Special Forces History
The following is a from a report I wrote freshman year of
college. That's the reason for credited quotations in case
anyone was wondering. If anyone sees any inaccuracies
please contact me and I will rectify them as soon as
possible. Thanks and enjoy!
Although DELTA is mentioned, I will not speculate as to
their activities outside what is available from open source
publications. Secrecy is their survival.
Special Forces has had a long and low key history.
Started in 1952 by Colonel Aaron Bank, Special Forces was
based on a unit known as the Office of Strategic Services,
or OSS. The OSS, under the command of Gen. "Wild Bill"
Donovan, conducted guerrilla operations against the Nazis
in Europe and against the Japanese in the China-Burma-India
( CBI ) theater. In his book From OSS to Green Berets, Col.
Bank relates his experiences of working with the Free
French as a member of the legendary Jedburgh teams, his
involvement in a plan to kidnap Hitler, and his meeting
with Ho Chi Minh. Bank tells of his struggle to create a
guerrilla warfare capability within the US Army. The
generals of the time did not see the need for such a unit.
The increasing Soviet influence in world, however, only
aided Bank's arguments for a guerrilla warfare unit. On
June 19, 1952, Bank activated and assumed command of the
Tenth Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) at Fort Bragg,
North Carolina.
The 10th SFG ( ABN ) was continually pitted against
other units, such as the 82nd Airborne Division, in mock
guerrilla exercises in the communities surrounding Fort
Bragg. Special Forces repeatedly surpassed and defeated
elements of the 82nd Airborne. These experiments were short
lived. The 10th Group was divided up, with half the Group
transferred to Bad Tolz, Germany. The half that remained at
Fort Bragg was redesigned the 77th Special Forces Group
( Airborne ). The 10th Group in Bad Tolz developed a great
rapport with the locals. It was this rapport that allowed
them continue to win in exercises against other units. The
Special Forces soldiers used the locals for intelligence,
shelter, food, and other supplies, and helped the Germans
with household repairs and chores.
It was during this time that the men of Special Forces
caught the eye of a newly elected president who recognized
the need for a guerrilla capability. President Kennedy also
inadvertently created the greatest misunderstanding in
Special Forces history. It started when some Special Forces
soldiers noticed that in Great Britain infantry units wear
green berets and they began wearing green berets on
exercises in woods and swamps in and around Ft. Bragg.
Gradually they were even worn on post much to the dismay of
high-ranking officers. Wearing the green beret was made an
offense punishable by court martial. The berets were once
again only worn on field exercises until President
Kennedy's historic visit. Kennedy planned to review the
77th SFG ( ABN ) and requested that the men wear green
berets. Shortly after Kennedy's visit to Ft. Bragg, the
Army made the beret a part of the Special Forces soldiers'
uniforms with regulations on how to wear them. The berets
have falsely become the identity of Special Forces, much to
the dismay of Special Forces soldiers. As they put it, they
wear green berets, they aren't Green Berets ( Simons 3 ).
Kennedy recognized the need for an unconventional
warfare ability. He is the one credited with allowing
special operations forces to exist in today's military. He
also saw the need for a counter to guerrilla warfare and
communist insurgencies. Special Forces began training for
counter-insurgency operations. Kennedy eased some of the
pressure on them when he ordered the creation of the US
Navy's SEAL Team Two. Little did the men of Special Forces
know they would soon be called upon to use their training.
Special Forces teams were sent around the world to
train foreign armies in infantry operations as well as
unconventional warfare. Their greatest challenge however,
was to come in a little watched corner of the world.
Southeast Asia was rapidly being influenced by the People's
Republic of China, and the Soviet Union. Their first test
was in Laos. The White Star program was started by
Eisenhower and continued by Kennedy. Started in the late
1950's, White Star, being a 'peacetime' operation, was
under the control of the young Central Intelligence Agency.
The CIA hired Special Forces soldiers on arranged leave
from the Army, a practice that still continues. The White
Star - Military Assistance Advisory Group ( MAAG ), Laos,
was created to help the Royal Laotian Army combat the
communist Pathet Lao. The Special Forces advisors worked
well with their Laotian Army counterparts and became a
major thorn in the sides of the communist insurgents.
Special Forces began training Meo/Hmong tribesmen to
counter the Pathet Lao. It was this action that was to both
foreshadow actions in Vietnam and threaten traditional
means of foreign policy implementation. The Special Forces
capability of nation building and toppling oppressive
regimes worried policymakers that US might accidentally
create a nation it couldn't or didn't want to support.
Despite a strong effort by Special Forces, Laos was
eventually lost to the Pathet Lao and their 'secret'
backers, the Viet Minh. The men of the green beret were soon
to face their greatest challenge.
Between Laos and Vietnam, Special Forces was very
active. In his book Codename: Copperhead, retired Sergeant
Major Joe Garner recalls being briefed while on board a C-
130 cargo plane headed for Cuba. The briefing his team was
given was for the conducting of raids against air defense
sites during the Cuban missile crisis. He also recalls
being trained in jungle warfare by veterans of the British
22nd SAS regiment, who had combated communist insurgents in
Malaya.
