by Tom Clancy
In time, media emphasis on the educational and humanitarian side of the tough, all-purpose Special Forces soldiers led to invitations from other countries ... countries that would previously have rejected out of hand the presence of Green Beret soldiers whose only skills appeared to lie in the murky area of guerrilla warfare. Serving in hundreds of localities around the world and in some of the most complex politico-military environments imaginable, they have provided a type of support for America’s strategic aims possible to no other forces within the U.S. inventory.
President Kennedy’s name will be linked forever with the history and ideals of the United States Army’s Special Forces—and with their proud symbol, the Green Beret. On the 12th of October 2001, forty years will have passed since a group of regular Army soldiers appeared before their Commander in Chief wearing a distinctive type of headgear never before authorized by the U.S. Army, but now approved by the president himself. The Green Beret had emerged from the unauthorized—even prohibited—category to become the distinctive badge of the most carefully selected and highly trained body of American soldiers that had ever been part of any fighting force.
Among those present was Francis Ruddy, a soldier whose outstanding leadership qualities had resulted in his promotion to the position of Command Sergeant Major of the Special Warfare Center. Ruddy had set standards of conduct and performance that would be associated with his name wherever Special Forces were in action.
Following the president’s assassination, it was Special Forces Command Sergeant Major Francis Ruddy who proposed that the Special Warfare Center be called the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center. And it was Command Sergeant Major Ruddy who, in Arlington National Cemetery, emotionally and reverently removed his precious Green Beret and placed it gently upon the fresh grave of his slain president.
Since those long-ago events, the Special Forces of the United States Army have in every way lived up to President Kennedy’s hopes and expectations.
During the years that I spent personally engaged with the alchemy and philosophy that led to today’s Special Operations Forces, one of my major challenges was to explain Special Forces to our own military brothers in arms. Though this new phenomenon had grown from old roots that were deeply imbedded in America’s history, it was always difficult to explain the phenomenon’s esoteric nature.
One vehicle I quickly discovered for communicating some of this to my military colleagues and the thousands of other visitors and trainees hosted by the Special Warfare Center during my 1961 to 1964 tenure was what we called the “Gabriel Demonstration” (named for a Special Forces hero of the Vietnam conflict).
At a “Gabriel,” Special Forces soldiers in a field setting and surrounded by the tools of their trade explained to their audiences the nature of their training and how they related to the then little known “A,” “B,” and “C” Detachments.
And yet, as effective as this visual and hands-on educational effort proved to be, it only partially explained the nuances of a mechanism and philosophy aimed at focusing paramilitary power upon targets that were not always vulnerable to the fire and movement of conventional military force.
Now, finally, I have a book to give to people who want to understand our community. Tom Clancy’s guided tour of our beloved Special Forces demonstrates a truly remarkable grasp of the intangibles and intricacies that characterize the unconventional element of our national defense system. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have, and take away some of the lessons that I have spent a lifetime trying to get across to people in all walks of life, from presidents to housewives.
—Lieutenant General William P. Yarborough,
USA (Retired)
Southern Pines, North Carolina
Introduction
I like to think of myself as a fairly well-informed individual on military matters, having spent half my life either writing about or studying the armed forces of the world. It was therefore with some level of surprise that I found myself constantly being corrected, astonished, and educated as I moved through the world of the U.S. Army Special Forces (SF). Perhaps my biggest surprise was just how little I truly knew about this fascinating community and the people in it. My first error came with the original name for this book. I had planned to call it Snakeater, an old Vietnam-era slang term used to describe special operations personnel and their skills in the field. Big mistake on my part! The first of many as it turned out. Despite a heritage going back almost five decades, SF soldiers have worked hard to throw off their Vietnam reputation for reckless behavior, made popular by actors and movies portraying their exploits. By far the best movie ever made about the Special Forces, John Wayne’s The Green Berets, is little more than a World War II-era propaganda film wrapped in a Vietnam suit of clothes.1 Notwithstanding my personal love of Duke Wayne, the overall media presentation of the Army Special Forces has generally been one of contrived crap. This was perhaps the most compelling reason for writing this book.
Far from their “kick ass, take no prisoners” public personas, today’s SF soldiers are perhaps America’s most professional and capable warriors. Despite being publicly called Green Berets, they prefer the simple title of Special Forces Soldiers. Most members of the SF brotherhood (still men only as of the year 2000), while proud of their famous headgear, cringe at being called by that name. Inside their own ranks, they call themselves the “quiet professionals,” a name that reflects the very private and discretionary nature of their trade. Given a choice, SF soldiers would prefer that nobody take notice of their work, and just ignore their presence within the military in general. Much of this comes from the poor way in which they have been portrayed to the world. As I learned the first time that this project was turned back in my face (and there were several!), the men of the Special Forces are very picky about what journalists and other media personnel say and write about them. Too often, they have been accused of crimes and misconduct they had nothing to do with, or policies they had no input in formulating.
