No Room for Error

Covert Operations of America's Special Tactics Units from Iran to Afghanistan (Unabr.)

By: Colonel John T. Carnet Jr., Benjamin F. Schemmer

Narrated by: Patrick Girard Lawlor

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

When the U.S. Air Force decided to create an elite "special tactics" team in the late 1970s to work with special-operations forces, John T. Carney was the man they turned to. Since then Carney and the U.S. Air Force Special Tactical units have circled the world on clandestine missions. They have combated terrorists and overthrown dangerous dictators. They have suffered 18 times the casualty rate of America's conventional forces. But they have gotten the job done.

Now, for the first time, Colonel Carney lifts the veil of secrecy and reveals what really goes on inside the special-operations forces that are at the forefront of contemporary warfare.

©2002 Colonel John T.Carnet, Jr., USAF-Ret and Benjamin F. Schemmer

Critic reviews

"An exciting, action-packed story by a legendary figure." (Gen. Carl W. Stiner, USA (Ret.) Former Commander-in-Chief U.S. Special Operation Command )
"It is the story of bravery, heroism and American ingenuity at its very best." (Gen. Duane H. Cassidy, USAF (Ret.), Former Commander-in-Chief U.S. TRANSCOM and Military Airlift Command)

Great Book - bad audio quality

This is a great book. The narrator is good as well. But the recording quality is the worst I have ever heard on Audible. If you can get past that ... it’s a good listen.

Great book....terrible sound quality.

I thought this was a great book with a unique prospective. I enjoy it every time I read it. The sound quality of the recording is atrocious though. Seriously sounds like someone held a tape recorder next to a record being played.

Audio Quality Lacking

Where does No Room for Error rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The story is a good story and I really wanted to like it but the audio quality is unacceptable

Any additional comments?

Audio is terrible listened to it on 3 devices all sound terrible.

Fantastic Book about Special Ops

I just finished listening to this book, and I must say I found it to be nothing less than fantastic. Very interesting accounts of Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, and Afghanistan. The book has a focus on the Air Force, which is appropriate since that's the branch Col. Carney was in. It sheds light on AF Spec Ops, which most people don't know a lot about. It has only been in recent years that the Air Force's talented special operations folks have been getting any recognition. I've read other books about the same conflicts, and was, in fact, part of the invasion of Grenada. But this book filled in many holes for me. It was very interesting to read about the driving forces behind the formation of SOCOM, and how different commanders have had varying opinions of Spec Ops. Even some of the high profile military commanders in the last 20 years have resisted using Spec Ops, desiring instead to use conventional tactics. It seems nuts to prefer to wage a "tank war" these days, but apparently that's how some of the commanders think. In short, I thought it was a tremendously entertaining, respectful, well written book.

Sound quality is not very good

Great book great reading but sound quality is sub par. Great insight in to special forces and the Air Force.

I was very curious about this book

What I wanted to know was how close to the truth it was,,, since I am retired US Air Force Special Ops.Anti-terrorism and as civilians call Black OPS I know the author. the book was interesting and written by an officer not a true author of books, so it sounds like a briefing ( and not a real good briefing) they just scratch the surface and focus on allot of aircraft details now not in use. more of a recruiter tool in my opinion. there is way more going on now ,than when he retired in 91.
the AF spec ops was not known to public until Afghanistan invasion because government decided time to go public since it was the AIR FORCE that took the country with Army and Navy support. still to this day units do not go out into the field there UNLESS they have AF spec ops guy with them. He mainly hits on just a few of the jobs but there is way more to it than what this book says. I am very bias since I was there and had to get this book. and after being in all the places he speaks of facts are spot on, and what can be told is told. Please remember this, the Air Force is the most hush hush of all the branches of the service and where you find any special ops units the Air Force guys are with them we all work together ! there are allot of to the point facts and reason is the Col is a no nonsense guy as all of us are.
well listen to part of it first then decide to buy it. just my opinion

Terrible Audio

Can’t really hear anything. Sounds like it was recorded by a phone with a microphone attached.

Not as good as the others

I've been on a run of "special forces bios" recently, and this one is bottom of my list. The recording is WAY bassy (almost unlistenable on the first CD). Also, the author repeats, from a 3rd person perspective, alot...understandable in a first person narrative, but boring historically.

No Room for Error (Unabridged)

Whoever gave this more than one star is unconscious. This narrative sounds like restatement of after-action reports. Obviously Col. Carnet feels special-ops have been under appreciated. The whining gets old. Not one of my better choices.

Would be a good book if you could understand I

The book is as far as I could make out a factual account of the special operations. Unfortunately the narrator is difficult to understand due to the lack of clarity of the recording. This download was a complete waste of credits.