In this incredibly small book author managed to put as many information about JSOC as possible. We follow JSOC from the very start of War on Terror and its evolution to deadly and highly capable military command that it is today.

It is always interesting how basic tenets of combat get re-invented and then lost, and so on in cycles. This is what happened with JSOC - in a move very much like one taken by Israel, steps were made to make a nimble and deadly corps capable of striking wherever it is necessary. I mention Israel here because this country is in almost constant war footing with its neighbors from the very beginning and to be able to cope with it, Israel had to create force able to match the more numerous enemies. And this happened by combining all the intelligence and combat resources at the disposal of relatively small security force.

It takes a very capable commanders (generals Flynn and McChrystal) to break the inter-agency barriers and pursue the goal of creating small and versatile strike force. When they finally enabled the forces to share information and participate in combined operations JSOC started to grow and its special operations capabilities grew almost exponentially. They pretty soon became force multiplier and enabled the rest of deployed forces to fight more efficiently.

Author shows how rivalry remained but (hah, could not guess) on management level while on operational level things continued to flourish.

Final few chapters tackle the question of where is JSOC aiming for in the future. Heavy utilization in CT operations seem to be a sole focuse of the entire command. But in light of events after the book was published it is visible that JSOC certainly has place in the modern world. But with such a capable force extra level of care is required to avoid issues that happened in the past (1980's events described in excellent book "Secret Warriors", especially Iran Contra affair that blemished US SOCOM for decades).

I have to admit that I am slightly surprised by some of the comments where people are shocked by covert JSOC operations outside of Middle East (namely China). It is like being surprised by India's role in Sri Lanka conflict with Tamil's, or constant Pakistan's paramilitary operations in Punjab, or both Pakistan's and India's secret war with China, China's covert wars especially against ROC, or North/South Korea infiltrations, European stand behind armies, or [not so] secret war against narco cartels in Central and South America....... and so on and so on. I like it when people decide to think that nations love each other. There are only and there will be only alliances and these are always temporary (remember the CIA industrial espionage affair in France at the start of 90's). And forces used to combat these silent wars are forces exactly like JSOC.

Excellent book, highly recommended to everyone interested in military and special operations in particular. ( )

NOTE: I received a copy of the book from the publisher.

If you are looking for a Tom Clancy type of book with all kinds of action with Seal Team Six or Delta Force then this is not the book for you, but if you are interested in the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) this is a good book.

While this book does have how Seal Team Six killed OBL it mainly was about what equipment, units and the political decisions about it. It also has some accounts about other actions taken by JSOC forces but again little to no action but what was used, why the actions was taken and things like that. It also details how JSOC forces went from being considered a wild cowboy unit which no one wanted to work with yo being considered one of the best units out there.

It also talks about how JSOC is organized, what units are in it, what civilian forces and agencies are in it or associated with it. Who the commanders have been and what problems they are starting to have after so many deployments. All in all a good study of JSOC.

The main problem I had with the book and what kept it from getting 5 stars is the fact it is so short. It feels like it is a condensed study of JSOC, written for some government entity. Of course the fact that so much of what JSOC does and who and what is in it is classified, this may have been all he could publish. ( )

Well I coauthored it so my 5-stars are deeply suspect. ( )