The Complete Delta Force Shooters

Introduction

Introduction

I started writing about Delta Force in 2008 when Colonel Michael Gibson stepped onto the scene in an early draft of The Night Is Mine (The Night Stalkers #1). It was easy to become intrigued by these unconventional warriors.

They were unconventional in every way.

In a military built around massive, highly structured elements (especially in the 1970s), the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta was structured around very small teams. They replaced force with speed, intense planning with intense training, and military convention with operating way outside any envelope ever seen outside the British SAS that they were based on.

For years, the US military fought against using Delta’s capabilities, but in our changing world and its changing wars, Delta proved that counter terrorism was far from their only strength. Their ability to react effectively on “no notice” situations turned them into the stiletto in a military built around battle-hammer thinking.

I became fascinated.

These were the warrior elite that every other military unit either aspires to or fears down to their boots.

I’ve written many Delta Force novels and stories, trying to bring a civilian’s understanding to their motivations and their lives. They may be the most elite fighters in any military, but they are still people. It is easy to label such forces simply as “other.”

Years ago, I had a couple beers and a lot of fiery-hot Buffalo wings at the actual Anchor Bar where they were created. The friend who took me there talked about how being a cop (and his wife’s role as a nurse) made them “other.”

“No matter who we meet, at a party or in the grocery store, they see us as outside their society. We aren’t treated as people; we’re treated as ‘cop’ and ‘nurse’.”

It would take me a decade to find where to tell that story. I thought it would be when writing about the elite helicopter pilots of the 160th SOAR Night Stalkers. But it was Delta Force who were the ultimate extreme warriors. And it was in telling their stories that I found a place to explore “otherness.”

As to why these five stories for this collection; Delta Force serves many roles within their elite niche. And this expanded far beyond their original counter-terrorism mandate.

One of those roles is that they’re perhaps the best snipers anywhere. There are others, the US Marine Corps Scout Sniper comes easily to mind, but the tiny Delta Force (of perhaps 1,200 operators) annually shoots more rounds than all of the US Marine Corps (182,000 personnel) combined.

Practice may not make perfect, but it sure helps.

Most estimates state that a US military action fires between ten- and fifty-thousand rounds per kill. (Some reports place that number as high as a quarter-million.)

Delta Force is estimated to have a shot-to-kill on the scale of five to ten (not thousand, just five to ten). And that includes the fact that they prefer to use three rounds per target as extra insurance.

But the other part of being a sniper, and the biggest impact on the one former sniper I spoke with, was that a sniper sees their target. It’s often not a battle. It’s not a firefight. They choose a target, see them, in extreme cases may get to know a great deal about them, and then they kill that individual.

All of these factors combined into the telling of these stories. I wanted to look at what drove these shooters to be able to do that. And how did it affect them.

In these five romance tales, I hope that I also have come even a little bit close to capturing that for you.

Sound of Her Warrior Heart

Delta Force operator Katrina Melman’s hearing goes missing when her mission gets blown away. But she’s Delta, the Army doesn’t pay her to fail.

Sergeant Tomas Gallagher, the best soldier she’s ever met, only speaks to her in sharp commanding tones. Now she can’t hear him at all.

Only together can they complete the mission if they hope to find the Sound of Her Warrior Heart.