Product Description

DESPERATE LANDS is the unprecedented story of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and the missions they have carried out while fighting the war on terror in the Horn of Africa and in Afghanistan. The book is unique and timely, in that it tells the compelling story of our nations struggle and of its soldiers fighting a new and different kind of war never fought before a Global War on Terror. This true story comes at a time when our nation has divided feelings and opinions about this war a division that exists among both government leaders and the American people. These pages offer a different perspective that of lower enlisted soldiers reflecting their personal experience in combat zones in Africa and Afghanistan as they witnessed and experienced the fog of war. The author Special Forces Master Sergeant Regulo Zapata, Jr. shares his extraordinary journey through ancient and desperate lands at the front lines of this ongoing war. Here are true stories of sacrifice, bravery, excitement, horror, anger, tedium, fear, camaraderie, and more a firsthand look behind the headlines at the reality of the exceptional and difficult challenges U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers face as they defend America against the terrorist threat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #212363 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• 192 pages

Review
An exciting read and fascinating journey. A must-read this year.
--Chief Warrant Officer John Brookins, U.S. Army Special Forces.

Excellent read! Regulo gives a detailed, emotional description of the efforts of Special Forces to hunt down terrorists in Africa and in Afghanistan and bring them to justice.
--Major Bill Lamos, United States Air Force (Retired).

Master Sgt. Regulo Zapata has written a fascinating account of life inside a contemporary Special Forces Operational Detachment ALPHA as it conducts missions around the world. Zapata is a member of the old breed of SF sergeants and provides a career professionals perspective on this small community of warrior-brothers that couldn't be written by anybody but a Green Beret. This book describes how an ODA works as it gears up for battle and then executes its many missions in strange places around the globe. A good addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in special operations forces at war.
--Hans Halberstadt, author, Roughneck Nine-One and War Stories of the Green Berets.

For Special Forces Master Sgt. Regulo Zapata, Jr., writing and publishing a book about the months he spent immersed in the fog of war along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border was more daunting than the mission itself. Zapata's first sentence has been tweaked and edited, but it has always been about the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City, an event that sparked two wars. Zapata had been in the Army since he was 19 years old, but his involvement in the War on Terror began the day he was called on to report for duty. His goal was to lend his reader a glimpse into the everyday activities of Special Forces soldiers in Djibouti and Afghanistan while they trained villagers to fight Taliban forces. Although some readers have questioned Zapata's storytelling ability, many readers said his story is an accurate and insightful account of a soldier fighting the War on Terror.
--Sara Suddes, The Gilroy Dispatch

Master Sgt. Regulo Zapata has written a fascinating account of life inside a contemporary Special Forces Operational Detachment ALPHA as it conducts missions around the world. Zapata is a member of the old breed of SF sergeants and provides a career professionals perspective on this small community of warrior-brothers that couldn't be written by anybody but a Green Beret. This book describes how an ODA works as it gears up for battle and then executes its many missions in strange places around the globe. A good addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in special operations forces at war.
--Hans Halberstadt, author, Roughneck Nine-One and War Stories of the Green Berets.

About the Author
Regulo Zapata Jr. was an Army Special Operations NCO and retired as a Master Sergeant in 2003 after 28 years of service with the U.S.Army Special Forces. He now lives in Santa Clara County, California.

Customer Reviews

Desperate Lands an almost apt title!
I bought this book because of the ratings it got on amazon but like another reader above i am wondering if they were describing the same book as i just read. While there is no doubting the bravery of the man in question i quite frankly found this book very hard to read. I actually found the writing to be nothing short of 'strange' - at times it feels like the text was written by a robot or someone who does not have a good command of the english language - with lots of repetition and this is suddenly dispersed with the odd curse which seems like it was just put in there to liven things up - in short it feels uncomfortable to read and i think that the author wrote this book and then someone came along and 'dubbed it' ! Apart from all of that the book is extremely boring - dealing with the day to day medial tasks these guys took on and very little action which i think is what most readers/buyers of these types of books expect. Overall one of the worst special forces books i ever read because quite simply i had to 'fight' myself to keep reading it to the finish.

Desperately Disappointing
I'm sure MSG Zapata is very good at his job. However, his ability to write is lacking, to say the least. The content and the story line is mundane, often times nothing more than rambling on about daily activities. Sure, there are some fancy acronyms in there, but for those of us who actually know what they mean, it's easy to see that it's just filler.
There are typos in the text. MSG Zapata's use of terms, both technical, and those known as jargon, are inaccurate and misused. Many times both sentences and paragraphs are just redundant and drawn out.
MSG's contribution to the Global War on Terror and to the service of our great nation should never go unappreciated -- and this is not what this review is implying. I'm simply stating that the book is lacking substance.

An honest account of the war on terrorism.
To read this book is to live the life of a special forces soldier in today's army. It isn't all glamour and guns but hard work and thought that makes the special forces soldier the tip of the spear in America's war on terror. You'll find the honest truth in what you read, and come to appreciate the people in uniform who do so much for our country day in and day out more and more.

I'd recommend this book to any reader interested in military current events and the special forces.