https://www.amazon.com/Special-Force.../dp/161200444X

Special Forces Berlin: Clandestine Cold War Operations of the US Army's Elite, 1956–1990

The author, James Stejskal, was the right man to author this book. He writes in an honest, straight speaking style that effectively captures his reflections on a unit he was very proud of. In the book he demonstrates the potential value of UW, while avoiding the recent hype associated with UW as the answer to all our national security woes. He explains what talents his peers had, the UW mission they were originally focused on, and why his unit was pulled in many directions that frequently distracted them from their UW skills, but nonetheless were appropriate missions based on the threat and they way the U.S. planned to fight the war in Europe after the 2d Off-Set Strategy, where Strategic (now Special) Recon became a more valuable role for SF based on the conventional thinking that dominated the Army.

For those in SF, at least during the 70s and 80s, they'll be familiar with parts of this story, yet they'll learn from and appreciate the personal insights of the SF soldiers as their mission evolved over time, but until the Wall fell, they always retained to varying degrees their skills and readiness to execute their UW missions. SF readers will also appreciate the various missions SF was pulled into based on changes in the operational environment. The book reinforced my view, that the bedrock mindset that makes SF unique is UW, and that mindset and the wide range of skills that go with it that make SF one of the more adaptable and effective forces in the military.

Instead of the current army UW doctrinal nonsense that is all the rage in some circles, where doctrine writers try to overly define (versus describe) UW, and then seek to apply a doctrinal template to today's challenges. SF soldiers in Berlin, nor SF soldiers in the field today, pretty much ignored these empty academic debates and adapted their skills to the problem at hand.

Furthermore, UW during this time frame included unilateral Special Forces activities focused on sabotage and psychological warfare activities. Not everything SF does needs to be with or through partners as this book clearly illustrates. It is probably fair to day there is an ideal form of UW where SF operates through indigenous personnel organized into an underground, auxiliary, and guerrilla force(s). That has happened in the past, and will likely happen again in the future, but it won't be the norm. SF brings a wide range of UW options to support the norm.

While it may seem bizarre to readers today that the Special Forces Berlin Unit was planning to hit strategic targets that the Air Force was also planning to hit, and neither unit was aware of the conflict. However, this was before we had the joint doctrine we enjoy today. Furthermore, UW was highly compartmented for good reason, but there significant risks if it is overly compartmented. A lot of these problems have been fixed since the Goldwater-Nichols Act.

From a Department of Defense perspective, we still have major gaps in our education of the entire force. At best, most conventional force officers may get exposed to the definition of UW, and that USSOCOM is the lead for this in the military (further pushed down to USASOC). That doesn't help them at the higher command level identify opportunities for UW, or integrate UW into their plans. It still largely a matter of SOF planners suggesting add ons to existing plans after the base plan has been approved. Again, new doctrine, additional education, will help alleviate this short fall, but it will take a generation to make incorporating UW and even the large umbrella IW a norm within DoD planning.

Another wart exposed was the lack of a dedicated OPSEC plan and the ability of military to support it, but that was also fixed later in the organization's existence.

I was surprised and pleased to see that the Det's mission in Iran to support the hostage rescue was declassified, and the additional details of that mission in the book were helpful for me to piece together the rest of the story. It demonstrated how these members combined UW and CT skills.

Perhaps the most valuable part of the book, especially for young soldiers today, was the numerous examples of creative (or unconventional) approaches for accomplishing their missions, whether it was emplacing a cache, or penetrating a target.

Overall a fun and productive read.