Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces

by Tom Clancy

  The town of Yuma is an eclectic mix of old Mexican charm, forced irrigation agriculture, military functionality, and fast food. Because of its location near the Colorado River, the town has a long history as a center of transportation and farming, but its huge nearby training and testing ranges have also proved invaluable to the American military. To the east of the city is Chocolate Mountain, where the Navy and Marine Corps maintain instrumented and live-fire ranges for bombing and air-to-air training. Closer in is a large U-shaped Army tract known as the Yuma Proving Ground, or YPG.

  YPG is the desert equipment testing center for the Army and other services, with more than 1,300 square miles/3,400 square km. of desert terrain to work with. Here fighting vehicles are tested in high, hot, and dusty conditions. (The M-1 Abrams main battle tanks proved themselves here in the 1980s ... in conditions very like those of the Persian Gulf, where they proved themselves again in 1991.88) Here also is an artillery range large enough to test systems like the Block 1A (extended-range) versions of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). And here also is home to the JFK Special Warfare Center and School’s Military Free Fall School, where SOF personnel learn exotic forms of parachute infiltration. All in all, YPG is a huge sandbox where all variety of training and testing can be conducted ... without unduly disturbing the desert environment.89

  You have to work to get to Yuma. For me, there was a transcontinental ride to Los Angeles, followed by a commuter flight to the Yuma Airport, a dual civilian/ Marine Corps facility. As I stepped out of the aircraft, the desert heat hit like an oven. In Yuma, you need an air-conditioner for much of the year, and you don’t go anywhere without a cold drink.

  There to greet me was my USASOC project officer, Major Tom McCollum, who would guide me through NTC 99-02.

  After dinner at the motel on the edge of town that would be my base for the next few days, he and I sat down for an information session. Since I was again to be flagged as an SOTD member, Tom repeated the O/C rules from several weeks before.

  “Drink plenty of water,” he advised, before he left me for the night.

  Wednesday, October 28th—Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona

  My first day at FOB 31 (1/3rd SFG used the same naming convention as 2/7th SFG had at JRTC) opened sunny, clear, and hot ... exactly as advertised.

  On the drive east to the YPG post was a rare sight for an easterner like me—a radar-equipped, tethered aerostat (a small, blimp-shaped balloon), designed to look for drug-smuggling aircraft coming in from Mexico. A number of these airborne sensors are used along America’s southern border (except during bad weather, when drug smugglers don’t like to fly anyway). They have done good service in the drug war.

  Forward Operating Base 31 during NTC 99-02 at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. This was headquarters for the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Special Forces Group during their rotation to the National Training Center.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  Sometime later, and some distance farther east, lies an Army airfield. Just past the Free Fall School and the Army Aviation Test Directorate buildings was an encampment of tents and trailers. This was my objective: FOB 31—a far more sparse, expeditionary, and impermanent establishment than FOB 72. Here the shelters were a mix of construction site-type trailers and large Army tents. Everywhere was the sound of generators and air-conditioners. Even the tents had air-conditioners, as the teams and other personnel lived and did the bulk of their work in them. FOB 31 was, of course, surrounded by the same kinds of barricades, wire, and antipersonnel defense I saw at FOB 72.

  The 1/3rd SFG headquarters and operations center was located in one of the trailers—a much more Spartan and less “high-tech”-looking place than the 7th SFG‘s, reflecting the 3rd SFG’s more “stubby pencil” approach to going to war. Naturally, 3rd SFG personnel do take laptops, SARCOM links, and GPS receivers downrange. It’s just that they are not as dependent upon these tools as other groups—more use is made of paper briefing charts and maps, and their electronic briefing slides are decidedly “unsexy.” This simplicity comes partly from their own style, and partly from the requirements of their African AOR, the least technologically advanced in the SF world. The 3rd SFG soldiers are hugely sensitive to the native peoples of their AOR. It would not do for them to come on like “ugly Americans.”

  Though cramped, FOB 31 Op Center was completely functional; and there was a no-nonsense atmosphere about the entire compound. SF soldiers moved between the tents and trailers with measured haste and purpose, clearly with mission launch dead-lines on their minds.

