Reddit reviews Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice
We found 7 Reddit comments about Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
> Sounds like another Mad Dog,
The man is an insanely good as a leader.
This book of his is based on his Master's thesis, and is fantastic.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spec-Ops-Studies-Operations-Practice/dp/0891416005
The kind of things he does, is things like personally going and apologising to victims of a botched US raid.
https://abcnews.go.com/WN/Afghanistan/special-forces-apologize-afghan-civilian-deaths-sheep/story?id=10320603
>Presenting sheep is such a powerful form of requesting forgiveness that the father is now obligated not to take revenge, even though he has told reporters he wanted to become a suicide bomber.
I reckon his knife hand is just as lethal as Mad Dog's, you just won't see it coming.
You should read his thesis paper. Basically he's fucking crazy smart, charismatic, and highly experienced. Small wonder he's been in charge of JSOC and SOCOM.
free thesis: http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/1993/Jun/93Jun_McRaven.pdf (24 megs)
http://www.amazon.com/Spec-Ops-Studies-Operations-Practice/dp/0891416005
Before you touch any history, read the book that's the intellectual foundation for understanding special operations.. Adm McRaven, current SOCOM commander, wrote it as a Commander. The title seems hokey by current standards, but this is a very serious academic look into the subject.
BTW, the current competitive numbers for an NROTC mid to get a slot at BUD/S are 7:00/120/120/25/8:00. No shit.
There's an excellent treatment of this raid and several like it in the book "Spec Ops: Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice."[1]
The author of the book has a pretty interesting resume, too: "McRaven is credited for organizing and executing Operation Neptune's Spear, the special ops raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011."[2]
[1] www.amazon.com/Spec-Ops-Studies-Operations-Practice/dp/0891416005/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McRaven#Operation_Neptune.27s_Spear:_Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden
For those that are interested, Admiral McRaven literally wrote the book on this kind of raid.
It was to deny the dock for specifically the Tirpitz. Other ships could be serviced anywhere else. But Hitler had already ensured Tirpitz couldn't be used in the Atlantic by sending it North. From there, he couldn't get to the Atlantic without entering RAF bomber range, and the RAF had the ship under 24/7 surveillance waiting for just that opportunity.
https://www.amazon.ca/Spec-Ops-Studies-Operations-Practice/dp/0891416005
If you want to tell me you know more about this than Admiral McRaven, who interviewed people who were on both sides of all the raids he studied, you're going to have a hard time convincing me.
This is a pretty good book to have your troops read. It delves into logistics all the way back to 1500's and come up to WWII, covering Napoleon, Rommel, and even Patton.
My best friend read this book and recommended it. He works for DLA in logistics.
There are a number of other topics you could dive into. McRaven's essays from 1996 pretty much laid the groundwork for modern SO tactics, it'd be great for you to read through it, pose the situations to your men (change the aggressors and defenders/location/other details of course, so it seems like a new thing) and have them think critically and see what answers they come up with. Then have them read the book and see how the Commander of JSOC wanted to do it.
I think spending some time on history and perspective would be interesting too. Most people, be it military or civilian, American or otherwise, are pretty biased and limited in their World view, Americans moreso (in my opinion, but I'm nobody special). Having them discuss situations from opposite viewpoints can help broaden their understanding of other cultures and help them better understand how politics, tactics, and warfare changes from nation to nation.
A couple examples:
I don't know if you think those are good or bad, but they're just a few things I thought of off the top of my head. Not saying I agree or disagree with any of the points I've stated, but they are arguments I've heard or read in the past, and they are pretty multifaceted.