The promise was always present, always ready to poke its head out and play peek-a-boo with the reader. Unfortunately it was never able to gain enough ground and become interesting to the reader. Beckwith's book can be broken down into three sections: Vietnam, Delta Initiation and Delta Organization.

The first section is a rather dull account of Beckwith's life in Vietnam. We get to see some of the details and descriptions of his exploits in Vietnam, but for the most part he doesn't really tell the reader much. The height of his Vietnam days are his rescue of a surrounded camp. Then it ends with Beckwith back in the States.

Section two drones on and on about how he was beating his head against a wall trying to get people within the army to recognize that there is a need for a Special Operations force such as Delta. We all know where this one ends, so no need for elaboration.

Section three is perhaps the most boring section. We finally get to see Delta Force come together. Will we get to hear about some of the details of their missions? No, in fact most of the latter half of the book is devoted to telling the day to day detail of what each officer and soldier was doing in order to maintain their training. So and so would wake up, blow up a wall, then do some running and push ups and then go and have a few beers. So and so would crunch the intel data and assess any threats, then he would brief the unit, and return to do some more data crunching before heading home early to get four hours of sleep, only to return the next day and start all over again. This could be interesting except for the fact that Beckwith does nothing but write about this for hundreds of pages. Finally, action, something to break up the monotony. We finally get to see a glimpse of Delta as it prepares to infiltrate Iran and free the hostages in the American Embassy. Some interesting detail here, but then it ends. Nothing really happened.

The book ends with nothing interesting being shared at all. If you discount the landing and subsequent take off in Iran then you are left with a Delta that did absolutely nothing except waste tax payer's dollars. Granted, Beckwith is still in the army, and perhaps they did do some missions that are still top secret and thus Beckwith couldn't talk about. Who really knows the circumstances? But not enough was talked about. Too much was talked about the set up and organization of Delta without showing what they could actually do.

Beckwith's writing is also quite horrible. Nothing about his writing made me want to read more. If you were to read it out loud I would imagine it would come out in a very monotone voice, with virtually no characterization. With Marcinko's Rogue Warrior you at least got to see and feel some of the action, to understand Marcinko's character and see it vividly within the words of his book. Not so here.

Because of the uniqueness of what Beckwith was writing on, as well as the fact that he might very well not have been able to write about other missions that could have been classified, I would give this an okay rating. I would certainly not recommend this book to others.

2.5 stars.

Easy reading; interesting how a new unit has difficulty in coming of age in the armed forces; read this first then follow it up with "Inside Delta Force" which will give more information on what it took for an individual to function within the Unit.

I really enjoyed this book. It gives a great history of the formation of Delta Force, but if you are only going to read one book on the subject; INSIDE DELTA FORCE by Eric Haney is much better. That said, this book is a page-turner and well written. There's a bit of self-congratulation; but Beckwith was an impressive individual.

If I had not read Eric Haney's book "Inside Delta Force" before I read this one, I probably would have loved it. The inherent problem is that both books cover roughly the same time frame, with Beckwith's book beginning earlier (going back to Vietnam inspirations) and ending while Haney was still in Delta. Both books provide detailed coverage of Operation Eagle Claw, which can be a little redundant, but that's no one's fault really. What I liked about Beckwith's book was the understanding it gave about where the idea for Delta came from, what his operational credibility was, and the intense opposition he faced in birthing this elite unit. Some folks will be bored with the various political machinations at work, but I found it interesting to see how something like this comes to be. Less interesting to me was Beckwith's account of Selection and the like because he didn't have to go through it like Haney did. I'd definitely recommend this book, but if you only want to read ONE book on Delta, I'd recommend Haney's first. And while there is certainly some overlap in information between the two works, I read them back to back and still enjoyed them.

The book was in excellant condition, arrived on time.

A great story about the birth of Delta Force from the founder himself. Beckwith takes you from the original idea, based on his experience with the British Special Air Service (SAS), through their first mission (to free the hostages in Iran).

Because of his rank and the role he played in this story, you get a high level overview instead of the view from an operator on the ground (as in Eric Haney's book - Inside Delta Force). One item that was particularly interesting to me was the test (based on the SAS) they ran prior to their first real mission to determine if their operators would actually engage the terrorist. Although it was successful, they later decided to not use this test again and surmised that the British needed to determine if their operators would fire their weapons but the US needed to create rules on when to not fire their weapons. Not sure what that says about the two cultures, but it was interesting none the less.