  The NTC 99-02 scenario was very like other force-on-force scenarios I’ve encountered: The brigade from the 3rd/3rd Infantry (Mech.) would move into Fort Ir win’s maneuver area to do battle with the OpFor of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR).90 NTC 99-02 would (again) take place on a hypothetical island. This one was known as Tierra Del Diablo (“Land of the Devil”), and was spread out over (real) California, Nevada, Oregon, Baja California, and parts of Arizona and Utah. Tierra Del Diablo was (again) divided into three imaginary nations—Mojave (our friends), the Kingdom of Pahrumphia (enemies of Mojave), and the People’s Democratic Republic of Krasnovia (PDRK—everyone’s enemy!).91

  The cartoon of ODA 745’s debriefing.

  OFFICIAL. U.S. ARMY GRAPHIC

  The imaginary Tierra Del Diablo, which is used for operations at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center (NTC). Though NTC is based at Fort Irwin, California, operations can run over the entire Tierra Del Diablo area.

  RUBICON. INC., BY LAURA DENINNO

  For NTC 99-02, the Krasnovians and Pahrumphians had formed an alliance, and were in a natural resources dispute with Mojave. Large uranium deposits had been found, and the new Krasnovia-Pahrumphia Confederation (KPC) wanted to take over the mines to support their own WMD program (for nuclear weapons). The forces of the KPC were invading the resource areas of Mojave—the area around Fort Irwin. The 11th Cavalry would play the part of the KPC 11th Motor Rifle Division (MRD), which would face down the brigade from the 3rd Infantry.92 1/3rd SFG’s mission would be to support the U.S. brigade’s entry into Fort Irwin and to help allied air units.

  For the duration of NTC 99-02, the units assigned to FOB 72 would operate from the imaginary Island of Yuma, which was defined to be part of Mojave. These units included:

  • FOB 31—Assigned to FOB 31, 1/3rd SFG would undertake the missions assigned during the rotation. Like 2/7th SFG at JRTC, 1/3rd SFG brought a battalion headquarters with a company (approximately) of ODAs and other supporting units. They broke down this way.—HHC/Operational Detachment Charlie—Led by the 1/3rd SFG commander, Lieutenant Colonel James L. (Roy) Dunn, FOB 31 would be tasked with planning, preparing, and controlling the various missions being run for JSOTF (Mojave) and SOCCE (Mojave).

  —Support Operations Team, Bravo (SOT-B)—1/3rd SFG also brought a SOT-B element to provide a military intelligence command, control, and analysis for FOB 31.

  —SOCCE 31—To provide a liaison with the 3rd/3rd Infantry Division, a SOCCE element was established at the larger unit’s TOC.

  —Operational Detachment, Alphas (ODAs)—1/3rd SFG brought along five ODAs to run actual missions.

  —Support Operations Team, Alpha (SOT-A)—To provide signals and electronic collection capabilities for FOB 31, 1/3rd SFG brought a pair of SOT-A teams to NTC 99-02.

  —112th Chemical Reconnaissance Detachment (CRD)—This was a five-man element to provide chemical weapons talent to the units at FOB 31.

  —2nd Platoon/108th Military Police Company (2/108th MP)—Due to the expeditionary nature of the FOB 31 deployment, 1/3rd SFG took along a platoon of military police drawn from the 16th MP Brigades/503rd MP Battalion/108th Company. The MP platoon would patrol the FOB 31 perimeter, relieving 1/3rd SFG personnel from security duty.With the exception of the MPs, 1/3rd SFG’s array of SF units was almost identical to 2/7th’s at JRTC, and would attempt to simulate the same kinds of mission workloads.

  • 3rd Marine Air Win
g (3rd MAW)—Based at MCAS Miramar (near San Diego, California) and Yuma, 3rd MAW provided two types of aircraft to support SOF operations during NTC 99-02. These included:—Marine Attack Squadron 513 (VMA-513—the Nightmares)—A primary training objective for 1/3rd SFG was to demonstrate their ability to call in joint airstrikes and artillery fire. The Marines were tasked to support them with four AV-8B Harrier II bombing sorties, which would be supplied by the Nightmares of VMA-513 from MCAS Yuma. AV-8B Harrier IIs are equipped with the Angle Rate Bombing System (ARBS), an electro-optical weapons delivery system, equipped with a laser spot tracker. The ARBS gives Harrier pilots the ability to locate ground targets that are illuminated by a laser designator. There are several types of designators available—e.g., units like the AAQ-14 LAN-TIRN carried by Air Force and Navy aircraft, and also lightweight man-portable units, such as the PAQ-10 Ground Target Laser Designator. Once the ARBS locks onto a laser spot from a designator, it calculates an optimum ballistic solution for the weapons and drops them automatically. Used properly, ARBS can put down a stick of unguided “iron” bombs with accuracy approaching Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs). The actual process, known as “Terminal Guidance” (TG), would be practiced several times by 1/3rd SFG during NTC 99-02.

