Origins
The Army Special Forces or Green Berets, as known for their distinctive headgear, trace their lineage back to Robert Rogers and the colonial Rangers. These early Rangers forged the ideas of unconventional warfare. The Green Beret continue to utilize these methods and tactics today. Their modern role however was outlined during WWII. The US Army lacked an intelligence gathering and operational force. President Roosevelt authorized the Office of Strategic Services or OSS, to conduct reconnaissance, internal sabotage, and unconventional warfare training. OSS deployed teams into the Indochina region to combat the Japanese invasion and were used extensively to support the French Resistance. Before D-Day, OSS teams provided valuable supplies and training to the Resistance groups. Together they sabotaged German transportation systems, ambushed targets, and gathered intelligence for Allied planners. The teams destroyed railroads and strategic bridges that prevented German reinforcements from reaching Normandy and facilitating Allied success. 20
Vietnam
While OSS was disbanded after WWII and the intelligence units assigned to the CIA. The unconventional portions however took longer to enter the Cold War military. In 1952, the Special Forces units were officially authorized. There original mission was to deploy in Eastern Europe in the event of conflict and raise guerrilla forces to combat the Soviets. Just as the French Resistance had hurt the Germans, the Special Forces would hurt the Soviets.
President Kennedy recognized the growing threat of guerrilla forces like the communist forces under Mao Zedong in China. Kennedy wanted a force that would fight these new enemies and he found them in the Special Forces. While the conventional Army had disliked the Special Forces, Kennedy gave them the support they needed to become an effective fighting force. Upon his visit to Ft Bragg in 1961, he authorized the men to wear the distinctive Green Berets calling it "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom." 21 In memory of President Kennedy, the Special Forces dedicated their training school to him as the John F. Kennedy Center for Green Berets in Vietnam. Image from Special Warfare.
Jimmy Cooley, Project Delta
(http://www.projectdelta.net/1968/cooley.htm)
While Special Forces Operational Detachment- Alpha teams were deployed around the world, their greatest commitment was to South Vietnam. From their arrival in 1957, their primary mission was to train the South Vietnamese military to combat the Viet Cong insurgents. Although they were still training indigenous soldiers, the training had changed. They were now teaching a more conventional force how to beat the unconventional VC. The Alpha Teams would build camps throughout Vietnam and conduct training and operations in the surrounding countryside. In addition to combating VC, the Green Berets were also trained to assist the local villages. The team medics were prepared to administer aid to all the civilians and were referred to as mobile hospitals. They would heal the people and earned their trust. Green Berets teams would dig wells and build farms for the villages as they protected them from the Viet Cong. 22
An integral component of combating the Viet Cong was having accurate and current intelligence. Instead of utilizing unreliable conventional sources, the Green Berets fielded their own teams. CIA sponsored groups utilizing Green Beret soldiers took over special reconnaissance roles throughout Vietnam. The first of these groups was Project Delta founded by Col. Charlie Beckwith. The Delta teams would deploy far into the jungle and locate Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units and report back to conventional units who would destroy them. Delta intelligence provided information on NVA forces inside the Ia Drang Valley. The US 7th Cavalry assaulted the valley. The resulting Battle of the Ia Drang was depicted in book and movie, We Were Soldiers.
The Viet Cong did not stay within the political borders of South Vietnam and routinely utilized the Ho Chi Minh Trail running through Laos and Cambodia for their supplies and reinforcements. Interdiction of this supply line was necessary to defeat the Viet Cong but US forces were not authorized to leave Vietnam. A new covert force was required to scout and destroy the supply line. The CIA sponsored the creation of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam's Studies and Observation Group. The new unit, MACV-SOG, routinely crossed the border in small units and gathered necessary intelligence on the enemy movements. They carried unmarked gear and were rarely treated as POWs. The missions were highly dangerous and always deniable. If the teams were discovered they had to fight until they could be rescued. Several teams were destroyed by VC troops and some vanished altogether. The missions however always provided valuable intelligence.
The Green Beret's baptism of fire in Vietnam created multiple new units and capabilities. They effectively destroyed much of the Viet Cong forces and developed strategies to win the conflict. The failure of the conventional military to adopt these strategies lead to the overall defeat of South Vietnam. The bitter defeat in Vietnam left the Special Forces community alone and it became a black sheep in the Army. During the 1970's the units were downsized and ignored with their valuable lessons in unconventional warfare falling on deaf ears.
President Kennedy recognized the growing threat of guerrilla forces like the communist forces under Mao Zedong in China. Kennedy wanted a force that would fight these new enemies and he found them in the Special Forces. While the conventional Army had disliked the Special Forces, Kennedy gave them the support they needed to become an effective fighting force. Upon his visit to Ft Bragg in 1961, he authorized the men to wear the distinctive Green Berets calling it "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom." 21 In memory of President Kennedy, the Special Forces dedicated their training school to him as the John F. Kennedy Center for Green Berets in Vietnam. Image from Special Warfare.
