The training, resourcefulness and creativity of the US Special Forces soldier make him capable of jobs that few other soldiers could handle, in situations where traditional arms and movement do not apply. Tom Clancy traces the transformation of the Special Forces from the small core of outsiders of the 1950s through the cauldron of Vietnam and to the rebirth of the SF in the late 1980s and 1990s as the bearer of the largest, most mixed and most complex set of missions in the US military. From Vietnam to Laos to Panama and El Salvador to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq, these are stories of raids, counter-terrorism, hostage rescues, reconnaissance, counter-insurgency and psychological operations — and also of building settlements, teaching civilians, cleaning up water supplies and saving lives.