Special Reconnaissance And Advanced Small Unit Patrolling

Special Forces and Vietnam Veteran Ed Wolcoff's book Special Reconnaissance and Advanced Small Unit Patrolling is a very ambitious publication. In it's pages he has sought to create a guide on Special Forces best practices within the context of conducting patrols in a special/strategic reconnaissance context. Whether he accomplished his goals is up to those with the actual training and expertise to judge. But from this reviewer's perspective, even if he didn't accomplish everything he set out to do he couldn't have missed the mark by much. Furthermore, Wolcoff provides an invaluable look at what it means to have to fight and survive in some of the most lethal circumstances imaginable - something anyone with even a passing interest in these matters should understand.

This book is meant to be nothing less than THE go-to reference for actual special operators in the military, intelligence and paramilitary/law-enforcement communities. Wolcoff's intention here is to not just create a guide to best practices when conducting small unit patrols but ideally to create a publication that preserves the accumulated expertise and knowledge so painfully acquired in multiple tours of duty in Vietnam. He not only does that but also incorporates more modern approaches to these topics toward meeting his goals of imbuing in his readers the guidance needed to incorporate it into training/operations and thus dramatically increasing the efficacy and survivability of SpecOps personnel in combat.

Special Reconnaissance and Advanced Small Unit Patrolling offers much of interest to the non-specialist as well. To emphasize his points the author weaves numerous real-world examples of special reconnaissance (SR) operations. The point of each of these vignettes is to further emphasize best practices (or Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures learned) during his assingment to the Vietnam war era Military Assistance Command Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) and the corresponding strategic/special reconnaissance operations the author took part in. When used in conjunction with existing military field manuals it is likely that this book will be of great assistance to those looking to not only preserve the knowledge and lessons learned from Wolcoff's experiences, but also provide insight into what it means to engage special/strategic reconnaissance operational planning and preparation, through execution, logistics and command and control.

Because of the specialized nature of these topics and the industry-specific guidance/jargon employed the book can be a bit of a challenge for someone lacking the approrpriate background. Mercifully, the author incorporates a much appreciated glossary that addresses each of the myriad abbreviations used throughout the book's pages. Overall, the detail is suberb. For instance, pictures, maps, diagrams, and sketches are incorporated quite extensively. Even if you have never had military training of any kind I believe this is a book that can be grasped by a non-veteran military history enthusiast. This reviewer certainly found it both illuminating and interesting.