Grey wars: a contemporary history of U.S. special operations

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- 1 First Day at Headquarters -- 2 Commander's Introduction -- 3 The Tour -- 4 More Boots Yet to Come -- 5 America's Superheroes -- 6 Fourteen Minutes of Fame -- 7 Fallen Angel -- 8 Use of the Golden Spear -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index

This original and accessible book is a comprehensive, authoritative analysis of U.S. Special Operations. U.S. Special Operations Command trains and equips units to undertake select military activities, frequently high-risk missions, often for the purposes of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Since 9/11, impelled by an attack on U.S. soil, these forces have been a central instrument of America's military campaign - operating in about one hundred countries on any given day. This fight - neither hot war nor cold peace - was launched and executed as a new type of global war in 2001 and has since splintered into a spectrum of regional conflicts. The result are our nation's grey wars: hazy and lethal. This contemporary history, incorporating extensive interviews and archival research by security studies expert N. W. Collins, delves deeply into the transformation of these forces since 9/11.