Yellow Green Beret


Book Description

Yellow Green Beret: Volume II delves into many of the gaps in between the crooks and alleys of the keystone stories in Volume I that colored Chester Wong's checkered career as a U.S. Army Special Forces officer - again, with the same brutal cynicism and genuine honesty in his portrayal of his experiences. As with Yellow Green Beret: Volume I, Wong relates his unusual experiences as an Asian-American special operations commander in a humanistic and flawed tone to which all can relate, and this collection helps further paint a detailed picture of the special operations world in which he lived. Both humorously self-deprecating and solemn at times, his accounts follow the painful road he took to reach the position of elite counterterrorist commander, and reveal his fleeting moments of fortitude and determination, despite having the odds often stacked against him. Again spanning his days as a young and naive West Point cadet to his later years as a counterterrorist commander in Iraq and the Philippines, Wong lays out stories that range from desperately taking singing lessons to improve his performance during karaoke parties with his Filipino special operations counterparts to the palpable nervousness and fog of war on his first helicopter raid to capture one of Iraq's most dangerous insurgent leaders. Never hesitating to point out the difficulties and lessons he learned along the way, the author invites you to enjoy, laugh, and reflect upon his experiences along with him.




Yellow Green Beret Volume III


Book Description

As the final tome in the three-part series depicting the off-color and unusual stories that highlighted Chester Wong's uncharacteristic career as a detachment commander in the U.S. Army Special Forces, Yellow Green Beret: Volume III is a considerably more serious account almost devoid of the trademark goofy and comical stories that were speckled amongst the first two books. In many ways, Yellow Green Beret: Volume III is a true and honest revelation regarding the darkest sides of Chester Wong's path and experiences as an unsure West Point cadet on his way becoming a leader in one of wartime America's most elite and cutting edge counterterrorist forces. Truly the final pillar in the house called Wong, Yellow Green Beret: Volume III leaves no stone unturned in piecing together the coming-of-age journey of an unusual Asian-American young man.




Inside the Green Berets


Book Description




Three Wise Men


Book Description

From Beau Wise and Tom Sileo comes Three Wise Men, an incredible memoir of family, service and sacrifice by a Marine who lost both his brothers in combat—becoming the only "Sole Survivor" during the war in Afghanistan. Three Wise Men details the fate of three brothers intertwined when they voluntarily enlisted in defending their homeland after the devastating 9/11 attacks. Their extraordinary tale unfurls the severe toll of the Afghan war, particularly on a single family, underscoring the profound significance of the sacrifice and the indomitable resilience of a family's courage. While serving in Afghanistan, US Navy SEAL veteran and CIA contractor Jeremy Wise was killed in an al Qaeda suicide bombing that devastated the US intelligence community. Less than three years later, US Army Green Beret sniper Ben Wise was fatally wounded after volunteering for a dangerous assignment during a firefight with the Taliban. Ben was posthumously awarded the Silver Star, while Jeremy received the Intelligence Star—one of the rarest awards bestowed by the U.S. government—and also a star on the CIA’s Memorial Wall. The legacy of their sacrifice lives on in Beau Wise's account, the only “Sole Survivor” pulled from the battlefield, forging an enduring testament to the value of loyalty, service, and familial bonds.




US Army Green Beret in Afghanistan 2001–02


Book Description

In October 2001 the most militarily advanced nation on earth came into conflict with one of the least developed nations as American forces poured into Afghanistan. The tip of the spear was drawn from the US Special Forces community, and largely from the units of the United States Army Special Forces – the famous Green Berets. Together with the Special Activities Division of the CIA and the Afghan Northern Alliance, they overthrew the Taliban in a lightning campaign that redefined modern warfare. This new study reveals the grueling Green Beret training and preparation, the specialized equipment they used in the field and traces their deployment throughout the campaign, from the first insertion of forces through to the fall of Kabul and Kandahar, the Taliban uprising at the notorious Fort of War in Mazar-e-Sharif, and the clearance of Tora Bora and Operation Anaconda in the Shahikot Valley.




