No Room for Error: The Covert Operations of America's Special Tactics Units from Iran to Afghanistan

by John T. Carney Jr., Benjamin F. Schemmer, Benjamin Schemmer

Book Overview

"John Carney is one of the few heroes I have."-LT. COL. L. H. "BUCKY" BURRUSS, USA (Ret.) Founding member and Deputy Commander of Delta ForceWhen the U.S. Air Force decided to create an elite "special... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345453336
• ISBN13: 9780345453334
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

The Quiet Professionals

No Room For Error fills a gap in military history. Such gaps have existed since the beginning of time whenever a 'special' operation was conducted. What Col Carney and the late Ben Schemmer have done is describe people, places, and events that bring to light the fact that the special ops 'community' before the 80s was a close knit family whose members and even kids often knew each other by name whether army, navy, or air force. Col Carney brings faces and humanity to the facts. He shows what it was like to conduct special operations at a time when the majority of SOF was being disbanded after Vietnam and prior to Desert One. Many Americans will never know the true sacrifice of some of the Quiet Professionals. Many Americans will never know how many fires were put out before they consumed nations. Read this book to discover heroes who don't see themselves as such. Unknown national heroes...of whom their families may never know of their accomplishments. Col Carney has given credit to an honorable profession made so by honorable men...and today, honorable women. Jim "Banzai" McClain USAF Ret. Desert One Iran

Must Read

Special operations forces were all born from necessity, yet always treated as the bastard children of their traditional counterparts. So it was with the creation of the US Air Forces Special Tactics Units. They may not be as well known as the Army's Rangers and Special Forces, or the Navy's SEALs, but they are every bit as important.Colonel Carney was personnally involved in the creation and development of these critically important units. While they have played in the shawdows of all recent conflicts, the participation of these Special Tactics Units came to the fore during Operation Enduring Freedom. There, in Afghanistan, their courage became legendary as they directed devastating bombing missions that quickly broke the back of al Qaeda and Taliban forces. With other special operations units, they fought on the ground where it gets up close and personal.This book will give the readers an insight into a world they seldom hear about and a historical perspective of the battles of the Air Commandos - all told from the firsthand perspective of a true American hero.You will also learn of Col Carney's continued service to the SOF community. Currently he runs the Special Operations Warrior's Foundation which provides scholarship to the children of our fallen comrades.

The credit they deserve

Along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, in the Mekong delta, and in the air, the U.S. military's special operations forces played key roles in Vietnam. After being neglected by the regular military bureaucracy for most of the quarter-century that followed, U.S. special ops forces finally got the appreciation and credit they deserved when a few hundred very smart and superbly-trained men engineered the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. This book is largely about the period in between Vietnam and the post-9/11campaign, and it fills an important gap in the literature. It focuses particularly on the U.S. Air Force's Special Tactics Units, who are an essential part of the larger special ops picture, and who make many missions possible through their extraordinary skils at getting teams in and out of dangerous territory, often at night and without being detected by the enemy. This book is full of revelations, and is highly recommended to anyone interested in the field.

Accurate Insights

"No Room for Error" is a good read and provides hard hitting insights into the politics of U.S. special operations units and a glimpse at the superbly trained Special Tactics forces. These units have demonstrated their expertise in various conflicts despite Air Force organizational negligence and service parochialism on the part of the Army. Carney and Schemmer captured tremendous exploits without resorting to euphemisms used by other Special Operations books. A major unanswered question: Why aren't there more of these AF Special Tactics units? Note that I'm a former Special Tactics member enabling me to affirm the accuracy of the book.

Must Reading for Students of Military History

I am privileged to have received and read an early copy of this book, a timely reminder to all Americans that "Freedom is not Free." Colonel John T. Carney, Jr. (Retired), is President of the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a very special charity that provides full scholarships to the children and families of fallen special operations soldiers, sailors and airmen. As a member of a fraternity of men known as "Quiet Professionals," it must have been terribly difficult for him to put into words acts of incredible courage which have heretofore been closely held knowledge among very few people. On the verge of retirement from the Air Force after a disappointing and stalled career, Carney gets a word of advice from an old friend, changes his career track and begins a journey down a lonely road towards the creation of a special Air Force unit that expertly handles air assets during special operations missions. The road for his "Brand X" unit is full of obstacles, but with slow acceptance among some of the Army's Special Forces legends, like Colonel Charlie Beckwith and Lieutenant Colonel Lewis "Bucky" Burruss, he doggedly champions his unit's abilities and repeatedly demonstrates the utility of having a trained combat controller in situ with the Army's Special Forces teams. Having previously been a football coach for the Air Force Academy, Carney's program for his special tactics teams is as tough as any training the services can muster, including HALO, HAHO and scuba training. Skydiving is fun. HALO and HAHO with special operations forces in the dead of night, in all weather conditions, and with 200 pounds of equipment is deadly serious business and not much fun at all. The men whose job is to maintain that edge now have a safety net for their families: the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. They can do their jobs comfortable in the knowledge that the net is held by an American hero, Colonel John T. Carney, Jr., founder of the Air Force Special Tactics teams.