Beckwith is definitely a strong personality who does not compromise. You learn much about the man and the government bureaucracy he fought for so many years. In the end, he was successful and we are a safer nation because of his efforts

A great story about the birth of Delta Force from the founder himself. Beckwith takes you from the original idea, based on his experience with the British Special Air Service (SAS), through their first mission (to free the hostages in Iran).

Because of his rank and the role he played in this story, you get a high level overview instead of the view from an operator on the ground (as in Eric Haney's book - Inside Delta Force). One item that was particularly interesting to me was the test (based on the SAS) they ran prior to their first real mission to determine if their operators would actually engage the terrorist. Although it was successful, they later decided to not use this test again and surmised that the British needed to determine if their operators would fire their weapons but the US needed to create rules on when to not fire their weapons. Not sure what that says about the two cultures, but it was interesting none the less.

Beckwith is definitely a strong personality who does not compromise. You learn much about the man and the government bureaucracy he fought for so many years. In the end, he was successful and we are a safer nation because of his efforts

I read this book years ago and just had to read it again.

The book is about one of USA militay heros, Col Beckwith and his association with U.S. ARMY's Special Forces (Green Berets), the "git er done" men of our Country's elite Units.

The book is about one of USA militay heros, Col Beckwith and his association with U.S. ARMY's Special Forces (Green Berets), the "git er done" men of our Country's elite Units.

very interesting look at the mystery that is delta force. this book is written by the founder and first commanding officer of the force and represents an intriguing look at what was formerly kept secret. look into the world of some of our country's most daring and important servicemembers. this blow-by-blow account reads like a novel, and sometimes you wish that is all it was.

I first thought that this book would probably be a bit dull, since it didn't have a lot of combat experiences in it, but is mostly about the formation of Delta. But it's now one of my favorite reads. A real page-turner, it only took me a couple weeks to get through it. I admit that it's enjoyment is probably limited to those with a serious interest in special ops. It has an honest and candid tone that lacks the the egoism of Marzcinko's book about SEAL Six. If your interested in learning more about Delta, I also reccomend reading Eric Haney's book, and Blackhawk Down. All three are very interesting and informative books, that take you inside, are hard to put down, and inspire profound respect for those who serve their country in this capacity.

"Delta Force" should be required reading for every ambitious careerist working for a large organization. Wearing camo fatigues or gray-flannel suit, this fine treatise tells the ambitious what it takes to get things done in a large organization--in this case, the largest organization-the U.S. Army. And what it takes is a very smart, relentlessly driven maverick, just what these organizations abhor. Maverick General Billy Mitchell was court-marshaled for proving to the Navy that one aircraft could take out the fleet's largest ship.

Col. Charlie Beckwith is that other maverick, famous for his vision, tenacity and executive drive. He recognized, as legions of far higher-ranked "planners" did not, that the U.S. military had a huge hole in its capabilities. That hole was how to deal quickly with terrorist and other small-unit irregular trouble-makers. The tortuous chain of command alone for SEALS and other Special Ops organizations prevents them for responding quickly to emergency situations, such as an aircraft high jacking, where every minute counts. And that same tortuous chain is also replete with know-it-all desk jockeys, anxious, willing and able to add their two cents worth of directives to an operation. By the time permission is received, the plan has become monstrous (with each branch of service jealously demanding a piece of the action), and it is far too late. The plane has either long since taken off or been blown-up and the hostages killed.

The book describes in fascinating detail the twists and turns Beckwith endured to start up the still secret Delta Force. It lists name, rank and serial number of the Generals who did everything in their power to prevent what they saw only as poaching on their hallowed turf, even as they refused to admit they could not possibly handle the tasks Delta set out to achieve. And what an inventory of skills the Delta boys developed. Primary among them is deadly accuracy with any firearm under any situation. Sound impossible? Not when you consider the time spent training in realistic live-fire situations. Hours, and days and months of repetition. (This super marksmanship probably explains why Delta Force dropped the .45-cal pistol from their inventory and switched to the less-deadly 9mm. Every shooter knows that nothing stops a man in his tracks like the wallop of a .45. But those shells are large and limit a pistol's capacity. With their incredible accuracy, any round passing through the eye socket of a perpetrator will get the job done. So they might as well use the smaller round and have more of them to shoot.