Green Berets at War


Book Description

Stanton presents the authoritative history of a renowned, though unorthodox, fighting formation--the Green Berets. The Army's Special Forces forged a legend of combat valor and battlefield success through the tropical swamps and deep jungles of Southeast Asia over more than a decade of fighting. Stanton also discusses the misuse of Special Forces, their man-power problems, and more. Photos, maps, charts.




Ballad of the Green Beret


Book Description

The rough-and-tumble life of Special Forces vet and Sixties pop star Barry Sadler The top Billboard Hot 100 single of 1966 wasn’t “Paint It Black” or “Yellow Submarine”--it was “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” a hyper-patriotic tribute to the men of the Special Forces by Vietnam vet Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. But Sadler’s clean-cut, all-American image hid a darker side, a Hunter Thompson-esque life of booze, girls, and guns. Unable to score another hit song, he wrote articles for Soldier of Fortune and pulp novels that made “Rambo look like a stroll through Disneyland.” He killed a lover’s ex-boyfriend in Tennessee. Settling in Central America, Sadler ran guns, allegedly trained guerrillas, provided medical care to residents, and caroused at his villa. In 1988 he was shot in the head by a robber on the streets of Guatemala and died a year later. This life-and-times biography of an American character recounts the sensational details of Sadler’s life vividly but soberly, setting his meteoric rise and tragic fall against the big picture of American society and culture during and after the Vietnam War.




The Guerrilla Factory


Book Description

A retired lieutenant colonel presents a behind-the-scenes portrait of the legendary North Carolina camps where Special Forces soldiers are trained, outlining the infamous Q Course where leaders endure brutal tests of strength, stamina, and ingenuity.




Scars and Stripes


Book Description

"From decorated Green Beret sniper, UFC headliner, and all around badass, Tim Kennedy, a rollicking, inspirational memoir offering lessons in how to embrace failure and weather storms, in order to unlock the strongest version of yourself. Tim Kennedy has a problem; he only feels alive right before he's about to die. Kennedy, a Green Beret, decorated Army sniper, and UFC headliner, has tackled a bull with his bare hands, jumped out of airplanes, dove to the depths of the ocean, and traveled the world hunting poachers, human traffickers, and the Taliban. But he's also the same man who got kicked out of the police department, fire department, and as an EMT, before getting two women pregnant four days apart, and finally, been beaten up by his Special Forces colleagues for, quite simply, "being a selfish asshole." In Scars and Stripes, Kennedy describes how these failures shaped him into the successful businessman and devoted husband and father he is today. Through unbelievably vivid, wild anecdotes Kennedy reveals all the dumb, violent, embarrassing, and undeniably heroic things he's done in his life, including multiple combat missions in Afghanistan, building a school in Texas for elementary kids, and creating two-multimillion-dollar businesses. You will learn that failure isn't the end-rather it's the first step towards unearthing the best version of yourself and finding success, no matter how overwhelming the setbacks may feel"--




The Only Thing Worth Dying For


Book Description

On a moonless night just weeks after September 11, 2001, U.S. Special Forces team ODA 574 infiltrates the mountains of southern Afghanistan with a seemingly impossible mission: to foment a tribal revolt and force the Taliban to surrender. Armed solely with the equipment they can carry on their backs, shockingly scant intelligence, and their mastery of guerrilla warfare, Captain Jason Amerine and his men have no choice but to trust their only ally, a little-known Pashtun statesman named Hamid Karzai who has returned from exile and is being hunted by the Taliban as he travels the countryside raising a militia. The Only Thing Worth Dying For chronicles the most important mission in the early days of the Global War on Terror, when the men on the ground knew little about the enemy—and their commanders in Washington knew even less. With unprecedented access to surviving members of ODA 574, key war planners, and Karzai himself, award-winning author Eric Blehm cuts through the noise of politicians and high-level military officials to narrate for the first time a story of uncommon bravery and terrible sacrifice, intimately exposing the realities of unconventional warfare and nation-building in Afghanistan that continue to shape the region today.