Jimmy Cooley, Project Delta
(http://www.projectdelta.net/1968/cooley.htm)
While Special Forces Operational Detachment- Alpha teams were deployed around the world, their greatest commitment was to South Vietnam. From their arrival in 1957, their primary mission was to train the South Vietnamese military to combat the Viet Cong insurgents. Although they were still training indigenous soldiers, the training had changed. They were now teaching a more conventional force how to beat the unconventional VC. The Alpha Teams would build camps throughout Vietnam and conduct training and operations in the surrounding countryside. In addition to combating VC, the Green Berets were also trained to assist the local villages. The team medics were prepared to administer aid to all the civilians and were referred to as mobile hospitals. They would heal the people and earned their trust. Green Berets teams would dig wells and build farms for the villages as they protected them from the Viet Cong. 22
An integral component of combating the Viet Cong was having accurate and current intelligence. Instead of utilizing unreliable conventional sources, the Green Berets fielded their own teams. CIA sponsored groups utilizing Green Beret soldiers took over special reconnaissance roles throughout Vietnam. The first of these groups was Project Delta founded by Col. Charlie Beckwith. The Delta teams would deploy far into the jungle and locate Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units and report back to conventional units who would destroy them. Delta intelligence provided information on NVA forces inside the Ia Drang Valley. The US 7th Cavalry assaulted the valley. The resulting Battle of the Ia Drang was depicted in book and movie, We Were Soldiers.
The Viet Cong did not stay within the political borders of South Vietnam and routinely utilized the Ho Chi Minh Trail running through Laos and Cambodia for their supplies and reinforcements. Interdiction of this supply line was necessary to defeat the Viet Cong but US forces were not authorized to leave Vietnam. A new covert force was required to scout and destroy the supply line. The CIA sponsored the creation of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam's Studies and Observation Group. The new unit, MACV-SOG, routinely crossed the border in small units and gathered necessary intelligence on the enemy movements. They carried unmarked gear and were rarely treated as POWs. The missions were highly dangerous and always deniable. If the teams were discovered they had to fight until they could be rescued. Several teams were destroyed by VC troops and some vanished altogether. The missions however always provided valuable intelligence.
The Green Beret's baptism of fire in Vietnam created multiple new units and capabilities. They effectively destroyed much of the Viet Cong forces and developed strategies to win the conflict. The failure of the conventional military to adopt these strategies lead to the overall defeat of South Vietnam. The bitter defeat in Vietnam left the Special Forces community alone and it became a black sheep in the Army. During the 1970's the units were downsized and ignored with their valuable lessons in unconventional warfare falling on deaf ears.
Modern Green Berets
The escalation of the Cold War in the early 1980s led to an increase in Special Forces deployments. The former black sheep had found new sponsors and would quickly be deployed to counter Communist revolutions around the world. South America became a battleground and the lessons of Vietnam would allow for successful operations in El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 23 For Desert Storm, the teams worked to train the Saudi Arabian forces in defense and establishing Kuwaiti forces for the invasion. They also provided intelligence to the conventional forces and conducted long range patrols into Iraqi lines. When the ground invasion began, Green Berets teams tracked Iraqi units. The constant feed of intelligence allowed the coalition to track down and eliminate them, making Desert Storm an unparalleled victory.
Green Berets in Desert Strom. Image from John Fenzel (http://www.squidoo.com/John_Fenzel?utm_source=google&utm_medium=imgres&utm_campaign=framebuster)
Green Berets in Desert Strom. Image from John Fenzel (http://www.squidoo.com/John_Fenzel?utm_source=google&utm_medium=imgres&utm_campaign=framebuster)
Afghanistan
Soldiers from the 5th Special Forces groups in coordination with CIA operatives were the first US troops to land in Afghanistan. Their goal was to make contact with the Northern Alliance, an Afghan resistance group. The Northern Alliance had been fighting against the Taliban since the Soviets left. They were an experienced force but badly lacking in supplies and funding. The CIA and Special Forces had plenty of supplies to share. With American support and firepower, the Northern Alliance was quick to take the fight back to the Taliban and their Al Qaeda allies. The multiple A-teams of Green Berets were known as Task Force Dagger, and they accompanied their Afghan allies into battle. They became the first US forces to ride horses into battle since WWII. The Green Berets called in airstrikes against Taliban forces while the Afghans charged in on horseback. The perfect coordination of old tactics and new weapons decimated the Taliban. In a mission that was expected to last 10 months, the Green Berets caused the Taliban's Green Berets from Task Force Dagger. collapse in a few weeks. The Northern Alliance captured Kabul and an Afghan government was established. In the ten Image from CNN years since, Green Berets continue to serve on the front lines fighting Taliban forces and training their Afghan allies to (http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/06/us/ defend their country.
afghanistan-horse-soldiers-memorial/index.html)
afghanistan-horse-soldiers-memorial/index.html)
Iraq
The original invasion plan for Iraq called for a third army group to strike from the north out of Turkey. At the last minute, Turkey denied the US permission to attack from the north. The plan changed but the northern portion of Iraq still needed to have US troops presence to tie down Saddam's forces. The task fell to the Special Forces. Alpha Teams were dropped into Iraq to work with the local Kurdish resistance forces. Just as in Afghanistan, Green Berets equipment and weapons destroyed massive amounts of Iraqi forces and prohibited their redeployment to the south. While the force wasn't an American division, they fulfilled their role. Their destructive power is exemplified in the Battle of Debecka Pass where two Green Berets Alpha Teams were attacked by an Iraqi tank company. The Green Berets possessed only Humvees and were facing several T-72 tanks and armored personnel carriers that could shred the Green Berets meeting with Village Elders Humvees. Utilizing their new Javelin anti-tank missiles and supporting airstrikes, the Green Berets destroyed 2 tanks, Image from US Army Special Forces 8 APCs, and 100 Iraqi soldiers for no American loses. The battle proved the effectiveness of unconventional forces (http://www.goarmy.com/special-forces/ and demonstrated their ability to destroy much larger conventional units. After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the primary-missions/counterterrorism.html) Green Berets shifted into training a new Iraqi military and fighting the insurgency. Filling a similar role to Vietnam, the Green Berets trained a counterinsurgency Iraqi and American military. The Special Forces fit perfectly into the overall counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and allowed US forces to pull out leaving a stable Iraq.