I can't really put into words what books like this mean! When Berlin Special Forces came out, I seriously about lost it because I couldn't believe all of that info was finally out in the open.
As someone who was directly involved with what was going on (I was in Germany from 86-88), but could never talk about any of it, it was a huge relief on many different fronts. I had wanted to talk about so many things that had happened during that time frame, but I was always afraid that I would hung for treason, or no one would honestly believe me!
I believe that there are some HUGE lessons that can be learned from these historical looks. As Jim Stejskal points out over & over, so many people in the military and defense agencies have little to no understanding of "their history", and how their perspective units or agencies have gotten to where they are at. As he also points out, for that very reason "the wheel has been needlessly reinvented" so many times.
While I can appreciate the need for secrecy in many cases, I can't even begin to fathom the amount of "institutional knowledge" that goes unused or is lost because of the restrictions that exist under the guise of maintaining operational security.
For example, given this is Snipers Hide, how many times has the “Sniper Skillset” been recreated/reinvented within all of the various Military Branches and Defense Agencies? How many times has one school had a key asset (info, technology, etc.) that could have benefited another school, but it was never shared, or it was lost over time? Going back to my time in Germany, I was being taught precision shooting by “Snipers” from other “agencies”, however because of “security concerns” I had no idea who they were or where their information was coming from? Knowing what I do now, those individuals were from Det A, Delta, the Alphabet Agencies, or other Foreign SOF units. While I gained some information from that training, everything was so “compartmentalized” for the sake of security that I was never able to establish any kind of a network that allowed that knowledge to develop and grow. I am sure that I was struggling to improve my skillset, that there were others will information that could have easily expedited that process, but we were never allowed to interact.
As the saying goes “if you want to learn something new, just read an old book”. Thanks to the efforts of people like Jim Stejskal, more of those books are being written.
Through how many wars in the past have US forces had to rely on horses for transportation into battle? Yet when we had to put SF troops on horseback in Afghanistan, how many of them had any type of training related to the use of horses in combat? Did DOD need to come up with anything new to make that happen or could they have just found what they needed already written in a book from many years ago!
Sirhrmechanic, please tell your friend many thanks for his hard work to put together and share everything that he has. I am sure that because of his efforts that many people will benefit both personally and professionally from it. I for sure have been able to exercise some old demons!
