Introduction
Acronyms
Prologue: Bookends on a War

Chapter 1. Origin of the Species
What about the Trojan Horse?
What happened in World War II?
Where did Special Forces go after the war?
How about Special Forces in Korea?
What happened in the Cold War?

Chapter 2. Parallax Shift
How did President John F. Kennedy change Special Forces?
What happened in Vietnam?
Who were the 'montagnards'?
What happened to the Rangers?
What was the 'Green Beret Affair?
What was the Studies and Observation Group?
What was the Sontay raid?

Chapter 3. Ebb and Flow
How did Air Force special warfare evolve?
What about the Navy?
How about elsewhere? Che Guevara?
What tensions existed between Special Forces and the conventional military?
Why did Special Forces go into decline after Vietnam?
What is low intensity conflict?
Did rising concern about terrorism influence SOF trends and when did the change take hold? What is Delta Force?
What does Iran have to do with Special Forces?
What happened in Operation 'Eagle Claw?'
What was the Holloway Report?
What else changed?

Chapter 4. Toward New Horizons
What happened in Grenada?
What did Ronald Reagan do?
What innovations came to SOF?
What is Special Operations Command?
Was there resentment in the military when SOF got their own command?
What happened in the Persian Gulf?
What happened in Panama?
Was Panama the apex of Special Forces' work in the first Bush administration?
How has the changing nature of United States interventions impacted on the role of the Special Operations Forces?
What other missions did Special Forces conduct?
Are Special Forces suitable in all types of warfare?
What is the relationship between Special Forces and the CIA?
Have SOF officers ever headed the U.S. military?

Chapter 5. After September 11
What is a joint task force?
What happened after Tora Bora?
What happened in Iraq?
What is nodal analysis?
What didn't Saddam's capture stop the insurgency?
What about SOF and torture?
Who killed al Zarqawi?
How effective were the night raids?
Did the Iraq and Afghan wars oblige SOF to change or refine practices and doctrines?
Tell me about the Marine Special Operations Command
Did the wars changes Special Forces relationship with the CIA?
How about SOF and the 'private military contractors?'
What is the role of Special Forces in drone warfare?
Are there 'special targets'
What are the moral and legal implications of identifying 'special targets'

Chapter 6. What Future?
What tensions exist within the Special Operations community today?
Are there cost-effectiveness issues?
Are there predictable social issues on the horizon?
So you want to be an operator?
Tell me about Fayetteville

Who's Who in Special Forces

Bibliography