I could not have written this book without the love and support of many people.
My parents, Dave and Verney Naylor, never stopped believing in me, for which I will always be grateful. My brother Mark was a constant source of encouragement, while Hannah and Duncan, my niece and nephew, reminded me that there is more to life than book writing. My sister-in-law Laura and her parents, Peter and Joanne Roth, made me feel welcome as always on my all-too-infrequent visits to New England.
Christine McCann not only showed more patience and love and sacrificed more of herself than I had a right to expect as deadlines came and went. She also copyedited the manuscript, helped organize my time, provided an extraordinarily comfortable desk chair, and was a tireless advocate for the Oxford comma. Henry McCann, meanwhile, graciously allowed me to pet him and feed him “flying” treats, and was a source of enormous joy during the project’s darkest days.
I began full-time work on this book at the end of 2011, when my editors at Gannett Government Media Corporation (the company that publishes Army Times) allowed me to disappear on unpaid book leave for an indefinite period. I eventually parted ways with Army Times, my professional home for more than twenty-three years, but I remain grateful to Tobias Naegele, Alex Neill, and Richard Sandza for supporting my work while I was at the paper, and to the entire newsroom staff for making Army Times such a great place to work for so long.
The vast majority of the sources for this book consented to be interviewed on the condition that I not identify them. But I owe all my sources—named and unnamed—a debt of enormous gratitude for having the courage to talk with me. This book would not have been possible without their participation.
While the cloak of secrecy that the Defense Department insists on draping over Joint Special Operations Command meant that no military public affairs officers were empowered to arrange interviews to help in my reporting, Army Colonel Tim Nye, the U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman during the first phase of the research, not only supported my project but went above and beyond the call of duty in trying to persuade his bosses to cooperate with me. His deputy and successor, retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Ken McGraw, was always professional in his dealings with me, answering my questions when he could. Tatjana Christian in the Department of the Army’s media relations office in the Pentagon was a model of efficiency in responding to my numerous requests for the official résumés of active duty and retired general officers. Jeanne Bankard, deputy chief of the Army’s General Officer Management Office, was very helpful in explaining the “frocking” process as it applied to JSOC commanders. Federal Aviation Authority historian Terry Kraus patiently hunted down post-9/11 hijacking rumors for me, while Donna Tabor, Terry’s counterpart at Fort Bragg, provided useful information on the scenes at Bragg in September and October 2001. Retired Army Colonel Rick Kiernan also gave of his time generously.
Several colleagues from the media world were particularly helpful: Rob Curtis placed his knowledge of special operations people and gear at my disposal; Chris Cavas explained how best to track the past movements of Navy ships; David Wood cast his mind back to Bagram in March 2002 on my behalf; and Melinda Day used her deep understanding of the Naval Special Warfare community to put me in touch with good people.
Scott Miller, my long-suffering agent at Trident Media Group, was a source of support and encouragement throughout the process of writing Relentless Strike, while Marc Resnick at St. Martin’s was as patient and understanding an editor as an author could wish for, and one whose suggestions never failed to improve the manuscript. Responsibility for any flaws that remain is mine alone.