become interesting to the reader. Beckwith's book can be broken down into three sections: Vietnam, Delta Initiation and Delta Organization.
The first section is a rather dull account of Beckwith's life in Vietnam. We get to see some of the details and descriptions of his exploits in Vietnam, but for the most part he doesn't really tell the reader much. The height of his Vietnam days are his rescue of a surrounded camp. Then it ends with Beckwith back in the States.
Section two drones on and on about how he was beating his head against a wall trying to get people within the army to recognize that there is a need for a Special Operations force such as Delta. We all know where this one ends, so no need for elaboration.
Section three is perhaps the most boring section. We finally get to see Delta Force come together. Will we get to hear about some of the details of their missions? No, in fact most of the latter half of the book is devoted to telling the day to day detail of what each officer and soldier was doing in order to maintain their training. So and so would wake up, blow up a wall, then do some running and push ups and then go and have a few beers. So and so would crunch the intel data and assess any threats, then he would brief the unit, and return to do some more data crunching before heading home early to get four hours of sleep, only to return the next day and start all over again. This could be interesting except for the fact that Beckwith does nothing but write about this for hundreds of pages. Finally, action, something to break up the monotony. We finally get to see a glimpse of Delta as it prepares to infiltrate Iran and free the hostages in the American Embassy. Some interesting detail here, but then it ends. Nothing really happened.
The book ends with nothing interesting being shared at all. If you discount the landing and subsequent take off in Iran then you are left with a Delta that did absolutely nothing except waste tax payer's dollars. Granted, Beckwith is still in the army, and perhaps they did do some missions that are still top secret and thus Beckwith couldn't talk about. Who really knows the circumstances? But not enough was talked about. Too much was talked about the set up and organization of Delta without showing what they could actually do.
Beckwith's writing is also quite horrible. Nothing about his writing made me want to read more. If you were to read it out loud I would imagine it would come out in a very monotone voice, with virtually no characterization. With Marcinko's Rogue Warrior you at least got to see and feel some of the action, to understand Marcinko's character and see it vividly within the words of his book. Not so here.
Because of the uniqueness of what Beckwith was writing on, as well as the fact that he might very well not have been able to write about other missions that could have been classified, I would give this an okay rating. I would certainly not recommend this book to others.
2.5 stars.
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 "Delta Force" | 2007-12-01 |
| - Reviewed By User: A25MKV6TGLW56X |
| Easy reading; interesting how a new unit has difficulty in coming of age in the armed forces; read this first then follow it up with "Inside Delta Force" which will give more information on what it took for an individual to function within the Unit. |
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 "Good book on the unit, but Haney's is better..." | 2007-06-27 |
| - Reviewed By kslaterl |
| I really enjoyed this book. It gives a great history of the formation of Delta Force, but if you are only going to read one book on the subject; INSIDE DELTA FORCE by Eric Haney is much better. That said, this book is a page-turner and well written. There's a bit of self-congratulation; but Beckwith was an impressive individual. |
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| "Not quite as good as Haney's book, but still good" | 2007-05-19 |
| - Reviewed By User: AC9YAVDPUQMDP |
| If I had not read Eric Haney's book "Inside Delta Force" before I read this one, I probably would have loved it. The inherent problem is that both books cover roughly the same time frame, with Beckwith's book beginning earlier (going back to Vietnam inspirations) and ending while Haney was still in Delta. Both books provide detailed coverage of Operation Eagle Claw, which can be a little redundant, but that's no one's fault really. What I liked about Beckwith's book was the understanding it gave about where the idea for Delta came from, what his operational credibility was, and the intense opposition he faced in birthing this elite unit. Some folks will be bored with the various political machinations at work, but I found it interesting to see how something like this comes to be. Less interesting to me was Beckwith's account of Selection and the like because he didn't have to go through it like Haney did. I'd definitely recommend this book, but if you only want to read ONE book on Delta, I'd recommend Haney's first. And while there is certainly some overlap in information between the two works, I read them back to back and still enjoyed them. |
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| "Delta Force: the Army's Elite Counterterrorist Unit" | 2007-05-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: ADM31RDYFIJ51 |
| The book was in excellant condition, arrived on time. |
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| "High Level Overview" | 2007-03-10 |
| - Reviewed By lodge2 |
A great story about the birth of Delta Force from the founder himself. Beckwith takes you from the original idea, based on his experience with the British Special Air Service (SAS), through their first mission (to free the hostages in Iran).
Because of his rank and the role he played in this story, you get a high level overview instead of the view from an operator on the ground (as in Eric Haney's book - Inside Delta Force). One item that was particularly interesting to me was the test (based on the SAS) they ran prior to their first real mission to determine if their operators would actually engage the terrorist. Although it was successful, they later decided to not use this test again and surmised that the British needed to determine if their operators would fire their weapons but the US needed to create rules on when to not fire their weapons. Not sure what that says about the two cultures, but it was interesting none the less.
Beckwith is definitely a strong personality who does not compromise. You learn much about the man and the government bureaucracy he fought for so many years. In the end, he was successful and we are a safer nation because of his efforts
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| "Page turner. Essential for Spec-ops library." | 2006-05-10 |
| - Reviewed By dmj64 |
| I first thought that this book would probably be a bit dull, since it didn't have a lot of combat experiences in it, but is mostly about the formation of Delta. But it's now one of my favorite reads. A real page-turner, it only took me a couple weeks to get through it. I admit that it's enjoyment is probably limited to those with a serious interest in special ops. It has an honest and candid tone that lacks the the egoism of Marzcinko's book about SEAL Six. If your interested in learning more about Delta, I also reccomend reading Eric Haney's book, and Blackhawk Down. All three are very interesting and informative books, that take you inside, are hard to put down, and inspire profound respect for those who serve their country in this capacity. |
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| "How to sell the Army a new idea" | 2006-05-08 |
| - Reviewed By tholzel |
"Delta Force" should be required reading for every ambitious careerist working for a large organization. Wearing camo fatigues or gray-flannel suit, this fine treatise tells the ambitious what it takes to get things done in a large organization--in this case, the largest organization-the U.S. Army. And what it takes is a very smart, relentlessly driven maverick, just what these organizations abhor. Maverick General Billy Mitchell was court-marshaled for proving to the Navy that one aircraft could take out the fleet's largest ship.
