Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces.
By Linda Robinson. New York: PublicAffairs, 2004.
Masters of Chaos: The Secret History of the Special Forces opens a window into the little-known military operations of U.S. Special Forces. This has never been done before in such detail, as so many of their unconventional and intelligence operations have been highly classified matters impossible to report.
Linda Robinson, a senior writer for U.S. News and World Report, was granted access by the Army into the secret world of Special Forces. She has made the most of this opportunity to conduct interviews with many commanders and senior noncommissioned officers over a three year period. Robinson gives us a dramatic view of unconventional warfare through the eyes of those skilled warriors. Moreover, Robinson makes herself invisible; the soldiers talk as if they were speaking directly to the reader.
This account takes us with Special Forces from 1989 in Panama to recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The author gives us a close view of the many and varied Special Forces operations during this period of time: peacekeeping actions in Panama; counterinsurgency in El Salvador; chasing Somali warlords; operations in Afghanistan and Iraq; training and leading Kurdish forces in action; and conducting skilled reconnaissance and intelligence gathering in every one of these military operations.
Readers also gain a good sense of the varied skills Special Forces soldiers must have: an intimate knowledge of all U.S. weapons and many types of foreign arms; a command of conventional and improvised demolitions; a working knowledge of uncommon foreign languages and even of their dialects; and, most importantly, the ability to work in a hostile area or unforgiving terrain, be able to operate there independently, and to improvise as needed. We can see that their achievements come in part from the intense training they have all received, but also from the character of the men themselves who have chosen this demanding duty.
One very good example of their abilities in action was given by those Special Forces teams in Afghanistan who led local Afghan troops in combat, giving these units a great striking force by being able to call in precision air fire strikes on Taliban and al Qaeda forces. Another instance was in Iraq, when a Special Forces unit with only a small body of Kurdish militia was able to hold against a much larger number of Iraqi regular troops.
Of course, this book was not written for military professional, but for general readers. Robinson does not get into the details of staff planning, operations orders, logistics, after-action reports, or other such details that the professional soldier might wish to see in order to gain an in-depth picture of the operation. Robinson is more concerned with the story part, making the soldiers come alive in the telling of their tales. She rarely fails to include the color of their eyes and hair, or to give some details of family life, so as to personalize the soldier in her tales.
There are some trifling errors, such as saying throughout “The” Special Forces, contrary to customary usage. The first illustration in the books shows a poster of the typical Special Forces sergeant, but he is wearing an Expert Infantry Badge, rather than the Combat Infantry Badge, which it would be virtually impossible for an Special Forces soldier to lack.
Yet these are minor errors. What the author has set out to do, and which she has indeed done very well, is to tell the story of the men in Special Forces in action in the field. She shows the variety of challenges they must face, their ability to work with foreign forces anywhere, and their readiness to innovate in quick response to any situation. Linda Robinson very clearly shows that she considers these soldiers indeed to be “Special,” and it would be very hard for any reader not to share her enthusiasm.
Nicholas Sellers
Radnor, PA
