A thoroughly-researched and compellingly-told history of another, yet little-known, contribution of the American military to global stability.
~General George W. Casey, Jr., 36th Chief of Staff, U. S. Army, United Nations Military Observer 1981-1982
The U. S. Armed forces are reluctant players in United Nations operations but nonetheless have a long history of supporting these missions both directly and indirectly. They have ranged from strictly supporting roles in the Congo to robust operations in Haiti, Somalia, and Bosnia. We do too little to prepare for these missions and then take little notice of our performance. Colonel Scott Lingamfelter's Yanks in Blue Berets: American UN Peacekeepers in the Middle East, illuminates the dangerous and vital role Americans played in working to keep the peace in Lebanon during the 1980s. Lingamfelter examines peace missions in Lebanon through the lens of his own service and considers them in both in the context of what he learned and what U. S. Armed forces can and should learn from these complex operations. Yanks in Blue Berets is a story well told of soldiers, sailors, marines, and airman succeeding in difficult operations and a worthy addition to the historiography of peace operations generally.
~Colonel Gregory Fontenot, U.S. Army (Retired)
An interesting and unique first-person account of the intricacies of UN peacekeeping operations in the Middle East. A must read for military officers conducting peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations. While the author specifically highlights cultural interaction in the Levant, the lessons that he and his teammates learned could easily be adapted to the Balkans and other conflict areas around the globe.
~Clinton T. Anderson, BG, USA (Ret)
Scott Lingamfelter has written a brilliant book that is a critique of a UN mission largely doomed to failure because of its very nature and inherent constraints. It is also a memoir of his journey of professional development in trying circumstances. Few Americans even know that these peacekeeping missions are taking place as this book appears. These young American warfighters put aside their weapons in the honorable pursuit of peace in a region where it is virtually unknown. As Scott recalls, it was dangerous: 'armed elements may have made our mandate difficult to fulfill, but they never dampened our desire to fulfill it.' This is the soul of this book. Committed military officers living the essence of an old African saying: 'If you think you are too small to make a difference then you haven't spent the night with a mosquito.' A must for the reading lists of every civilian and military policymakers.
~David E. Johnson, Ph.D., Principal Researcher, RAND Corporation, Senior Fellow, Modern War Institute at West Point
As a career special forces officer, Yanks in Blue Berets is a book I wish I had been able to read early in my training. In 30 years in the Army, I was never exposed to the operations chronicled in this very important book in any appreciable detail. Not only is this an important perspective of history in the Middle East, but it also provides lessons in leadership, decision making, intelligence, cultural awareness and so much more. The Army strives to operate with a "mission command" philosophy. The peacekeepers in this book were living it, and today we can still learn so much from their experiences. Had a book and studies like this been available sooner for military leaders, how would the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have turned out? Yet it is not too late to learn from these experiences.
~Colonel David Maxwell, US Army (Retired) Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Relying on his journal notes, published and unpublished UN documents, interviews with fellow peacekeepers, and other memoirs, Lingamfelter's new account provides an insightful and revealing reminiscence into the workings of a largely unknown aspect of U.S. military history—peacekeeping duty during the Cold War....Lingamfelter's memoir reveals a deeper legacy of American involvement in peacekeeping, and it does so in a remarkably personal way. Scholars have only recently begun to write histories of UN peacekeeping, and Lingamfelter's memoir uncovers a rich vein of material in this field that is ripe for further scholarly exploration.
~Journal of Military History
Yanks in Blue Berets is a well-written account, and readers who are interested in modern peacekeeping operations, especially those that have been conducted in the Middle East, will find much to enjoy in this book.
~The Journal of America's Military Past
