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AbdominalSnowman
Mar 2, 2009

by Ozmaugh
Two questions:

I was watching old re-runs of Deadliest Warrior (though I know full well it does not do a very good job of being historically accurate...at all really) and something caught my attention during the SS vs. Viet Cong episode. Their "SS Expert" (basically just a German guy who is exactly as creepy as you would imagine) was talking about how stringent the requirements to join the SS were. He was saying something about having to be like 5'10, have a family history dating back like 10 generations, and not being able to even have so much as a single filling in your tooth, along with some other poo poo I can't remember. It sounded really off too me, and I tried doing a little research on my own where I read that the height requirement was true, but only for officers. I find it hard to believe that all of those requirements existed, but I wanted to hear from people who knew about it. I seem to recall that the SS had a low recruitment priority and the fact that they still threw together so many units makes me skeptical.


Second question: I guess this is technically multiple questions, but I want to do more reading about the Russian / Chechen conflict and also the US SOF community, specifically training and modern applications. I am also curious to read about early private military contractors, I remember seeing a very interesting documentary about the early PMCs operating in South America and Africa where they were more in line with mercenaries than security forces.

Someone recommended me a book on the first topic, it was called something Mountain I think, but I can't find it. Anyone know the name? For the SOF stuff I have already read Chosen Soldier by Dick Couch and enjoyed it, I will probably pick up some more of his stuff later but I wasn't sure if there are any other "must-reads" from other authors.

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AbdominalSnowman
Mar 2, 2009

by Ozmaugh
This is more contemporary military history, but I'm hoping someone can weigh in with some recommendations either way. I've read a lot about American Special Forces units, but I am still pretty in the dark about any of the foreign ones, aside from unit names and some brief summaries of declassified missions from decades ago. I'm really curious to get a look at some of those units that isn't biased or full of "superman" conjecture (i.e. for some reason most Brits just love saying that everyone but the SAS sucks rear end, and the Spetsnaz have so much ridiculous mythology surrounding them that it is impossible to determine what is reality). Are there any books that anybody could recommend? I don't really care what nation or military is represented, I just want to learn about how people that aren't American approach their special operations in a modern context.

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