THE COMMANDOS: The Inside Story
of America's Secret Soldiers
TIME
journalist Douglas C. Waller was given
unprecedented access to the special training
that commandos receive. To observe Green
Beret instruction, Waller camped out with
Army Special Forces soldiers for two weeks
in a cold, rainy February. For an inside
look at Air Force Special operations,
he put on a flight suit, a helmet, and
night-vision goggles and flew with the
pilots as they practiced weaving through
the mountains in pitch-black darkness.
He reveals the secret selection and training
of Delta Force counterterrorist commandos.
And, the first outsider ever given total
access to Hell Week, he details the five
days of grueling, nonstop commando training
that Navy men must endure to become SEALs
(sea-air-land commandos).
Based
on interviews with hundreds of special
operations soldiers, The Commandos
takes the reader behind the veil of official
secrecy that surrounds these forces to
examine how they really fight and live.
Waller also discloses for the first time
ever the details of some of the secret
forces' operations:
the commando's secret planning
to assassinate Saddam Hussein during
the Gulf War
the behind-the-scenes political
battles of their generals to launch
covert operations in Iraq and Kuwait
the commando raids, clandestine
infiltrations, and daring combat behind
the enemy lines during the Gulf War
their war to psych out Saddam and
his army
Delta Force's dangerous hunt for
Saddam's Scud missiles
With the Cold War over, surgical operations
and low-intensity conflicts may be America's
battles of the future. If so, special
operations commandos may well be the warriors
of the future. This is their story.
TIME
journalist Douglas C. Waller was given
unprecedented access to the special training
that commandos receive. To observe Green
Beret instruction, Waller camped out with
Army Special Forces soldiers for two weeks
in a cold, rainy February. For an inside
look at Air Force Special operations,
he put on a flight suit, a helmet, and
night-vision goggles and flew with the
pilots as they practiced weaving through
the mountains in pitch-black darkness.
He reveals the secret selection and training
of Delta Force counterterrorist commandos.
And, the first outsider ever given total
access to Hell Week, he details the five
days of grueling, nonstop commando training
that Navy men must endure to become SEALs
(sea-air-land commandos). 
Based
on interviews with hundreds of special
operations soldiers, The Commandos
takes the reader behind the veil of official
secrecy that surrounds these forces to
examine how they really fight and live.
Waller also discloses for the first time
ever the details of some of the secret
forces' operations:
