The US Marine Raider was an "elite within an elite." Modelled on British Commandoes, they were the earliest forerunners of the various Special Operations units of the modern US military. These units would conduct operations with only the equipment they could carry on their backs; their heaviest weapons were light mortars and light machine guns. Highly trained in close-in fighting, the Raiders were expected to be equally skilled in watercraft, jungle survival, and jungle warfare. This title will follow two Raiders through some of the toughest raining ever to be experienced by a Marine and onto combat during the Makin Raid, and through the horrific jungle battles of the Solomon Islands.

Author Biography

Ed Gilbert was a Marine artilleryman and a Battalion Training NCO in the Marine Corps Reserve. He holds a Ph.D. in geology, and is now a geologist and geophysicist involved in petroleum exploration in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America. Ed has written for hobby, historical, and veteran's magazines, and is the author of oral and operational histories of the Marine Corps' armored units in World War II and the Korean War. He is currently at work on a history of the Marine Corps tank battalions in the Vietnam conflict. The author lives in Texas, USA.