  —Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 352 (VMGR-352—the Raiders) —Even though none of the aircraft flown on SOF support missions during NTC 99-02 would require in-flight refueling, there was still a need to transport teams to distant locations and to conduct parachute infiltrations. The Marines were tasked to supply a pair of KC-130 Hercules tanker/transport aircraft, this time from the Raiders of VMGR-352 based at MCAS Miramar.

  • Nevada Army National Guard—To assist with covert infiltrations and retrievals of ODAs, the Nevada Army National Guard contributed a CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopter to the SOF effort.You may have noticed that the 160th SOAR had assigned no aircraft or personnel to MTC 99-02. They were busy preparing for possible real-world operations in Iraq and the Balkans.

  As I waited for Lieutenant Colonel Dunn to finish a staff meeting, Major Bill Shaw from the JRTC SOTD gave me an exercise briefing notebook and led me through the planned missions. These included:• SR001—SR001 would conduct reconnaissance upon a suspected WMD (chemical weapons) production plant at a site in Pahrumphia, to be known as JSOA “Tiger” (on the old Dugway Proving Ground in Utah). The ODA with the five-man CRD would infiltrate the area via a low-level parachute insertion (static line jump from a Marine KC-130), then move to an overwatch position on the site (that is, a position on high ground with good cover, from which a constant surveillance of a particular piece of ground can be maintained). In addition to monitoring the site, the ODA and CRD would collect actual evidence of the WMD production (chemical and soil samples). When this was accomplished, the team would link up with a Mojavian agent, and then move to a site where another Marine KC-130 could land and retrieve them.

  • SR002—The most ambitious of the SR missions, SR002 would insert a combined ODA/SOT-A team into Fort Irwin (JSOA “Otter”) to provide early warning of KPC forces moving toward Irwin Military City (IMC—the Fort Irwin post complex). The team would fly to IMC on one of the MC-130s, then be inserted into JSOA “Otter” by the Nevada ANG CH-47. Once the team had occupied a position overlooking a critical crossroads, they would monitor enemy vehicle traffic and report back to FOB 31. This was planned to go on for several days, after which the team could be extracted by a UH-60 Blackhawk from the aviation brigade of the 3rd Infantry (Mech.) and return to Yuma on an MC-130. The team would also provide terminal guidance for one of the two Marine Harrier strikes (though they would not be told this until after their insertion). This would place considerable responsibility—as well as extreme stress—on the personnel assigned to the task.

  • SR003—SR003, like SR002, was designed to cover a potential KPC infiltration route (JSOA “Gator”) into the Irwin Military City complex. This would be a mounted mission, using GMVs. The team would be a duplicate of the ODA/SOT-A unit used in SR002, and would be tasked with the same basic tasks. They’d be infiltrated by an MC-130, which would make a combat assault landing. The exfiltration would be handled the same way.93

  • DA001—DA001 would be a raid upon a suspected WMD (chemical weapons) cache in Pahrumphia, and known as JSOA “Horse” (also at the old Dugway Proving Ground in Utah). The ODA would conduct its infiltration using a High Altitude, High Opening (HAHO) parachute technique. Once the targets were destroyed, the ODA would contact a Mojavian agent (a roleplayer simulating a member of a local resistance cell) on the ground, and move to an exfiltration airfield where they would be picked up by a Marine KC-130 Hercules.

  • DA002—This mission was designed to destroy a cache of KPC surface-to-surface rockets and their operating crews. To accomplish this, a GMV-mounted ODA would be infiltrated into Twenty-Nine Palms—JSOA “Bison” (near Palm Springs in California)—onboard a Marine KC-130 conducting a combat assault landing. On the ground, the ODA would infiltrate overland to a site overlooking the target area to conduct prestrike reconnaissance. When the targets were properly fixed, the team would move in, destroy the sites with explosives, and then exfiltrate aboard another Marine KC-130.