Perhaps the most egregious of these media assaults came from CNN and Time magazine several years ago. In what came to be known as the Operation Tailwind Scandal, Time and CNN accused SF personnel of using chemical weapons on defecting American personnel in Cambodia in the early 1970s.2 While a subsequent Department of Defense investigation showed the story to be a fabrication, the fact that such a tale ever saw the light of day is a sign of the total public and media ignorance of the SF community. Anyone who takes the time to look at their community motto, De Oppresso Libre (To Free the Oppressed) automatically knows that such a crime is outside the values and standards of every SF soldier. If anything, the Special Forces have a well-earned reputation for rescuing people, preserving human life and rights, and generally supporting freedom wherever their boots hit ground. For some SF soldiers, like the legendary Colonel Arthur “Bull” Simons and Major Dick Meadows, this “code” became a personal obsession that drove them until their dying days. These men are perhaps two of the most highly regarded humans America has ever produced—respected for their personal morality and honor as much as their physical and mental capabilities. If you have not yet guessed, I like these guys a lot. The reasons, though, have to do with more than just their membership in an elite military force.
One of the first things I came to respect about the Special Forces was their sense of history and heritage. Though officially created in 1952, their roots date back almost a decade prior to that, as members of the Office of Strategic Services (the OSS: America’s first real intelligence agency) and the joint American/Canadian 1st Special Service Force (the famous Devil’s Brigade). Strangely, this makes them direct contemporaries of the Army’s airborne troopers and the Marine Corps heritage of amphibious operations in World War II.3 Starting with a small cadre of mostly Eastern European immigrant soldiers, the Special Forces formed a regimental-sized unit in 1952 devoted to behind-the-line guerrilla warfare. Known as the 10th Special Forces Group (SFG), they were led by Colonel Aaron Bank, a veteran
of service in the OSS during the Second World War. Since that time, the Special Forces have been America’s forward-deployed eyes and ears, seemingly always the first U.S. troops on the scene in a crisis zone.
Another thing I like about Special Forces personnel is that they are not the sort of folks who like to show off. Anything but, in fact. The first time you meet a SF soldier you may not even know it. Unlike the famous Navy SEALs (Sea-Air-Land special operations personnel) or Army Rangers, they are not necessarily physically imposing or overtly dangerous-looking. SF soldiers also lack some of the more destructive or confrontational qualities of some other American Special Operations Forces (SOF) personnel. If you’re looking for a Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwar zenegger, don’t expect to find them in today’s Army Special Forces. On the contrary, SF soldiers like to blend in, quietly taking in their surroundings and trying to learn something of the people and situations they have come into contact with. To do this, they use well-honed language skills and regional cultural training, so that they can act like something other than a normal heavy-handed American. They also have a well-developed sense of proportionality, knowing just how much force or energy to apply to a given situation, and exactly when to do so. A trip into a Persian Gulf shopping bazaar is living proof of their skills in these areas.
Perhaps their most attractive quality, and certainly the one that makes them so valuable to leaders throughout the government, is their adaptability across the full spectrum of warfare. In previous volumes of this series, readers have been shown some of the most versatile and important of military units. America and its allies can be rightly proud of the array of talent and capabilities these units provide. Nevertheless, not one of the more conventional units shown in previous books of this series is as capable and versatile as a Special Forces A-Team. While that may seem a bit of a stretch given the fine things I’ve said in previous books, trust me when I say that the SF soldiers I know are as a group America’s finest warriors. A single twelve-man A-Team might one day be conducting medical and civil engineering training for a foreign government, and the next helping conduct the evacuation of an American embassy. If you think this sounds unlikely, talk to the kids from the 3rd SFG who helped evacuate Sierra Leone a few years back. In a given year, a team might have a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia for a few months, then help train officers in the countries of the former Warsaw Pact for a few more months. On top of this, each SFG has a dedicated wartime mission, supporting the interests and tasks of regional commanders around the globe. Clearly, these are the folks you want on the ground first when trouble breaks out somewhere, which is exactly how they are being used today. That’s a lot of value for a surprisingly small investment in personnel, real estate, and equipment. All this out of a community of around 10,000 men—less than you would find in a single Army light infantry division or Marine brigade. Personally, I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.
I’d like to say that I knew all these things when I started this book. I didn’t though. The two years that were spent researching and writing this book were a long and hard trek around the world and into unknown venues. Frankly, it was not always comfortable or even pleasant. I had to forget much of what I already believed I knew, and learn new truths that sometimes were hard to accept, even though these sometimes occurred in front of my own eyes. Nevertheless, I now look back with pride on what went into this volume, and how it has worked out. As this seventh book closes out my guided tour series, I hope that you will find it the best of the bunch. A lot of fine people have put their hearts and souls into helping me get things right, and I hope that you see their hand in what is presented in the pages that follow. And as you read, remember that unlike some of the other books of this series, which have focused on technology and the instruments of warfare, this book is all about people. People who are, in my personal opinion, some of the finest Americans to have ever worn a uniform. The men of the Green Beret.
