Special Forces Organization

               A Special Forces Group consists of three battalions, a 
           headquarters, headquarters company, and support company. 
           Each battalion has a headquarters detachment, a support 
           company, and three companies. A company contains six A-
           teams of twelve men each, and one B-team. A team or 
           Operational Detachment-Alpha is denoted by a 3 digit 
           number. The first number tells what Group the team belongs 
           to. The second number denotes battallion and company, and 
           the third number denotes team number and specialty. Each 
           company has a HALO ( High Altitude/Low Opening ) jump 
           team, and a Combat Diver/SCUBA team. HALO teams are 
           designated by a 4 at the end of their team number. SCUBA 
           teams are denoted by a 5 at the end of their team number. 
           There are also other teams like Mobility teams which use 
           vehicles, Mountain teams that specialize in mountain 
           warfare, and Maritime teams that specialize in the use of 
           small boats and Klepper folding kayaks as means of 
           infiltration.
	       Members of specialty teams undergo additional  
           training. HALO jumping is little more than a militarized 
           version of high altitude sky-diving. The training requires 
           students to learn about the physical principles, and 
           equipment involved. SCUBA training is much more demanding. 
           SCUBA training is so demanding that there is a Pre-SCUBA 
           school that students must pass before going further. Pre-
           SCUBA takes students over swimming strokes, drown-
           proofing, and physical conditioning. SCUBA is when 
           students learn about diving systems, such as rebreather 
           systems that recycle the diver's air, and the physics  
           involved.
               There are 5 active duty Special Forces Groups, 2 
           National Guard Groups, and a few Reserve Groups. 

           
           1st Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) is headquartered at 
           Ft. Lewis Washington with a regional orientation to Asia 
           and the Far East.


           3rd Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) is headquartered at 
           Ft. Bragg North Carolina with a regional orientation to 
           sub-Saharan Africa.


           5th Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) is headquartered at  
           Ft. Campbell Kentucky with a regional orientation of the 
           Mediteranean and the Middle East.


           7th Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) is headquartered at 
           Ft. Bragg with a regional orientation to South and Central 
           America.


           10th Special Forces Group ( Airborne ) is headquartered at 
           Ft. Carson Colorado with a regional orientation to Europe.


           These Groups regional orientations sometimes overlap due  
           to languages and cultures being found spread over the 
           areas of operations of more than one Group.