Time for my first book review, and what a book to start out with. I recently read the Sean Naylor Book, Not a Good Day to Die, The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda. I have been wanting to read this book for a while as several of my friends and past military associates were involved in Operation Anaconda and are mentioned in this book. Christine bought this as a gift and even has it signed by the Author. The author, Sean Naylor is a 13 year writer with the Army Times, so he is not a newbie when it comes to writing about the military as so many others are.
This book does a good job at covering everything that led up to the actual operation, whom all the parties were in the operations, their backgrounds, and most importantly the mistakes many made. Sean mentions that several generals were very resistant to his research for this book. After reading it I can understand why, as many people made several mistakes. It is sad that those whom are great military leaders, have forgotten one the most important traits of a good leader, humility. Every major battle the US has been a part of has had mistakes made. Heck, even training events like those at the NTCs of the world have mistakes. This is why we have AARs and why the Center for Army Lessons Learned was created. These generals must have forgotten of all the battles they studied during their military career and the number of times they have seen admitted mistakes and learned from them.
This book does a good job at demonstrating the interoperability problems of not only the different services, but also those that exist(ed) within JSOC and between the “Big†Army and the JSOC. From the macro view, the reader can easily see the problems that arise when there is not one clear chain of command established from which one man is accountable. General Franks decided to keep a large special operation command separate from the rest of the command which was oversaw by 10th Mountain Division Commander, LTG Hagenbeck. Both entities has separate missions and visions, and this led to confusion on the battlefield, confusion in the HQs, mis-communication, and eventually to more US soldier deaths and wounds than were necessary.
Another good thing the book does is demonstrate to any soldier that is or will ever serve in a “snoop and poop†reconnaissance type of job the type of missions that are realistic for them to serve. Infiltration, extraction, call for fire, reporting, surviving, are all critical tasks for the recon soldier and this book gives very good real-life examples of that. This book also highlights the different types of recon missions (target acquisition, environmental, etc.). It shows how frustrating it can be when infiltrations get delayed over and over and then happen at the last minute based on the tempo of the battle. The book also shows the importance of stealth and why not being compromised can be so important. The operators in this battle that were infiltrated a couple of days before the main effort started were huge combat multipliers during the battle as they called in sortie after sortie of successful close air support missions. These guys went in light and froze at night, but so is the life of a recon soldier.
One of the most important messages I took away from this book with thinking of the recon mission is “it is not always about what you see, but won’t you don’t seeâ€. A contributing factor to the planning of the operation was that the surrounding villages were full of civilians and the US did not want dead civilians on the news. So they went in tip-toeing around the battlefield. The recon elements were only told to look for enemy in the village, and never told to confirm if there were civilians there. In hindsight, the recon operators realized that they never reported no civilians, because they were never asked to. Had they thought of reporting that or been told to confirm this fact, the leaders of the operation may have taken a more heavy handed approach in the engagement.
One thing I like about how Mr. Naylor wrote this book is that it did not turn into a single-service exploit or track one unit, person, etc. Instead is was as 360 degree as the battlefield. As the book progresses, he focuses on where the real story is. He covers the SEALS, Delta, SF, 10th MTN, JSOC, CENTCOM, 101st and CIA as each of their stories are the biggest contributor at a certain time in the chain of events. As an example, when the regular army forces start to get a handle on the main battle area, he focuses on the attempted infiltration of RAZOR03 and then RAZOR 04 on top of the largest mountain the area. He then covers the backgrounds of the Rangers on RAZOR01 and RAZOR02 and their successes and hardships on the mountain top to kill all the enemy, rescuing the seals, and finding two fallen soldier’s bodies.
I cannot recommend this book enough for anyone that is interested in how the first large-scale battle of the war on terror took place or for anyone in the recon profession. The world of recon is that of silent killers whom rarely ever actually pull the trigger, but instead feed information to those that do. This book is for you if you are in that field or want to be. Take away from this book the importance of staying focused on the end result and what everyone is there for. It is not about what service or unit is best, but instead how all of them working together can be the best in the world.