Some will gripe that this book proves the U.S. Military is an incompetent dinosaur with the reflexes of sloth in winter. But the subtext is that Beckwith did effect change. The military did listen, and the military did act. Delta Force exists now as-along with the British SAS from which it was copied-the finest small-unit antiterrorist force in the world.

if you are looking for insight to the beuracracy of washington and the military read this book, if you're looking for sweet delta force stories read "inside delta force" by eric haney

Col. Beckwith's account of the founding of America's elite Army commando unit is a classic that doesn't need my endorsement. The several dozen reviewers below can give you every point of view and opinion you might want if you're still undecided about the book.

I'm jumping in here to plug the books later written by one of the principals Beckwith describes in this account. One of his key lieutenants in creating Delta Force is described only as "Maj. Buckshot." Beckwith qualified this moniker as "a pseudonym" probably because then Maj. L.H. Burruss was still with the unit -- he eventually retired as its deputy commander.

Burruss has written four novels and an autobiographical account of his two duty tours in Vietnam as a young Special Forces officer fighting with the rapid-deployment teams known as Mike Force. In fact, "Mike Force" is the title of this account.

Of his novels, the only one that deals directly with Delta Force is "A Mission for Delta." It's a mature, sophisticated thriller set near the end of the Cold War, during the Reagan years.

A natural story teller and former English teacher, Burruss is a master craftsman with the language. He gives you not only the pleasure of a well-written tale, but one that's rooted in a career most men can only read about in novels.

Most of "Buckshot" Burruss' books are still in print and are available here. Check them out.

I initially started reading this after finishing Eric Haney's visceral "Inside Delta Force" and mistakenly felt that it was a bit underwhelming. Haney's book is loaded with memorable action and you feel you're dropped right into the middle of it; from the Delta selection process to hunting down communist guerillas in South America to sniping, you're always right there in the action and you come to crave it. By contrast, Beckwith's book is centered on the nuts and bolts of creating the unit, so I was naturally disappointed after breathless jungle warfare to be reading about turf battles among paper-pushers in the Pentagon. Then there is Operation Eagle Claw - not exactly the operation you want to hang your SF bio on. I recently picked up the book again and I have to say, I could not have been more wrong.

Beckwith's book does not have the hilarity or devilishness of Marcinko's "Rogue Warrior" nor the "in the trenches" action of Pfarrer's "Warrior Soul" and Eric Haney's "Inside Delta Force." What it does have is a top-down look at the system and how things are done at the command level, exactly the things that make Franks' "American Soldier" such a terrific read. It also has Beckwith's attitude. You really come to admire the man through his writing. The world "integrity" would not be out of place emblazoned on the man's chest. He is forthright, brilliant, upstanding, and allergic to bureaucracy, a maverick with a "get it done" attitude but also a teamwork attitude (the SpecOps guys I admire are always the right combination of the two). For Beckwith, maverick never crosses the line to "rogue" and I think he exhibited far more patience with the system than, say, Richard Marcinko (not faulting Marcinko, this is actually a compliment of sorts). Beckwith was a regimented thinker until the SAS set him straight on what the real priorities are. His account of his stay with them truly comes across as a born-again moment. And it was. Beckwith took that maverick attitude and created the most "cut the BS and get the job done and never give up" group of warriors in history. Just read the web accounts of Operation Acid Gambit (make sure you check out Kurt Muse's own account) or the Delta segments in Blackhawk Down and you'll be a believer. You want these guys kicking in the doors.

The fun parts of Beckwith's book are the choices made in the creation of the unit, such as why they chose the .45 as their standard sidearm. Then there is training. Obviously, the shooting house is fun, but nothing tops what they did to actually confirm that they had made great killers, not just great shooters. A fake hostage incident was staged and the Delta guys were lied to about it. They were put on what they thought was a flight to Canada but landed in a rural area stateside, all the while thinking they were in Canada. Canadian actors were used to "brief" the men on the situation and they surrounded the target house, which had initially had real people but now held dummies. They were told to take down the house, which they did, bursting through the doors and filling the terrorist dummies with lead, not touching the innocent dummies, all in the span of less than seven seconds. The men were then radioed that the incident was a hoax and had to be given a period to "calm down" about it. It's classic mental games, but they had to be played to assess the men. No better example of "train as you fight, fight as you train" can be found.

