It is one of the classics of military fiction, and as much as I like Clancy's stuff normally, RSR is him at his absolute peak. But you can very much tell it was written in the 1980's just based on the sensibilities of many of the characters and the things he has them do or say. Even if other elements are arguably ahead of their time (Amelia Nakamura being one of the main side characters, who ends the book as the first female ace fighter pilot).

Another one for the uncanny ability Clancy seems to have for knowing his military stuff, he almost perfectly called how the US would conduct the opening of Operation Desert Storm, with the opening air strikes by NATO almost mirroring the same strategy that would end up being used IRL, but almost 5 years early.

EDIT: I also completely forgot about the fact that the book starts with a Muslim terrorist attack. Which would absolutely not fly in this day and age.

It is one of the classics of military fiction, and as much as I like Clancy's stuff normally, RSR is him at his absolute peak. But you can very much tell it was written in the 1980's just based on the sensibilities of many of the characters and the things he has them do or say. Even if other elements are arguably ahead of their time (Amelia Nakamura being one of the main side characters, who ends the book as the first female ace fighter pilot).

Another one for the uncanny ability Clancy seems to have for knowing his military stuff, he almost perfectly called how the US would conduct the opening of Operation Desert Storm, with the opening air strikes by NATO almost mirroring the same strategy that would end up being used IRL, but almost 5 years early.