[.ca] Special Forces: War on Terrorism in Afghanistan (ISBN 2913903908)

Riddled with errors:
Well in addition to getting most of the operational details incorrect in this book many of the photos (of the US SOF at least) seem to be randomly attributed to different units operating on the line. His section on Delta Force and DEVGRU are so inaccurate it's like reading fiction. My personal fav is a picture of US Army Special Forces with a caption that says SAS. How do I know those guys aren't SAS? You can find the pcitures on the DOD website! What's more, Micheletti has chosen not to block out the faces of the soldiers on most pages of this book. So whoever buys this book gets a good look at active duty men working in the field who can now be identified by their enemies and put in danger of retribution. This puts these men and their families in danger. Any operator will tell you this is just wrong. Almost every image in this book can be found online at http://www.militaryphotos.net and in most cases, with the faces obscured. Do not support this book. Do not buy this book. It is a comedy of technical errors in addition to being a threat to the men who do this work for real.

Poor translation and innacurate details:
1. The book appears to have been tranlated from French to English very poorly. I estimate 80% of the sentences have obvious grammatical errors and/or mispellings. 2. Many of the detailed facts specifically in the timeline section are innacurate. 3. I intended to use the book for research on Spec Ops role for an Afghanistan Campaign analysis. I didn't use anything from this book because it lacked factual credibility.

Not for the specialists:
A coffee-table book packed with pictures. If you are looking for highly specialized infos, give it a miss. If you want loads of pictures (including reconstructions) and some background infos, go for it. The original text was obviously in French and the translation is not always 100% but it remains readable. Good infos on non-US units and interesting pictures taken by the in-house "RAIDS" reporter, Yves Debay.

Excellent Military Read:
I recently purchased this book, and after reading the several reviews you see before you, I've come to several conclusions. One being that the book has been translated wonderfully. You have to understand that languages cannot be exactly translated. Two is the one picture showing U.S. Special Forces and SAS is not a mistake, if you read carefully, you'll notice two individuals kneeling and another in a prone position. Those two are SAS in 'civvies' (undercover) assisting the American operators. The book provides excellent photographs for all of those who want a superb display of the tactical gear worn by the various Coalition Forces operating in Afghanistan. I viewed the website and only a scarce few are shown in the book. All in all this is a great selection if you're looking for a book with magnificent crisk color photographs of the soldiers and their military gear!

Australia mentioned at last:
At last a book that mentions the Australian involvement in the recent wars in the Afghanistan and Iraq. SF: War Against Terrorism not only mentions the Australian SASR, 4RAR (Cdo) and loggies, it also features plenty of high-quality pictures snapped by Australian Army PR photographers. The book covers each country who provided troops, and gives detailed pics of their kit and uniforms - and action pics. It's a delight for military train-spotters and not bad reference material. I can't speak for the US facts - but surely the facts used would have been obtained via official channels. As for facial obscurity - if your photographers take full-face shots and your department allows them to be released - and they're in the public arena, you can hardly blame the author. Nice work Mr Micheletti, look forward to the next book.