Eagle Claw...this is simultaneously the book's greatest moment and its saddest. It's the greatest in the sense that it was even attempted. Talk about ambitious. Imagine flying a thousand miles into the heart of Iran to rescue scores of hostages in a heavily fortified series of buildings the size of a college campus. The Iranians had heavy machine guns hidden that would, as Beckwith wrote, "chew apart a wall." And it's not like Blackhawk Down in terms of environment. You can run out of Mogadishu on foot, you don't run out of the middle of Iran. Perhaps the most chilling, brutal reality was the number of intelligence assets we had in Iran: Zero. Kudos to Beckwith for admonishing the Carter administration's firing most of the CIA old guard and replacing them with inexperienced apparatchiks.

This book has all of the grit and steely determination you'll find in the other SpecOps bios. What you won't find in other books though is the genesis of a unit, much less the genesis of one as special as Delta Force from the very man who created it. It is quite a blessing for us that Beckwith took the time to not just create his SpecOps baby (no easy birth that), but to also document the process for posterity's sake. The Delta world is a dark one, but its very creator has left us a flashlight that shines back to its Big Bang moment. Two words: Read it.

To understand Charlie Beckwith and Delta Force, probably the best way to do that is to first understand the British SAS. Beckwith was a huge fan of the SAS, he got most of his ideas from the SAS and all in all had it not been for the SAS, there would have been no Delta.

This book is a story that describes how Beckwith went thru a life changing experience when he underwent a Green Beret exchange tour with the British 22nd SAS Regiment in the early sixties. And then he came back to the USA and spent the rest of his Army career lobbying the Army bureaucracy to build a unit based on the SAS model. This lobbying effort was intensely personal and emotional for Beckwith and frequently involved frustration and disappointment.

Beckwith describes his battles with the Army's conventional bureaucracy, which was powerful and all encompassing. But he also describes his frustrations with the Army's already established special forces of that era...the Green Berets and Ranger Battalions of the sixties and seventies. Beckwith describes how he got little to no support from the regular Army in establishing an SAS type unit, but also how the Green Berets and Ranger Battalions tried to block and stymie his efforts.

Eventually, in the mid to late seventies Beckwith got his wish with the help of a handful of sympathetic, high ranking General officers. To build a truly unique special operations unit based exclusively on the British SAS model. It was neither Green Beret based nor Ranger Battalion based, although most of the early Delta operators were veterans of one of the two mentioned units. It was an American unit, but based on a foreign unit known as the SAS. This all occurred in the extremely anti-special forces political climate of the seventies...right after Vietnam.

Beckwith's career ultimately culminated in the failed 1980 Iranian rescue mission. Which was a huge political disaster for the Carter administration. After which he retired from the Army and sort of faded away. He died in 1994. Its sad that Beckwith never got to see his life's hard work become fully appreciated after the 911 debacle. Beckwith was truly a futuristic thinker, an innovator and creative person.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the British SAS, Delta or for anyone who has an intense dislike for bureaucracy and the status quo.

Col. Charlie Beckwith is the founder and first commanding officer of Special Forces Operational Detatchment-Delta, aka Delta Force. Col. Beckwith's book begins with his exchange service as a Special Forces Captain with the British Special Air Service. The SAS made such an impression on Col. Beckwith that he designed Delta's organization, selection and training on the British SAS model.
The book covers Col. Beckwith's service in Vietnam, with the precursor of Delta, whose mission was to go behind enemy lines and locate NVA and VC units. He continues with his battles with U.S. Army brass to get Delta established as a counter-terrorism unit and finishes the book with the aborted rescue attempt of the American hostages in Iran.
The book gives an insight of Delta Force as it was first conceived and organized by it's creator but does not cover any recent Delta operations.

This was a really good read, and who better to write about Delta Force than the creator and first commander? All and all it is a slow paced book, but it is straight forward and the time span is relatively small. You have to remember Col Beckwith founded Delta Force but as tradition goes he was only the commander for a few years. I would recommend Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney if you are going to get this book. When you put them together you get a really good unclassified account of what Delta Force is about.

