Inside Delta Force

5 Responses to “Inside Delta Force”

1. R. Stanford says:

   September 20, 2010 at 10:22 am

   I received a book with library markings on it and stating that it belonged to a particular library. Is this stolen property? If not, and this was a legitimate buy from a library, the condition of stickers and library markings was not included in the book description prior to purchasing it. And was at the fee or a regular hardback book on amazon. This was a gift and I am VERY displeased.
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
2. Anonymous says:

   September 20, 2010 at 11:02 am

   SAS 1st, Delta 2nd…’nuf said!
   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
3. Anonymous says:

   September 20, 2010 at 12:40 pm

   The writer is a fantastic writer, the editor a fantastic editor, but the titled leader forgot his pledges to his comrades and to the military……enough said.
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
4. mechajutaro says:

   September 20, 2010 at 2:21 pm

   Don’t despair just yet, for Eric Haney’s writing is forcefully

   exciting and at times even hairaising(though not permanently in a excellent

   sense), the perfect companion for a 4-8 plane ride. An even mildly

   perceptive reader, but, will probably place this book with ling-

   ering doubts, and justifiably so. CSM Haney’s absense from Bec-

   kwith’s life tale is reasonable enough(there were too many guys

   in CAG for him to reasonably mention. Contrary to one reviewer,

   “Allen” was really the pseudonym for a sergeant identified by

   both Haney and Beckwith as a pointman during operation Eagle

   Claw, not Haney himself.), mention of Delta’s first succesfull oper-

   ation in Bangkok, conducted a year after the Tehran debacle and

   in which a hijacked airliner was wrested via the smooth liquadati-

   ion of all four terroists, lacking injury to the crew, is sorely absent,

   as is any mention of the Achilles Lauro fiasco, another successful-

   l resuce in Venezuela, and the unit’s role in the ultimately lethal

   hunt for Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Haney writes of De-

   lta subserviently from a counterrorism perspective as a matter of

   fact, with scant discussion of the operatives’ more prominent dutie-

   s(high-risk LRRP ops, cross-training with foreign units, Olympic se-

   curity details), and one would imagine that as the sole member of

   the JSOC to sport women, such a topic would be game for some

   heckling or veiled braggadios, but this was also rumor has it that to sun-

   dry a topic for Haney. The guy spells out copious times that he

   and his comrades were “in the dark”, yet for a unit who at the

   time of the leader’s service was only 70some strong, aren’t some

   of these omissions pretty glaring?

   Perhaps for filler’s sake the reader is as a replacement for offered my-

   riad half-baked cape and dagger tales, the most outrageous pe-

   rhaps being the assasination of a Delta trained CIA operative wor-

   king undercover as Honduran guerrilla leader(?!) which the CSM

   claims to have himself perpetrated, although the Laos section c-

   omes in at a close second; should anyone be inquisitive, Bo Gr-

   itz with the support of ISA(the U.S.’s answer to Israel’s Mistr’avim)

   did in fact raid the suspected facility, and establish themselves the

   dupes of urban legend. One hardly has to look farther than the

   book’s backjacket bio to sample leader Haney’s frequent use of

   loaded language, describing his current being as one spent “r-

   escuing kidnapped American children, negotiating the relief of

   American hostages(this ex- snakeater has rumor has it that thrown “To

   free the Oppressed” to the wind and is now all ears only on his

   own yard) and protecting CEOs and princes(nothing like mixed m-

   essages).”

   Perhaps most disturibing of all but, is this ex- count-

   terterror expert’s chalking up militant fundamentalism to a “Mus-

   lim attitude problem”; amusing will be the day when one of Eric

   Haney’s guest spots on the O’Reilly Factor is perturbed by a call-

   er who confronts both dudes with the news that pre-9/11 the most

   horrific terrorist act on U.S. soil was commited by American of

   Anglo-Irish extraction against additional Americans. In time, IDF may

   serve not as an “insider account”, but a curious relic to future so-

   ciology and linguistics students shiny upon the concept and

   meaning of the word “poser.”
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
5. Donald E. Zlotnik says:

   September 20, 2010 at 4:18 pm

   Haney and crew, et al; “Chargin’ Charlie” Beckwith and their “eluted” to tales of self-overdoing in “Delta” Force tend to bother me more than just a small bit.

   The Iranian FIASCO–was led by Colonel “Chargin’ Charlie” Beckwith (From Plei Me “fame” where he got his nickname. He was supposed to relieve the pressure off the Special Forces camp that had been under siege and finished up “Chargin”” into the camp with 400+ Mike Force and overburdening the camp’s supplies and overhead take in. He was supposed to stay outside the camp and harass the NVA surrounding it!) of which Haney was a “founding” member (whatever that means.) Delta claims to be super trained–yet they failed to have the filters in their helicopters changed from “over water” filters to DESERT filters because they were playing the secret spy game so close–they failed to tell their pilots where they were going! Idiots–comes to mind. Even then–Beckwith had the support fundamentals to continue his mission–he aborted and more than 10,000 Iranians died because of that failed mission and America’s pride was severely hurt.

   I was there when “Delta” took over the ancient stockade at Fort Bragg-very top secret stuff-but their results are highly questionable. IF Delta has done more than Haney tells us-then the SUCCESSFUL members of that fantastic organization should keep the “Beckwiths” and “Haneys” in line.

   FAILURE IS NOTHING TO BRAG ABOUT. Having a deep voice and chewing on cigars–does not make a Special Forces winner. In fact, the most courageous and most effective SF man I ever met was less than 160 pounds and wore steel-rimmed glasses. He would have blended in at a librarians convention.

   Guarding ambassadors? Women can do that. Especially from air-conditioned cars and hotel rooms.

   Delta Force has it’s place-but I have a problem with persons who use “smoke and mirrors” to erect a legend about themselves.

   Hanley’s novel is another book where failure is turned into something to brag about. I for one am tired reading about Delta Force, navy SEALS and additional special ops individuals writing about their failures and calling themselves “legends-in-their-own-time.”

   And please don’t tell me their successes are too secret to talk about-if you can talk about your failures-you can tell us about your successes also.

   Lordy!

   At least I write fiction and there is more truth in my fiction than many of these guys writing about themselves.

   Also note that Haney wrote about operations and tactics that were still classified and not cleared through the military–why?

   Donald E. Zlotnik, Major (Ret.)
   
   Special Forces
   
   Leader
   
   “Eagles Weep Blood.”
   
   Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5