  • DA003 (Planning)—A planning mission only, DA003 was designed to recover an injured Mojavian agent, trapped behind the lines in Krasnovia, who had special knowledge of the Krasnovian WMD program. The ODA planned to infiltrate via Marine KC-130 into Fort Hunter-Ligget—JSOA “Eagle” (near Monterey, California) —and then make contact with the Krasnovian resistance who were sheltering the Mojavian agent.

  • DA004 (Planning)—Another planning mission, DA004 was tasked to disable a Pahrumphian rocket fuel plant located at the Tonapah Test Range—JSOA “Snake” (in northern Nevada, formerly home to the F-117 Nighthawk wing). The area was assumed to be so heavily defended that a ground team would have a better chance against the target than even a large airstrike with PGMs.

  • UW001—One of the more intriguing missions assigned to FOB 31 was an Unconventional Warfare (UW) operation flagged as UW001. This mission had personnel from FOB 31 rigging supply bundles for airdrop to insurgents in Pahrumphia, and it would be run late in NTC 99-02. The bundles would be dropped from a KC-130 at the Dugway Proving Grounds up in Utah.The command center for Forward Operating Base 31 during JRTC 99-02.

  JOHN D. GRESHAM

  Most professional soldiers will tell you that given a choice between desert and forest, they will pick cover and water. The SF deploying on missions during NTC 99-02 would have to deal with a number of desert-related problems. For obvious starters, they would carry every drop of water they used, endure extremes of heat and cold, and face an absolute absence of overhead cover. The geology of the region posed less obvious, but equally serious, challenges. At the higher elevations, where they would frequently be conducting missions, the land is mostly basalt—rock with an extremely high iron content. This tends to make compass navigation difficult and radio communications extremely dicey. The communications sergeants (18E) had to plan carefully to ensure reliable radio links back to FOB 31.

  About the time Bill Shaw was finishing up his briefing, Lieutenant Colonel Dunn emerged from his staff meeting and introduced himself. A stately and charming Southerner, Roy Dunn made me instantly welcome. He specifically invited me to observe a number of events, among them a “Media on the Battlefield” exercise to be held the next afternoon—a simulated press conference where he would face a “cable news crew” from the JRTC PAO shop. The JRTC Media on the Battlefield crew have a fierce reputation. It promised to be a good show.

  After meeting the commander, I was given a tour of the encampment.

  In each tent, teams were preparing for their missions, conducting briefbacks, running rehearsals, and packing their rucksacks up to the 140 lb./91 kg. maximum allowed on operations. Much of what they would carry would be water, gallons of which would be required for survival.94 The rest of the load would be food, ammunition, weapons and explosives, com
munications and navigation gear, and sensor equipment (if needed). There would also be camouflage netting, Gilly Suits, and hide site materials for those teams that would have to stay in one place for any length of time.

  That night SR001, SR002, and SR003 would all launch on their missions. And on Monday, I would drive the 350 miles/565 km. up to Fort Irwin to observe the terminal guidance phase of SR002.

  Thursday, October 29th—Yuma Proving Ground

  It was a quiet day, with nothing much on my schedule until the Media on the Battlefield event in the afternoon. I passed the time in the operations center, listening to the progress of the three SR teams after their insertions. All of them had gotten into their hide positions and set up their surveillance systems; and good data on enemy troop and vehicle movements had started coming in. This was immediately passed along to the SOCCE (Mojave), located with the 3rd/3rd Infantry (Mech.) moving into IMC and the JSOTF (Mojave). So far enemy action north of IMC had been light.

  As expected, SR002 had a tough time getting into position.

  After insertion by the Nevada ANG CH-47, their team had split into three smaller elements and moved into hide positions north of IMC on a mountain overlooking a critical crossroads. The three team elements were spread over a pair of peaks and a small saddle, which allowed them to observe the crossroads and gave them enough angular separation so the two SOT-A intercept receivers could generate cross-bearings off of radio transmissions. The good news was that they were in good positions to observe the KPC ground and helicopter traffic, which was heavy. The bad news was that the KPC ground and helicopter traffic was heavy, which made their own positions hazardous. Further bad news came in the form of a large basalt formation on which ODA 324/SOT-A 301 had set up their positions, which made a mess of SATCOM radio frequencies. This meant they had to communicate by means of an old-fashioned HF radio set with a Morse key until they could get the SATCOM and other sets working reliably (it took two days).