This exchange between the SAS and Special Forces was to
aid Special Forces operations in Vietnam. The exchange
became a tradition and some of its early participants would
go on to become founding members of the First Special
Forces Operational Detachment: Delta (more commonly known
as Delta Force ).
Long before conventional military deployments to Vietnam
began in 1965, Special Forces had been training the Army of
the Republic of Vietnam to combat the Viet Cong. Vietnam
was about to prove the capabilities of Special Forces and
the mettle of the Green Berets. Special Forces began
working with the Montagnard tribes of the Vietnamese
Highlands. The Montagnards, cousins to the Meo/Hmong
tribesmen of Laos, had been oppressed by the Vietnamese and
became the perfect allies of Special Forces. Special Forces
ran many programs, most of which involved working with the
minorities in Vietnam. The largest program involved the
protection of the Montagnard villages from being forced
into slave labor by the Viet Cong. Special Forces ran
reconnaissance units, such as the 5th SFG Project Delta,
which would eventually be commanded the founder of Delta
Force. They also ran mobile training teams, and worked in
the CIA's Phoenix Program. The Phoenix Program was a plan
to remove North Vietnamese and Viet Cong leaders.
An interesting project was the Mobile Guerrilla Force,
or MGF, sometimes refered to by the codename "Blackjack"
for Col. Francis "Blackjack" Kelly, the 5th Group
commander. The MGF was a company-sized guerrilla operation
into War Zone D outside of Saigon. War Zone D was a Viet
Cong strong area about which U.S. intelligence knew little.
The MGF conducted its operations for one month without
leaving War Zone D. The MGF raided Viet Cong camps and safe
areas with great effect. There were several successful
MGFs.
The most effective reconnaissance unit was the Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group
( MACV-SOG ), conducted reconnaissance operations into
Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. SOG men operated without
the protection of the Geneva Convention, which didn't
matter as their existence was denied by the government.
Although the main mission of SOG was reconnaissance they
also conducted agent infiltration, sabotage, and combat
operations against targets like the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Project Eldest Son was SOG's sabotage project. It involved
placing exploding ammunition in North Vietnamese Army
stockpiles, leaving behind booby-trapped equipment, and
making a general nuisance of themselves. Booby-trapped
equipment included cameras, canteens, footlockers, and
radios that blew up when opened or used.
Though the exact effects remain unmeasurable, there can
be little doubt SOG's black propaganda yielded results. The
closest SOG ever came to learning its impact was in Paris in
May 1968: As a precondition to peace talks, Hanoi's
negotiators insisted that the US put an end to its black
psy-ops programs, especially that despicable Sacred Sword
of the Patriot League ( Plaster 130 ). The Sacred Sword of
the Patriot League was a false North Vietnamese resistance
group created by SOG to confuse the North Vietnamese
counterintelligence agencies.
After Vietnam Special Forces entered a long, downward
spiral. Entire Special Forces Groups were disbanded in the
military drawdown following Vietnam and during the Carter
Administration. Special Forces soldiers were used for
groundskeeping, guard duty, and other menial details at
Fort Bragg.
During the Carter Administration, a new dimension was
added to Special Forces. A young colonel named Charles
Beckwith was about to create a legendary unit. Beckwith had
participated in the exchange program with the British SAS
in 1962, and saw the need for such a unit in the U.S. Upon
returning to the U.S. he repeatedly tried to start such a
unit. In the 1970's, terrorism became widespread which
attracted the attention of high-ranking officials. These
officials began inquiring about a counter-terrorist
capability within the U.S. military. Their questions
eventually found their way to Beckwith. Counter-terrorism
was the aspect of the SAS that most fascinated Beckwith.
Recruiting for the 1st Special Forces Operational
Detachment: Delta began in early June 1977 (Walker 188).
The unit eventually became known as Delta Force. Delta was
to have its first operation in November 1979. The ill-fated
rescue attempt of American embassy workers in Iran was to
be Delta's greatest tragedy.
The failure in Iran was to provide an impetus for the
improvement of US Special Operations Forces. The timing
could not have been better. Special Forces soldiers from
the 7th SFG (ABN ) at Ft. Gulick, Panama, were sent to El
Salvador in the early '80s to train and advise the El
Salvadoran army to combat communist guerrillas. Their role
was gradually expanded as they soon became targets of the
guerrillas. Advisors began to arm themselves to stay alive.
Using their own funds, operators ordered large-caliber
revolvers such as the Smith & Wesson .44 magnum or high-
capacity 9mm automatics like the Sig Sauer P226 for
personal carry ( Walker 91 ). Advisors were eventually
issued sub-machine guns like the Heckler & Koch MP-5.