This is a good book!! The author gives you a feel for the pain he went through getting Delta Force started. The book had some interesting parts in it. I liked the part when they were planning the Iran hostage rescue. A reminder that this not an action book, but a book about a part of US military history.

This book was very difficult to put down once I started reading it. Beckwith has a way with words that makes it seem like he's sitting next to you telling you a story. While reading the book, I felt like I knew Charlie Beckwith and his way of thinking--that's how much personality he put into this book.

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment--Delta (SFOD-D) is the military's formal name for Delta Force. Delta is perhaps America's foremost elite counterterrorist unit along with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) and Navy SEAL Team Six. Beckwith created Delta Force after spending a year with the British Special Air Service (SAS) and seeing how the US had a void that a unit like the SAS could fill. Thus, Delta was formed with the SAS in mind.

A word of caution to people who are considering reading this book. The book tells of how Delta Force was formed...from its beginnings as a US version of the British SAS to its failed first mission freeing the hostages in the Iran. If you're looking for something on what Delta Force currently does and how its operators are currently trained or selected, this isn't the book for you. Beckwith tells us how the first Delta operators were trained and selected, but that selection process has probably changed some by now. This book is more a detailed history on the formation of the Delta Force, and not a book on its current engagements and operations (which are most likely classified anyway).

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Delta Force was the most boring book I've ever read. It is like reading a school history book. There is seldom ever any excitement. The book has names, dates, and places about how Beckwith became involved in Delta Force. He talks about his time in Vietnam and in the Iran hostage rescue (the only two things that spark up some excitement). Other than that, this book was very boring. ... Also, I have to admit that Beckwith did a great job writing it.

The only book I've read willingly, since high school, COVER to COVER.

I was surprised how ensnared I was while reading the SAMPLE PAGES here at amazon.com. The SAMPLE PAGES start off with the author, Charlie Beckwith, a young United States' Green Beret, on the shores of Great Britain, and follows his shell-shocked induction into the unorthodox echelon of its elite military special forces, known as the SAS.

The book itself, begins with the author, a mature colonel commander of an already established elite Army shadow-unit, known as Delta Force, on route with generals to brief (then) president Jimmy Carter on the fragile hostage crisis escalating critically out of control in Tehran, than fades to his early years as a young special forces exchange soldier with the British SAS --a place were most of his unconventional views would be shaped-- and how it all lead up to that very critical junction in history. We follow him from his training with the SAS, through his growing pains as a young green beret soldier in Vietnam, to his underdog fight with the U.S. military bureaucracy in the hopes of establishing a "SAS-capable" unit, able of fill the "gaping holes" now evident in the U.S. special forces. Through trial and error Charlie painfully learns the ins-and-outs of a rigid Army bureaucracy, bent on protecting its traditions, and money, in the face of it's obvious flaws.

Charlie Beckwith may have not expected all the walls he would have to overcome when going against the Army convention, and often thought of giving up; when commanders threw his recommendation papers in his face. But, eventually, an emotional Charlie, and his perseverance, paid off. With the bloody dawning of a terrorism movement now escalating throughout the world, and no means of combating it with traditional military means, and fear now gripping the Carter administration, Charlie Beckwith, after years of battling the system, is commissioned to create his unique Delta unit, in the hopes of freeing American hostages trapped inside the U.S. embassy of Tehran.

Delta Force was finally born. But It's ultimate test would now come in the form of an impossible mission, across the perilous deserts of Iran, into the capital city of Tehran, and fight it's way out of the city -- to bring home the American hostages and restore public faith in the Carter administration.

I picked up this book thinking there was going to be a good amount of detail of past missions. After reading the book I found that my assumption was wrong. The book starts out with the author's career during the Vietnam War and ends with a description of the Iran hostage rescue operation in 1980. The majority of the book is a review of the author's struggles to set up the Delta Force and a lot of detail on the training that took place. If this is what you are looking for then the book will interest you. If you are after a lot of combat action then you will be disappointed.

I did find the slow and painful description of how the Army bureaucracy works to be an eye opener. I would have thought all the higher ups would have jumped at creating a group like Delta but that just was not the case. This could be a case study for persistence in how the author got his group up and running. Overall I found the book to be well written and interesting. There were a few slow spots in the middle, but not so bad that it would make you put down the book.