ISBN-13: 978-1-250-27817-3, St. Martin’s Press, 2024, 304 pages, $15.13 (hardcover)
Reviewed by: James Stejskal, Historian, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
When I first read about The Unit: My Life Fighting Terrorists as One of America’s Most Secret Military Operatives online, I was concerned about the secrets the book might reveal—specifically, that it might disclose too much about what I know to be one of the best-kept secrets in the United States military or, for that matter, the U.S. government.
The Unit—I will call it that as well and for good reason—the missions it has, the people who carry them out, and how it goes about its work have been classified for many years. Rightly so.
There has been much conjecture, and many assertions made about this military organization by journalists, podcasters, and armchair strategists who claim they know what’s what. Most of those contentions have fallen well short of reality—thankfully. Because “The Unit” is a vital resource that plays a key role in protecting our nation.
So it was with some trepidation that I contacted the co-author, Kelly Kennedy, to ask whether the book had gone through the Defense Department’s required pre-publication review process. I was relieved when she told me that the author had insisted on following proper clearance procedures with the DoD and The Unit to ensure no security breach would occur. Somewhat placated, I ordered the book to see what “Adam Gamal” (a pseudonym) had to say.
First off, it’s good. It’s a well-constructed narrative that moves along quickly and draws the reader in.
Second, it’s not about The Unit. I can say that. The author touches on aspects of his duties but nothing that would paint a picture for an adversary. I’ll get into that later.
Third, what it is about is a personal story. Adam Gamal tells us an immigrant’s tale—a journey from Egypt to the United States. A story of family and his “becoming” American. The author begins by taking us back to his birthplace of Alexandria on the shores of the Mediterranean. He describes his parents as key to an upbringing that gave him the tools to succeed—first by being a strong couple, neither dominating the other, then by ensuring he overcame his childhood asthma. How they conditioned him to beat it, giving him the stamina to pass The Unit’s physically and mentally grueling assessment and selection program, is a tribute to both their and the author’s determination. His self-taught father insisted he get a good education and, above all, be tolerant of others in the melting pot that Alexandria was at that time. Muslims, Christians, and Jews got along in those days—not too long ago.
There was one other thing he learned: to avoid the Muslim Brotherhood—the extremists who would eventually alter the status quo as the “hateful” influence of Salafists seeped into Egypt. It was because of his education, family, and friends that he turned away from extremists and their teachings. But perhaps the event that affected him most of all was the visit of Jimmy Carter to Egypt after Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel. Gamal persevered and ended up studying in the United States and working wherever he could.
If there was one event that steered his course into the Army, it was the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. He joined as an immigrant, without a security clearance. He would have to work his way up. Why did he join? It was his way of paying his debt to his adopted country in advance and a way to counter the extremists he scorned. From there, he recounts some of his “adventures.”
There are snippets of his military life—going through basic training, and deployments with the conventional (aka “green,” aka “big”) Army—before he takes the jump into the “black” world. He describes dealing with the anti-Arab resentment of soldiers who had served in Operation DESERT STORM, people who only saw that he was brown and different from them. But he persevered. He applied his life lessons and climbed the ladder, but it was his “alien” origins that became an asset and changed his life’s course. His culture and language brought him to the attention of The Unit, which needed men and women like him.
In the book, Gamal alludes to his service with the “secret squirrel” side of the military. It was the kind of job that, when someone says, “Thank you for your service,” you know they haven’t the faintest idea what “your service” actually was. In Adam Gamal’s case, it meant living and working in places with little comfort, great danger, and often no top cover from the Air Force.
And quite often, it was dangerous beyond measure—literally. You are usually living on your own amid what might be a peaceful place one second and the worst place on Earth the next.
The author knows what that kind of service is about, and it shows in his writing (ably assisted by Ms. Kennedy). But he does not shout it out. He quietly emphasizes that the work is done by men and women—committed professionals who have chosen a path that lies in the shadows and is rarely acknowledged. His book commemorates those like him who have chosen that route to repay a nation that gave them the opportunity and the freedom to choose.
Suffice it to say, the book will not show or tell you much about the men and women of that Unit or even what it does—other than that it does its job very well. What you will learn is that there are people, many of them immigrants, willing to do what is necessary to protect our country and its way of life. It is a story well worth reading—one that demonstrates that while so many Americans stay home safe and uncommitted, there are others who risk it all to do it on their behalf.
This book will interest anyone who wants to understand why cultural diversity and the ability to work in foreign environments are crucial for the U.S. to achieve its goals around the world.
James Stejskal is an author, military historian, and conflict archaeologist, having served with the U.S. Army Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency for nearly 35 years.
