OK, I checked Cramer out in _Stolen Valor_ too. In fact he was the first person I looked for, since I've loved this novel since my cadet days. Maybe he isn't what he made himself out to be. On the other hand, two former instructors of mine, both of whom DID run recon out of CCN, said it was an extremely well done book, so much so that if Cramer didn't have SF, MACV-SOG, or LRRP experience, in their opinion, he had help from those who did. Read it, take the obvious name-changes he admits to in the forward in stride (Operation Fire Bird instead of Phoenix, etc.), and enjoy the hell out of it. It beats the hell out of Tom Clancy's _Rainbow Six_.