Gripping story of a dramatic battle

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	• Roughneck Ni The Extraordinary Story of a Special Forces A-team at War Frank Antenori, Hans Halberstadt St. Martin's Griffin, 2007 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Story Behind the Story

As somebody who has been a US Army Special Forces "strap-hanger" since 1962, I can tell you this little community is full of strong opinions, explosive politics, enduring friendships and equally enduring resentments. Frank Antenori's story is about one little A-team and one deployment, but it manages to cover those gloabal issues, too, in the great tradition of the Green Berets. This book was only released on Tuesday (30 May 2006) but within hours two very hostile reviews from mystery reviewers were posted attacking ROUGHNECK NINE ONE. Nearly all the book is a cheerful success story about the guys on Frank's team, but some of the book describes leadership failures by a very few individuals. One of these individuals, a commander, was considered a coward by his subordinates and Frank tells what happened as he saw it. Even before the book came out, Frank took a lot of fire from this officer and others about the story -- not that it wasn't true, but that it was a story that should stay private and within "the community." Frank asked for an offical review of the manuscript from USASOC; he got it and a completely clean bill of health -- not one security change requested, not one correction to the facts of the story. This is a story about one small band of heroes from three A-teams, about one really remarkable battle, about one awful "friendly fire" incident, about one team sergeant, and about US Army Green Berets on the modern battlefield. The story is told by Antenori but written by Hans Halberstadt (certainly MY favorite non-fiction military writer!), a guy who has been explaining how the special operations forces (SEALs, Green Berets, Rangers, Recon Marines, and the rest) do their business for the past twenty years. ROUGHNECK NINE ONE is a war story that is full of lessons-learned, valor, discipline, brotherhood, and what to do when confronted by a television reporter in the middle of a fight. It would make a good movie, and it really is a good book.

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"THESE ARE MEN, AMERICA'S BEST!"

There are lots of books out there on the US Army Special Forces and the war on terrorism, but nobody gets you into the action like Frank Antenori, former team sergeant of ODA-391 - ROUGHNECK NINE-ONE. Frank gives you a rare unvarnished look into how a group of diverse individuals comes together and is molded into America's most elite fighting force. He describes how his team meticulously prepared for war, but got caught up in petty SF group politics and turf battles before they fired their first shot. He gives it to you straight - the good, the bad, and the ugly. When ROUGHNECK NINE-ONE finally entered the frey against a vastly superior Iraqi force they gave an accounting of themselves that did themselves and our country proud. In the words of Barry Sadler, "These are men, America's best!" This is an ABSOLUTE MUST READ for anyone remotely interested in America's elite forces and the war on terrorism.

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Gripping story of a dramatic battle

I just finished reading the book and have to say, I found it to be one of the better books on the Iraq war I have read so far. While it seems Sgt. Antenori is not a professional author, his story does come across as one from a ground soldier's perspective. It's not laced with flowery descriptions similar to those you would find in a book written by a reporter like a Mark Bowden or a Sean Naylor. Nor does it contain political correctness like you would find in a book written by a senior military officer.

Sgt. Antenori was an enlisted man and his perspective of the events that led up to the Battle of Debecka clearly shows that. The description of the battle includes both a positive and negative evaluation of his team's battlefield performance. He even criticized mistakes that he made relative to the "warning shot" as well as a few other "miscalculations" when trying to predict what his commanders wanted him to do.

Anyone that has spent a day in the military understands the concept of internal unit rivalry. For the men in Special Forces, internal rivalry must be amplified hundreds of times over, simply because of all the type-A personalities, extensive amounts of experience and huge egos they bring to the table. I could easily see why there were the turf battles and disagreements Antenori describes, but it was also refreshing to see the professionalism they displayed by putting those differences aside when it came time for them to fight the enemy.

The description of the battle plan being drawn out on the hood of their Humvee's, with both the 10th Special Forces and 3rd Special Forces teams putting their differences and disagreements aside to accomplish the mission, was an excellent example.

I recommend this book to both those in the military and military enthusiasts. It contains gritty descriptions of combat and a dynamic group of characters that make this story stand out from any one I have read so far. My hat's off to Roughneck Nine-One and the men of the other two A-Teams, Nine-Two and Four-Four for a job well done. Also a special thank you goes out to the two Military Intelligence soldiers that volunteered to join those teams, going well above what was expected for their military occupational specialty (MOS). Good job.

Steve Turley
U.S. Army Retired

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8

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