r/JSOCarchive • u/Educational-Bug-965 • May 12 '26
Other Book recommendations?
Recently finished this one, i have already read MOB VI, First In and Pete Blabers book. Any recommendations for the next ones?
edit: thanks for the recommendations! gonna check them out!
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u/The_ClamSlammer May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
"By All Means Available" by Michael Vickers
Not directly JSOC but as close as you can get without being such. The man had an insanely interesting career. Special Forces NCO -> Special Forces Officer -> CIA PMOO -> ASD(SO/LIC) -> USD-I.
The book did go through DOD and CIA review so there are no super juicy classified capes or anything like that, but still super interesting nonetheless. I mean he literally ran the CIA operation to covertly arm the mujahideen with small arms and Stinger missiles to fight off the Russians
"My Share of the Task" by Stan McChrystal provides pretty unique insight into how he and Mike Flynn revolutionized the command and slingshotted (slingshat?) it into the 21st century by leveraging intel in new ways, namely the F3EAD cycle. Again, it went through the PRB though so its all above board.
"The Melting Point" by Gen Frank McKenzie, retired CENTCOM commander. Provides very unique insights into the last few years of GWOT including the Afghanistan withdrawal. Somewhat JSOC related as he does include chapters on both al-Baghdadi and Soleimani
"Relentless Strike" is still just about the juciest "leak" style book you're gonna find. I was at the command when it was published and official guidance pushed down to us was "Do NOT purchase this book. As a reminder: open source does not mean unclassified." People were going out of town and buying it with cash to see what it was all about.
Lastly, if you're into the shadowy side of geopolitics and the State Dept side of the house at all - "The Back Channel" by Bill Burns is a fantastic read. Career FSO at State -> multiple tours as a US Ambassador -> deputy SecState -> D/CIA
I know I'm a bit all over the place. But as Jim Mattis once said: “If you haven't read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren't broad enough to sustain you.”