Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-team at War by Frank Antenori, Hans Halberstadt Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-team at War
Book Review: Realism!
Summary: 5 Stars
Despite some minor writing flaws (which actually round out the Roughneck theme) this is a great book! I was surprised by the few negative reviews. I think many reviewers miss the point. Decisive combat not is not about luck, it's about having the courage to do a quick risk/reward evaluation and put your training to use. The Army is full of officers like Major X, who hamper our capabilities by being anally safe. I commend MSG Antenori for having the courage to train hard, stand up to Major X, and write about. If you're looking for a perfectly constructed novel try The Grapes of Wrath. If you want a book about America's best soldiers kicking [...] in spite of politically correct and tactically unsound officers, you have got to read Roughneck Nine-One.Book Review: Nine-One Don't Run!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the top books that I have read written by someone in the Special Forces Community. The first hand accounts of the battle are true to operators that were there and also to the reader by not leaving out the messy stuff. The book was a fast read as it is never dry and always gives you a reason to keep reading. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to get insight into the capabilities of an A-Team or just wanting a good read.Book Review: A Truely Good Account of our Special Forces in Action
Summary: 5 Stars
This book goes into great detail and great honesty of the actions of a Special Forces A-Team in Iraq. Although the main author, Antenori, gets a little arrogant at times while speaking of how "great" the Special Forces are, I was able to get past it and enjoy the rest of the book.Book Review: Army Magazine Review of Roughneck Nine-One
Summary: 5 Stars
Roughneck Nine-One: The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-team at War
Army Magazine, July 2006 by Spencer, Jimmie W
Noncommissioned officers have a great deal of credibility both within the Army and with the American people. They tend to answer questions straight from the heart with little or no regard for political correctness. What you get is the unfiltered truth. If you hear it from an Army sergeant, you can pretty much "take it to the bank."
SFC Frank Antenori, U.S. Army retired, in his book Roughneck Nine-One, tells the story of a Special Forces Ateam (Green Beret) at war in a noholds-barred fashion that you would expect from a senior noncommissioned officer.
Written in a style that can only be described as soap opera-ish, he and his co-author, Hans Halberstadt, tell an extraordinary story of Special Forces A-tea m soldiers before, during and after combat. At a crossroad near the village of Debecka, Iraq, outnumbered and facing T-55 tanks, they were simultaneously locked in mortal combat, dealing with the news media and coping with the killing and wounding of dozens of supporting Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, when a U.S. Navy F-14 fighter mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb on the wrong target.
Antenori says of the supporting Kurds, "They reminded me of our Minutemen of 1776; they wore a mixed bag of uniforms: some were in camouflage, others in solid green, and others wore civilian clothes. Besides their rifies and ammunition, they had none of the 'battle rattle' Americans requireno CamelBaks, no kneepads, no gloves, no body armor protection. Some wore sandals instead of boots. They had left their homes early that morning after breakfast with their families. They had probably kissed their wives good-bye, picked up weapons, and gone off to spend the day at war, not sure they would come home at night. They are true militia, the kind that Special Forces Soldiers have trained and led for well over fifty years."
The reader is also given a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a Special Forces A-team, how it plans, trains, equips and deploys for combat, and the emotional roller coaster of ups and downs that it lives with day to day.
The book is in fact two stories in one; one of Special Forces soldiers in combat, at their best, and the other of constant bitching about almost everything. The combination results in a realistic story about real soldiers.
I would highly recommend this book to military historians and anyone interested in reading a good story, a true story that is easy to read and hard to put down.
SFC Antenori can add one more honor to an already impressive list of accomplishments, that of raconteur.
CSM Jimmie W. Spencer
U.S. Army Special Forces (Retired)
Book Review: Roughneck Nine-One
Summary: 2 Stars
The author is a disgruntled E-7 who served with a Green Beret unit during the outbreak of the iraq War. Most of the book is boring and filled with military jargon and terms especialy related to special forces units. The climactic battle, near Kirkuk, at the opening hours of the war is interesting, but not really groundbreaking in terms of new combat methods. The soldiers' actions were very commendable, but not Medal of Honor material. The author is somewhat arrogant and soon retired with barely twenty years' service.