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Rating: 
Summary: Good insight
Review: Waller gives good information in the book which covers too wide of a topic for specifics. I wish he would have included the Marine Force Recon and PJ's or CCT's to make it more complete. But he did a good job on those that he did. He makes valid points about their training and correlating it back to their combat roles.
Rating: 
Summary: Commandos goes "above and beyond"
Review: Commandos is the most in-depth and accurate book about special operations that I have ever read. It is refreshing, and surprising, to see this subject openly addressed, giving hard-earned credit to the men who have worked their tails off to become the absolute best, in the service of their country, while allowing uninitiated readers a realistic glimpse into a mysterious world. I don't claim to personally be completely knowledgeable about this field, but I have worked in the special ops community for a dozen years, in a support role. Based on my knowledge, I can say with confidence that Waller is right on target. I whole-heartedly recommend this book to anyone seriously interested in elite military forces. I also recommend Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down, which deals specifically with the 1993 Task Force Ranger raid in Mogadishu, Somalia.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic, but incomplete
Review: I gave this book four stars because it did not include other intresting units such as US Airborne Rangers, PJ's, and CCT's. The chapter on Robin Sage was intresting because not alot is written about SF training. I am a "pro" Army person, but I have to give it to the SEAL's, they are a tough and tight knit group that is ready to Jump, Dive, March into action at any time. The chapter on their training was very good. The part I was most intrested in was the chapter on the SF missions during Desert Sheild/Storm. It was very intresting to see how they prepare for clandestine operations. Even though it did not highlight my favorite SOF (Rangers), it was a VERY well written book. HARD TO PUT DOWN, A MUST BUY!
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK FOR BEGINNERS
Review: I HAVE READ MUCH ABOUT SPECIAL FORCES AND TALKED TO MANY PEOPLE. I HAVE TO SAY THAT IT WAS A BIT GENERAL. BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN BY A JOURNALIST IT ISN'T REAL SPECIFIC. IF YOU HAVE NO OR LIMITED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT U.S. SPECIAL FORCES THEN THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK. EVEN WITH MY KNOWLEDGE OF THEM I STILL LEARNED A FEW THINGS ABOUT SPECIAL FORCES.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK FOR BEGINNERS
Review: I HAVE READ MUCH ABOUT SPECIAL FORCES AND TALKED TO MANY PEOPLE. I HAVE TO SAY THAT IT WAS A BIT GENERAL. BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN BY A JOURNALIST IT ISN'T REAL SPECIFIC. IF YOU HAVE NO OR LIMITED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT U.S. SPECIAL FORCES THEN THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK. EVEN WITH MY KNOWLEDGE OF THEM I STILL LEARNED A FEW THINGS ABOUT SPECIAL FORCES.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: I read this book a few years ago and would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone intersted in the US Special Forces. Douglas Waller puts you right into the heart of the action as if you were right there standing side by side America's elite soldiers. The prologue is a great introduction to the book and recalls a botched Special Forces (Green Beret) mission during Desert Storm that--instead of resulting in catastrophe--showed how brightly a compromised A-Team shined against incredible odds. The rest of the book is just as good. This is one of the best books I've read on US Special Forces. Read it now!
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: I read this book in July of 2002, so the information is 7 years old. Which is really the problem with this book. While the information was probably very current in 1995, it was very outdated for 2002. The information was interesting, and there was a lot of information I didn't know. My last knock against the book is that the author is a journalist, and it is very obvious in the book; as specific parts are sensationalized when they didn't need to be. Overall a decent book, but If you're looking for a book on Spec Ops, there are much much better books out there.
Rating:
Summary: Great book . . . except for the Air Force section!
Review: The majority of the book is awesome; highly readable and informative. The chapter on the Navy SEALs' Hell Week was truly harrowing, and the description of the Robin Sage exercise for the Green Beret trainees was also very engrossing. The one chapter that ruins the book for me, and drops my rating from 5 stars to 3 is the chapter on USAF Spec Ops. The sister services special operators are depicted for the hard-core ground-pounding "shooters and looters" (as Dick Marcinko might say) in lengthy and substantive prose, yet the chapter on the Air Force operators is the thinnest one in the book, and merely describes a helicopter flight??? Excuse me, but it's stuff like this that continues to teach the public the incorrect notion that all the USAF does is fly. Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for our SpecOps chopper pilots (one of my best friends is a Pave Hawk pilot, and a former acquaintance of mine flies Pave Lows), but our special operators function as more than mere aerial bus drivers for the "killers" from the Rangers, SEALs, Delta Force, et al. We have our own ground-pounding killers, namely--HOOYAH!!--Combat Controllers (CCTs) and Pararescue Jumpers (PJs). CCT and PJ candidates go through Indoc Week, a period of physical and mental privation that is very much on a par with Hell Week at BUD/S school. Yet these guys get a mere one-sentence mention in Mr. Waller's book, and this does them a tremendous disservice.
Rating:
Summary: I was there
Review: This book is great. I was actually at Robin Sage while Mr. Waller was writing this book. I was the young private the colonel had designated as the guerrilla camp witch doctor. Robin Sage was the most exciting thing I had ever done while in the Army. I actually went to 2 Robin Sages, this being the first and another in the Fall of 1993. When I picked this book up and saw the pictures of the team I said, "I know these guys" and I bought it. This is the first time I read a book that writes about something I played a small part in. Reading this book brought back many memories that I can now literaly share with my kids. If you like the military, buy this book.
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