http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/682836.asp A breathless profile of a Special Forces team and their operations in Afghanistan. (e.g. (first sentence) "They landed in darkness on an early November night, deep in the mountains of northern Afghanistan. ...") Apparently, Special Forces soldiers are typically in their mid 30s and have college degrees. They also know four languages--though I don't know why this particular team tried to communicate in Arabic, French, Chinese then Russian. (Note: 0+ level proficiency is not particularly high.)
I saw Black Hawk Down last night. It was reasonably thrilling, but it's basically a big gun battle, without structure, meaning or narrative. (This is real life, I suppose.) "What Black Hawk Down Leaves Out" covers some of the political background. 11:55