The training,resourcefulness and creativity of the US Special Forces soldier make himcapable of jobs that few other soldiers could handle, in situationswhere traditional arms and movement do not apply. Tom Clancy traces thetransformation of the Special Forces from the small core of outsiders ofthe 1950s through the cauldron of Vietnam and to the rebirth of the SFin the late 1980s and 1990s as the bearer of the largest, most mixed andmost complex set of missions in the US military. From Vietnam to Laosto Panama and El Salvador to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq,these are stories of raids, counter-terrorism, hostage rescues,reconnaissance, counter-insurgency and psychological operations - andalso of building settlements, teaching civilians, cleaning up watersupplies and saving lives.