Table of Contents
Introduction: A Unit That Should Not Exist 3
Part 1 Neglect
Chapter 1 The Reluctant Creation and Violent Demise of the Navy's First Commandos, the Marine Corps Raiders 11
Chapter 2 The Sidelining of the Army's Amphibious Soldier-Scouts and the Call-up of the Navy's Second-String Sailors 36
Chapter 3 The US Army's First Commandos and the Raid That Wasn't 62
Part 2 Opportunity
Chapter 4 Draper Kauffman and the Course That Cracked the Atlantic Wall, Then Laid the First Bricks of the Legend of Naval Special Warfare 103
Chapter 5 The Evolving Contest That Created the Mermen of War-World War II's Only Indispensable Special Operations Unit 143
Chapter 6 The Contest for the Guerrilla War in China and the Organization That Had "No Damn Business" Fighting in It: The US Navy's Army of Sailors 187
Part 3 Relevance
Chapter 7 The US Navy's Postwar Plight, and the Sailor-Raiders Who Led Her Back to Significance in Korea 237
Chapter 8 The Resurrection of the Army's Rangers, and the Guerrilla Raid That Failed to Forestall Their Second Death 280
Chapter 9 Arleigh Burke, the Bay of Pigs, and the Launching of the Navy's Limited-War SEALs 327
Part 4 Exigency
Chapter 10 Kennedy's Army of Gladiators and the Counterinsurgency That Blunted Their Swords, Then Cleared the Way for Another Contender 351
Chapter 11 The First SEALs, Their Search for a Mission, and the Report That Found It for Them 380
Chapter 12 The Dam Break of Conventional War in Vietnam, and the Following Flood of Raiders That Failed to Beat the Navy to the Mekong Delta; All but One 401
Part 5 Culmination
Chapter 13 The Derailing of the First Direct-Action SEALs in the Rung Sat, and the Detachment That Restored Their Prospects 421
Chapter 14 The Direct-Action SEALs Who Dodged Diversion, Then Perfected a Mission That Propelled the Teams Past the Riverbanks, into History 437
Chapter 15 The Navy's Skeleton Key to Inland Combat, and the Final Against-the-Current Achievements in the War's Ebb Tide That Exposed the SEALs' Preeminence as the US Military's Go-Anywhere Commandos 483
Conclusion: Nature Abhors a Vacuum 501
A Note on Sources 507
Notes 513
Illustration Credits 595
Index 597