The Making of the World's Elite Forces

This is an account of how the world's deadliest military units are created and kept in a state of high readiness. It examines the state-of-the-art hardware made available to those units and lists the combat experience of: the US Marine Corps in battles like Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Khe Sanh and Kuwait; Israeli Paras and their actions in the Arab-Israeli wars; the secretive Soviet Spetsnaz forces in their insurgency war against the Afghan Mujahedeen; the British Paras and others. The arduous training of such units as the SAS, Green Berets and SEALS ensures that only the best recruits get through; and how formations such as the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions are organized to deploy at a moments notice to any trouble spot in the world.