"Inside Delta Force" provides a fascinating look at the unit selection process and the initial six months of unit training and tactics development for SFOD-Delta. SGT Haney's perspective is revealingly different from that of previous books covering the same time frame of Delta, like Col. Charlie Beckwith's "Delta Force" that was written from the command perspective. Haney's personal philosophy and his relaxed storytelling narrative, complete with lots of hilarious recounted jokes, give "Inside Delta Force" a working soldier's feel.

Unfortunately, Haney's narrative thins out after the selection and initial period of training. He covers the training for and the abortive mission to Iran for Operation Eagle Claw in about 10 pages, with for example no mention of the joint training exercises with SFOD-Delta and the USAF units, as documented in books by Beckwith and USAF Col. James Kyle. Haney writes a great description of filthy, early 80s Beirut, but then summarizes all his missions there in a couple pages of vague one or two sentence paragraphs. Haney recounts SFOD-Delta's role in the sloppy invasion of Grenada, but this section remains brief since there wasn't much to cover. Haney clearly avoids compromising any events or tactics, but even given this secutiry consideration, portions of his book are threadbare. Finally, although Haney was in Panama in the late 80s, he was there with regular Army units after he left SFOD-Delta in 1987. Thus, "Inside Delta Force" contains no first-hand information on the three most famous SFOD-Delta deployments of the early 90s - the invasion of Panama, SCUD hunting in Iraq during Desert Storm, and Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu.

"Inside Delta Force" is a great look at early SFOD-Delta selection and training, and a captivating look inside the mind of a thoughtful professional soldier of the 70s and 80s, but fails as a reference on SFOD-Delta itself, covering less than half of the period since the unit was founded.