Special Forces were not the only military advisors in El
Salvador. The army also sent Rangers and support units, the
navy sent SEAL platoons, the Air Force sent transport units
and AC-130 Spectre ground attack aircraft, and the marines
sent combat troops. All advisors were eventually granted
combat pay, but only the marines would grant awards for
combat service.
The Cuban invasion of Grenada in 1983 was to prove
America's inability to rapidly react to world affairs. The
planning was poor as no one had time to remotely prepare
for such an action, or the foresight to prepare a
contingency plan to remove invaders. The majority of special
operations in Operation: Urgent Fury were undertaken by
Navy SEALs already in the area.
In 1987 a monumental step was taken by Congress. Tired
of interservice rivalries, national embarrassments, and
department squabbling, Congress created the United States
Special Operations Command ( USSOCOM ). SOCOM is an joint
command independent of service. Under the command of an
Army general, SOCOM has ultimate jurisdiction over the
Navy's SEALs, Air Force's Special Operations Wings,
Pararescuejumpers, Combat Control Teams, and the Army's 75th
Ranger Regiment, Special Forces, and Delta. The Marines are
the only service that has not placed their special
operations forces ( Marine Force Reconnaissance, Battallion
Reconnaissance, and Marine Expeditionary Units-Special
Operations Capable ) under SOCOM. These units are however
available to SOCOM should they be needed.
Operation: Just Cause began on December 19, 1989, with
the Rangers making their famous jump onto Rio Hato
airfield. Special Forces had little role in Panama, but
Delta was very active. A Delta Squadron was flown in and
kept hidden in a hangar well before military operations
commenced. Delta was given two major missions: the rescue
of American political prisoner Kurt Muse, and the capture,
if possible, of Noriega. The rescue of Muse went like
clockwork, with many of the prison guards being taken
completely by surprise and restrained rather than killed.
Delta operators received minimal injuries. The capture of
Noriega, however, was not as clean cut. Delta spent most of
its time waiting in the hangar for up to date intelligence
on Noriega's whereabouts. A SEAL mission was to shadow
Special Operations for years. The capture of Paitilla
Airfield was essential to deny Noriega a possibility of
escape. The mission, which many later said should have gone
to Rangers, was given to the SEALs. Three SEAL platoons of
sixteen men each were tasked with disabling Noriega's
Learjet by slashing its tires. The SEALs were spotted
entering the hangar and a firefight followed. The SEALs
were unable to raise the AC-130 Spectre assigned to provide
air support. Four SEALs died on the runway at Patillia. As
a result of the disaster at Patillia, SEALs no
longer undertake multi-platoon missions, and Special Forces
no longer undertakes multi-team missions.
The next job for Special Forces was to come as a result
of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Operation: Desert
Shield/Desert Storm would see the greatest use of Special
Forces since Vietnam. The first obstacle Special Forces was
Gen. Schwarzkopf's attitude towards them. A protegee of
General Abrams, he picked up Abrams' negativity towards
Special Forces. General Stiner, commander USSOCOM,
eventually argued his point and Special Forces was admitted
to the theater. Special Forces would prove themselves
invaluable to the Coalition. During Desert Shield, Special
Forces brought Arab armies up to the quality of the NATO
forces involved. Arab forces were taught how to call in air
support, protect themselves from chemical and biological
weapons, and interact with Western armies. A detail from
Delta was assigned to be Schwarzkopf's bodyguards. During
Desert Storm, Special Forces advisors worked with each
Arab unit to ensure smooth operating. Some Special Forces
teams were positioned outside of Baghdad to alert
Schwarzkopf to any Iraqi reinforcements moving toward
Kuwait. A few of these teams were compromised and fought
their way out without American loss. One of these teams was
a portion of ODA 525, a SCUBA team from the 5th SFG( ABN ),
was compromised by a little girl and her grandfather. The
team could have legally killed them but elected not to and
withdrew from their position. The engaged an Iraqi unit and
with air support accounted for roughly one hundred thirty
enemy killed in action ( KIA ). When Iraq began firing Scud
missiles at Israel, British SAS teams began combing the
desert for Scud launchers and were later joined by their
American counterparts in Delta. One SAS team, Bravo Two
Zero, was compromised in a manner similar to ODA 525 and
began heading for the Syrian border. Of the seven man team
four were killed and the remaining three were captured.
Delta lost one operative. The actions of Special Forces
changed the opinions of Schwarzkopf. In his book At the
Hurricane's Eye, Greg Walker mentions the following
statement made by Schwarzkopf: I shouldn't forget our
Special Forces. We put them deep into the enemy's territory.
They went out on strategic reconnaissance for us, and they
let us know what was going on out there. They were our
eyes, and it's very important that I not forget those folks
( 251).
Following Desert Storm, Special Forces were sent to
places such as Somalia to train the Somali Army and prevent
the loss of control by the government. After control was
lost DeltaForce was used to hunt for Aidid. Special Forces
have been sent to Mongolia to teach army officers English,
Africa to train game wardens in tactics for countering
poachers, and South America to fight in the war on drugs.
Their deployments are often the first stage of any military
action.