lol this book has a random name drop of a “Master Sgt. Jefferson Davis” that gets no explanation or acknowledgement from the author.

An absolutely ghoulish artifact that I couldn’t help but read as insidious where it crept beyond the objective. Constant references to intense and embroiled political catastrophes that are glossed over by the author as easily justified. What’s worse is there are frequent quotes from the operators involved in these situations that show they clearly have a more nuanced and rich understanding than the author of what’s going on and have considered the consequences and implications at greater length. The author absolves any wrongdoing or culpability in a way that seems to belittle what the actual people involved felt.

A RAND analyst unsurprisingly values the consultant-style structure of the Special Forces and its small team high efficiency. Through this whole book we’re shown how the SF develops a deep understanding of the political and social machinations of societies to which they’re introduced, but little is made of the follow-up in these countries or the purpose of this regime-shifting offensive policy. Never is the question asked whether what can be learned by US citizens about a country’s political milieu is intricate enough to drive the country effectively. One thing that becomes clear though, is the distillation of what these SF members report up the civilian chain until abstract simplifications of very real and organic shaped problems become all that is understood in Washington of real human endeavors in real places with real complex problems. McKinsey’s model becomes very clear as we see countries suffering fates like companies gobbled up by private equity.

The book was cool when it was in the soldiers’ own words and when describing nearly word-for-word their tactics, training, and mentality. Anything extrapolated beyond that left me feeling nauseous.