Mike
The Osprey Advent Calendar - December 19th
December 19, 2010 12:00 AM
Ed Moore is the Web Manager for Osprey Publishing. Ed is responsible for maintaining Osprey's website and making sure it runs smoothly so all of you can buy your books in a speedy manner. In addition to this, Ed is converting Osprey's back catalogue of printed books into ebook formats (PDF and ePub) and is in the process of digitizing all of Osprey's artwork, with the intent of featuring all of it in the Osprey membership area of the website.
I asked Ed what his all time favourite Osprey book was, and this is how he replied:
My favourite Osprey title of all time is Elite 163 Special Operations Forces (SOF) in Afghanistan. I was actually present at the publishing meeting when the idea of this title was first mooted, however, the idea was rejected the first time round and it had to come back fighting to be published.
I've read a lot of books involving SOF in Afghanistan but for its size this book offers so much more.
It details everything the reader requires, from specific unit involvement in operations since 2001 to the SF ORBAT under Operation Enduring Freedom. In addition to this Leigh Neville (the author) has detailed other SF units and their involvement under ISAF including, the Dutch, the UK and Norway.
Leigh Neville an Australian Intelligence specialist has certainly struck gold with the source material he includes in the book and his images complement his text. The profile artwork is another reason why I think this book is the best. The profiles detail the equipment, dress and weapons used by SOF, two artwork battle scenes provide historical detail to two operations conducted by US SOF in 2001 and 2003 and the last artwork plate shows two examples of the vehicles used by SOF units.
Along with operation and unit information the book also details the weapons and equipment used by SOF, from personal and support weapons to air assets.
Now that I read this I can use military abbreviations around the office like SSE, JSOC, CTC, HALO, and HVT. However, the down side is that no one has any idea what I'm talking about!
If you're interested in Special Operations Forces and their involvement in Afghanistan then this is the book for you.
COMMENTS
I don't know about the UK, but I find it disturbing that in Australia anyway there is virtually no media coverage of our Afghanistan forces. Occasionally a reporter will do an 'embedded' field report, but always with 'human interest' as the main focus.
In such a context, a book like this fills a huge gap I think for those us us actually interested in what's going (gone) on, as opposed to the mass of the population that seems to be content just to be vaguely aware that something is going on.
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