The Deguello

 Author's Summary

We simply call it 9/11 now. That day means something different to so many people, but for ten Green Berets, it means even more. Just days after the horrific attacks in New York, a handful of Green Berets from the decorated 5th Special Forces Group were secretly inserted deep behind enemy lines in Northern Afghanistan to set the stage for the upcoming War on Terror. Their mission was to seek out and kill as many Taliban and Al Qaida forces as they could find. Go inside the legend of one of Americas most elite units in this exciting and sometimes humorous account of their avenging the most horrific terrorist attack we have ever experienced.

Written as a fictional story and firsthand account of the actual events that transpired for the first Special Forces A-Team into Afghanistan after 9/11, The Deguello pulls the reader into the actual Team. You get the feeling you are right there with them as they infiltrate Afghanistan, attack enemy forces, get ambushed, train the Northern Alliance and move on the capitol city of Kabul. You get a sense of the camaraderie and brotherhood of being on a Special Forces A-Team and how these men train and fight.

Not written like a typical military historical book, this is a story based on the actual events that occurred to start the War on Terror. The reader is brought along from the very beginning and watches the entire story unfold before their eyes from the attacks of September 11th all the way through the dramatic and exciting conclusion of the assault on Kabul.

“This book is for Joe,” says the author, Scott A. Zastrow, a former Green Beret with more than 20-years in the Army. “With all the books out there by military historians written for the small group of intellectuals who enjoy them, Joe is kind of left out in the cold. He’s bored by statistics, random facts of supposed historical significance, and overblown dramatics that they will easily call bullsh*t on. When reading the Deguello, Joe will say ‘I can see that happening; I’ve done that; I’ve said that; I want to do that.”

When asked why this book is different than other historical military books about Afghanistan, Zastrow says, “It’s not your typical hubristic story of ‘look how cool I am’. It’s a real story about real men doing what they get paid to do. A bunch of jackasses who are good at their jobs and who made the best of the situations they were put in. It just so happens these jackasses were called to do their jobs at a pretty significant time in American history, and they did it very well.”

Nothing we know of the War in Afghanistan would be possible had it not been for what these men did. Bagrahm Air Base is now the largest Coalition Base in Theater and was held by the enemy when this Team arrived. Read how it all began in this exciting, action packed and sometimes humorous account of one our Nation’s most elite Special Operations units. They accomplished what no unit or larger force has ever done before……..or ever will again.

MWSA Review

The Deguello is a historically accurate book of events leading up to the war in Afghanistan, the war the United States entered not by choice as a result of 9/11. Zastrow tells it like it was and is, an army veteran of more than twenty years and a Green Beret, glosses over nThe Deguello othing in the telling, and as only combat veterans can identify with there is humor also.

This is not a book written by a historian or someone writing from numerous interviews, which is why the book will keep you in your seat and turning pages. For those that have never experienced first-hand what it is like, surprise and shock will be experienced, for those that have lived it; recognition of what it is like will be readily identifiable.

America’s Special Forces do not receive the credit, publicity or recognition they fully deserve. Obviously the work they perform needs to be kept quiet, one can only hope that years later their parade will take place, not for them but so Americans can understand and salute their quiet service.

This is a must read for history buffs and those interested in the military. We all live with the “War on Terror.” Now, reading this book will provide an understanding of what it is like and bring the silent side of the war into some understanding.

Reviewed by: Jim Greenwald (2012)