Content area
Full Text
Falcon Brigade: Combat and Command in Somalia and Haiti. By Lawrence E. Casper. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2001. 257 pages. $35.00. Reviewed by Colonel George F. Oliver, Director of the US Army Peacekeeping Institute.
If you liked the book Black Hawk Down, about the incident surrounding the Special Operations raid in Mogadishu, Somalia, in October 1993, then you will find Larry Casper's Falcon Brigade equally compelling. In a unique two-year command tour of the aviation brigade in the US Army's 10th Mountain Division, Colonel Casper played an instrumental role in two historic operations. Assuming command of the brigade a short time before the failed special operations raid to capture Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed, Colonel Casper personally directed the rescue of the trapped rangers. After returning briefly to Fort Drum, New York, home of the 10th Mountain Division, Colonel Casper was still in command during one of the most heralded planning changes in the history of the US Army. In September 1994, the Army made a dramatic switch in plans related to the insertion of forces into Haiti. This change required complementary, detailed actions by two separate units. Colonel Casper was instrumental in crafting the final...