Overview
By design, the U.S. Army's Special Forces--we call them Green Berets, but they tend to avoid that term--are very secretive. As a result, there isn't much to counterbalance their popular Ramboesque image. This book does a lot to set the record straight. Simons, a Harvard Ph.D. in anthropology, befriended some SFers while she was doing fieldwork in Somalia. Later, back in the States, she married one of them. The Company They Keep was written once she had the unrivaled access of a Special Forces team-member's wife; it covers more than a year in the life of some SF soldiers, covering every phase of their initiation and training. The reader will feel reassured as the narrative makes it clear that these forces America increasingly relies on in low-intensity scenarios such as Somalia and Haiti emphasize not individual bravado, but smooth functioning as a members of a team; so much so that loyalty to the team tends to take precedence over personal concerns and family. The divorce rate is high.