—Tom Clancy
Peregrine Cliff, Maryland
June 2000
Special Forces 101
Fighting soldiers from the sky, Fearless men who jump and die,
Men who mean just what they say, The brave men of the Green Beret.
Silver wings upon their chests, These are men, America’s best,
One hundred men we’ll test today. But only three win the Green Beret.
Trained to live off nature’s land, Trained in combat, hand to hand,
Men who fight by night and day, Courage taken from the Green Beret.
Silver wings upon their chests, These are men, America’s best,
Men who mean just what they say, The brave men of the Green Beret.
Back at home a young wife waits, Her Green Beret has met his fate,
He has died for those oppressed, Leaving her this last request:
Put silver wings on my son’s chest, Make him one of America’s best,
He’ll be a man they’ll test one day, Have him win the Green Beret.
Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, “Ballad of the Green Beret”
Most of us probably think of them as Green Berets—just like the song says. But some—usually their detractors—call them Snakeaters, after the fearsome reputation they gained during the Vietnam War. In their own minds, however, they are Special Forces—or officially, the U.S. Army Special Forces. The green beret they consider just a nice piece of headgear.
The past of the Special Forces is wild and colorful, and the nicknames reflect it; but in fact, the preferred name more accurately speaks to their more sophisticated and professional present.
Organizationally, the Special Forces is part of a relatively new community within the American military known as Special Operations Forces—SOFs. Created as a result of the Nunn-Cohen Amendment to the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reform Act, they operate under the U.S. Special Operations Command—SOCOM—which is based at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida. SOCOM is the newest of the eight “unified” commands that make up today’s U.S. military.
The Special Forces soldier memorial at Fort Bragg, outlined against the North Carolina sky. Located next to the headquarters of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, it symbolizes the dedication of all Special Forces professionals past, present, and future.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Practically speaking, there are significant differences between SOCOM and the other seven unified commands. These differences will gradually become clear. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at what Special Forces do.
Or, to put this another way, why Special Forces?
Warfare wears many faces. There is, for example, the official face, with large standing armies, rigid discipline, formal uniforms, and formalized battles (though these are always characterized by rampant chaos). The form and the discipline seem to be the best defense against the inevitable chaos.
War also wears a less formal face. Call it shadow war, clandestine war, or sometimes guerrilla war. Throughout history, small bands of warriors have used unusual and unconventional weapons, tactics, and organizations to fight and often defeat larger and more powerful conventional forces. Such bands were a very potent weapon during our own American Revolution. And in the Vietnam War, shadow warriors proved to be an equally potent weapon against the large and inflexible American Army.
One obvious drawback to the “normal” practice of shadow warfare is its potential for lawlessness. That is to say, shadow warriors rarely obey international laws and rules of warfare. To shadow warriors, for example, the distinction between combatants and noncombatants is usually meaningless. They rarely hesitate to attack civilian personnel and targets, and often use civilians as human shields. Shadow warfare tends to be nasty, savage, and frustrating.... Who are the bad guys?
Warfare is hardly an inherently moral act; yet America’s SOF warriors have set as their aim to come as close to the moral high ground as possible. Their goal, in other words, is not only to become the most useful, resourceful, and dangerous group on the planet, but t
o bring some semblance of morality and civility into the least moral and civil form of warfare ... and to teach these attitudes to those who need it most. By using their superior training and knowledge of small unit warfare, as well as by providing guidance and leadership, their hope is to instill in emerging nations that are under attack (or under threat of attack) the kinds of values and ideals civil society requires.
This is not an easy sell. It is hard to imagine Che Guevara, Slobodan Milosevic, or the Taliban giving lessons in ethics to their irregular troops.
Such missions—it should be added—are far from the only jobs given to the Special Forces. Because they can operate in a relatively clandestine or “discretionary” fashion, with a small on-the-ground “footprint,” American SOF units are proving to be useful in a number of other areas. SOFs are precision weapons, with great sensitivity to political control, regional cultures, rules of engagement, and many other factors that frequently make them superior to conventional forces in many types of missions.
By comparison, the commitment of a conventional military unit like an aircraft carrier battle group or an airborne brigade is a major political—and news—event.
Unlike conventional forces, which have utility only when an international crisis is already brewing, SOF units have value across the full spectrum of conflict—from anticipation (by providing defense training and assistance) to cleanup (by helping enforce peace in a postwar situation). SOFs, in short, have value in almost any kind of situation, including open combat, where they provide the American military with deep reconnaissance and ground strike forces.
First use of SOF units in a crisis gives politicians a chance to achieve their goals quietly, with risk to only a handful of personnel and resources. Later, if a larger and more conventional response is needed, then that option is still available. For heads of state, such options and capabilities are more precious than gold.
