Relentless Strike : The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command (9781466876224) (95 page)

A task force member grabs a just-captured Saddam Hussein after JSOC had tracked him to his spider hole on a farm outside his hometown of Tikrit.
[U.S. Army]

Stan McChrystal, the general whose vision and intensity transformed JSOC into a global manhunting machine.
[U.S. Army]

A Task Force Brown MH-6 Little Bird flying over Iraq with SEAL Team 6 operators on the pods ready for action.
[U.S. Navy]

SEAL Team 6 operators conducting a freefall jump from a C-17 Globemaster. Team 6 considered freefall missions their forte, and proved it during the rescue of Jessica Buchanan.
[U.S. Navy]

SEAL Team 6 operators silhouetted as their high-speed assault craft rises out of the water. Many operators suffered long-term health problems from the pounding they took during such training.
[U.S. Navy]

SEAL Team 6 operators during a night mission in Afghanistan.
[U.S. Navy]

SEAL Team 6 commander Captain Brian Losey briefs Navy Secretary Donald Winter on the capabilities of the Sentry unmanned aerial vehicle during a 2007 visit by Winter to Team 6's Dam Neck headquarters.
[U.S. Navy]

A Task Force Brown MH-60 Black Hawk landing on a rooftop in an Afghan valley to drop off SEAL Team 6 operators. Afghanistan's mountainous terrain frequently required the Night Stalker pilots to prove their reputation as the military's best.
[U.S. Navy]

President Barack Obama congratulates JSOC commander Vice Admiral Bill McRaven after the success of Operation Neptune's Spear, the mission to kill Osama bin Laden.
[AP Photo/Charles Dharapak]

JSOC commander Lieutenant General Joe Votel greets Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, April 23, 2014, during a visit by Hagel to JSOC headquarters at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
[Defense Department/Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo]

Lieutenant General Tony Thomas, who became JSOC commander in July 2014.
[U.S. Army]

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-Winning defense journalist
SEAN NAYLOR
is the only reporter who focused on U.S. Special Operations forces as an exclusive beat for
Army Times,
and he has consistently broken news on JSOC operations since 9/11. He has reported on military operations in Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He writes for
Foreign Policy
and contributes to
The New York Times
. He has earned the White House Correspondents' Association's prestigious Edgar A. Poe Award for his coverage of operation Anaconda, which led to his
New York Times
bestselling book about the operation,
Not a Good Day to Die
. You can sign up for email updates
here
.