Col. Charlie Beckwith is that other maverick, famous for his vision, tenacity and executive drive. He recognized, as legions of far higher-ranked "planners" did not, that the U.S. military had a huge hole in its capabilities. That hole was how to deal quickly with terrorist and other small-unit irregular trouble-makers. The tortuous chain of command alone for SEALS and other Special Ops organizations prevents them for responding quickly to emergency situations, such as an aircraft high jacking, where every minute counts. And that same tortuous chain is also replete with know-it-all desk jockeys, anxious, willing and able to add their two cents worth of directives to an operation. By the time permission is received, the plan has become monstrous (with each branch of service jealously demanding a piece of the action), and it is far too late. The plane has either long since taken off or been blown-up and the hostages killed.
The book describes in fascinating detail the twists and turns Beckwith endured to start up the still secret Delta Force. It lists name, rank and serial number of the Generals who did everything in their power to prevent what they saw only as poaching on their hallowed turf, even as they refused to admit they could not possibly handle the tasks Delta set out to achieve. And what an inventory of skills the Delta boys developed. Primary among them is deadly accuracy with any firearm under any situation. Sound impossible? Not when you consider the time spent training in realistic live-fire situations. Hours, and days and months of repetition. (This super marksmanship probably explains why Delta Force dropped the .45-cal pistol from their inventory and switched to the less-deadly 9mm. Every shooter knows that nothing stops a man in his tracks like the wallop of a .45. But those shells are large and limit a pistol's capacity. With their incredible accuracy, any round passing through the eye socket of a perpetrator will get the job done. So they might as well use the smaller round and have more of them to shoot.
Some will gripe that this book proves the U.S. Military is an incompetent dinosaur with the reflexes of sloth in winter. But the subtext is that Beckwith did effect change. The military did listen, and the military did act. Delta Force exists now as-along with the British SAS from which it was copied-the finest small-unit antiterrorist force in the world.
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| "Absolutely must reading for anyone interested in military history!" | 2005-09-10 |
| - Reviewed By clarkkentii |
Col. Beckwith's account of the founding of America's elite Army commando unit is a classic that doesn't need my endorsement. The several dozen reviewers below can give you every point of view and opinion you might want if you're still undecided about the book.
I'm jumping in here to plug the books later written by one of the principals Beckwith describes in this account. One of his key lieutenants in creating Delta Force is described only as "Maj. Buckshot." Beckwith qualified this moniker as "a pseudonym" probably because then Maj. L.H. Burruss was still with the unit -- he eventually retired as its deputy commander.
Burruss has written four novels and an autobiographical account of his two duty tours in Vietnam as a young Special Forces officer fighting with the rapid-deployment teams known as Mike Force. In fact, "Mike Force" is the title of this account.
Of his novels, the only one that deals directly with Delta Force is "A Mission for Delta." It's a mature, sophisticated thriller set near the end of the Cold War, during the Reagan years.
A natural story teller and former English teacher, Burruss is a master craftsman with the language. He gives you not only the pleasure of a well-written tale, but one that's rooted in a career most men can only read about in novels.
Most of "Buckshot" Burruss' books are still in print and are available here. Check them out.
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| "A book written by a man who was before his time" | 2003-12-14 |
| - Reviewed By eridd5288 |
| To understand Charlie Beckwith and Delta Force, probably the best way to do that is to first understand the British SAS. Beckwith was a huge fan of the SAS, he got most of his ideas from the SAS and all in all had it not been for the SAS, there would have been no Delta. This book is a story that describes how Beckwith went thru a life changing experience when he underwent a Green Beret exchange tour with the British 22nd SAS Regiment in the early sixties. And then he came back to the USA and spent the rest of his Army career lobbying the Army bureaucracy to build a unit based on the SAS model. This lobbying effort was intensely personal and emotional for Beckwith and frequently involved frustration and disappointment. Beckwith describes his battles with the Army's conventional bureaucracy, which was powerful and all encompassing. But he also describes his frustrations with the Army's already established special forces of that era...the Green Berets and Ranger Battalions of the sixties and seventies. Beckwith describes how he got little to no support from the regular Army in establishing an SAS type unit, but also how the Green Berets and Ranger Battalions tried to block and stymie his efforts. Eventually, in the mid to late seventies Beckwith got his wish with the help of a handful of sympathetic, high ranking General officers. To build a truly unique special operations unit based exclusively on the British SAS model. It was neither Green Beret based nor Ranger Battalion based, although most of the early Delta operators were veterans of one of the two mentioned units. It was an American unit, but based on a foreign unit known as the SAS. This all occurred in the extremely anti-special forces political climate of the seventies...right after Vietnam. Beckwith's career ultimately culminated in the failed 1980 Iranian rescue mission. Which was a huge political disaster for the Carter administration. After which he retired from the Army and sort of faded away. He died in 1994. Its sad that Beckwith never got to see his life's hard work become fully appreciated after the 911 debacle. Beckwith was truly a futuristic thinker, an innovator and creative person. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the British SAS, Delta or for anyone who has an intense dislike for bureaucracy and the status quo. |
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