Expert in covert operations part of 'Unit' team, New CBS drama about Special Forces operatives at work and at home debuts Tuesday

LOS ANGELES - The unit behind CBS' new military drama "The Unit"represents one of the more impressive gatherings in the name oftelevision.

Filmmaker and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet("Glengarry Glen Ross") is an executive producer and is writing ordirecting some of the 13 episodes. Shawn Ryan, creator of FX's Emmy-winning "The Shield," also enlisted as an executive producer.

Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Eric Haney, whose "Inside Delta Force"details his years in counterterrorism and covert operations, servesas adviser to the series that his 2002 book inspired.

But, according to Haney, all that creative and ex-Army firepowerwasn't what drew CBS chief executive Les Moonves to the drama aboutSpecial Forces operatives at work and at home, where their familiescope with a life of secrecy.

"Had you come in here with only an action series, I would havepassed. But when you said the wives, the sweethearts, that depth ofhumanity, that's when you had me," Haney recalled Moonves sayingafter a successful pitch meeting.

Wags have dubbed the series "Desperate Housewives Meet G.I Joe."The quip draws a measured response from Mamet.

"Maybe. It gets pretty desperate on both sides," he said.

Dennis Haysbert ("24") stars as Jonas Blane, respected leader ofthe unit that includes a recruit played by Scott Foley ("Felicity")and Robert Patrick's ("Walk the Line") Col. Tom Ryan. Holding downthe homefront are Regina Taylor, Abby Brammell and Audrey MarieAnderson.

In "The Unit," perilous missions are mixed with domestic dangersthat include an extramarital affair, adolescent angst and wives whoresent the camouflage needed to protect their husbands and thenational interest.

The series, debuting 9 p.m. Tuesday, deliberately avoidsidentifying the unit as Delta Force to keep its dramatic options openand, Haney said, to limit the carping he expects from ex-colleaguesover whether every detail is true to life.

"The Unit" draws heavily on Haney's experiences, both from thebook and from memory - with sensitive information omitted, he said.

"David and I drink a lot of rum together and I tell stories," saidHaney, 53, who spent a decade running an international security firmafter retiring from the Army in 1990. He spent his last four militaryyears in Panama, which included combat duty.

Haney met Mamet while serving as a consultant for Mamet's 2004film "Spartan." They bonded, and Haney shared his vision of seeinghis book brought to the screen - the small screen. Film offers werebeing dangled but he wasn't buying.

Haney was adamant about avoiding a cliched view of the military.

"One of my purposes for writing the book is I was so disgustedwith the normal Hollywood portrayal," Haney said.

"It was cartoonish, one-dimensional. It's the ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone film portrayals of thisNeanderthal-like person who speaks in monosyllables and slaughtersthe whole world and there's no repercussions, there's no costinvolved."

In "The Unit," he said, the intent is to explore "the life anddeath moral issues and the gray area, because there's where thisworld lives, in the gray area and the shadows."