America's secretive Joint Special Operations Command has always been leery of former members writing books to put it charitably. The hesitation, and sometimes social shaming the command does to former members can be kind of silly, especially considering that the founding member of Delta Force, Col. Charlie Beckwith, penned a memoir just three years after the unit was fully activated.
This was why a new book, simply titled "The Unit" written by a member of another secretive JSOC unit, sometimes known as Intelligence Support Activity, Task Force Orange, the Army of Northern Virginia, or more recently Titan Zeus was the cause of some concern.
However, the book is neither an explosive tell-all nor a dry sanitized history lesson.
The manuscript was submitted through a Department of Defense review to ensure that classified information was not published, however, "The Unit" does provide a taste of what it is like to serve in the organization, some of the types of personalities found there, and what some of their missions were in Africa and the Middle East.
Here are a few interesting vignettes pulled from the book:
The author is an Egyptian immigrant. A first-generation immigrant from Egypt, a practicing Muslim, and standing all of 5 foot 1 inches tall "Adam Gamal" (a pseudonym) is not exactly the type of guy you see on Special Ops recruiting posters. However, his cultural and linguistic abilities were clearly value added to his unit which was charged with gathering intelligence on Islamic terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
The selection process is grueling. Getting into the unit is no cakewalk, and the selection course includes both a rural and urban portion where students are graded on their decision-making abilities while placed under stress. Seasoned Special Forces soldiers quit the course in frustration. The author was so worn out and exhausted during his urban selection that a local civilian woman mistook him for a homeless person and offered him some money.
The Unit conducted dangerous undercover missions. Working under an alias and disguised as a local, the author conducted dangerous intelligence gathering missions in war zones like Iraq. In some cases he would take female soldiers with him to further camouflage what he was really doing. "There was a Hawaiian soldier who could be like a chameleon," the author writes. "I took her out a lot with me in a local car. She'd cover up, and no one could tell what nationality she was."
The Unit ran a lot of missions in Africa. During the 2000s JSOC was witnessing foreign fighters from all over the Middle East pour into Iraq to fight American troops. Realizing that the source of many of these recruitments was in African nations, "the unit" began sending operators to these countries with at-risk populations to begin identifying terrorist agitators and smuggling networks.
The author was shot on one such mission. During an undercover mission in Africa, the author was shot in the stomach after being ambushed outside his beddown site, implying that his security was seriously compromised somehow. He nearly bled to death before he could be transported to a hospital where everything from the gurney to the X-ray machine was broken. Eventually, JSOC sent a military doctor to take care of him until he could be evacuated back to the United States.
"The Unit" is an enjoyable read, which gives a small peak behind the curtain into the very secretive world of intelligence gathering and counter-terrorism operations. Recommended for members of the American public who have read many books about Navy SEALs and Green Berets conducting combat operations and asked themselves questions like, "How do these soldiers know where the terrorists even are?"
In at least some cases, it was because Adam Gemal told them where.