5th Special Forces Group

Franklin D. Miller MAC-V SOG Awarded Medal Of Honor January 5, 1970

On this day in 1970, Franklin D. Miller, a Green Beret from the 5th SFG, who was assigned to MAC-V SOG was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions conducted as a long-range reconnaissance team member in Vietnam. He was decorated by President Nixon in the White House on June 15, 1971. Asked where he wanted to be assigned next, Miller replied “Vietnam.”

Miller served six tours of duty in Vietnam, a full six years of combat. Besides the Medal of Honor, Miller was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with “V” device, six Purple Hearts, and the Air Medal.

Miller enlisted in the Army in February 1965. After Basic and AIT, he joined Special Forces and after graduation was shipped to Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division after running afoul of his commander. But Miller stayed in Vietnam for two years with the Cav and then transferred to the 5th SFG which was then in Vietnam.

Miller later became a member of the elite and highly-secretive Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MAC-V SOG) which contained Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Air Force Commandos and CIA operations personnel.

Franklin Miller (top right) and his team with MAC-V SOG in Vietnam.

January 5, 1970: On the day of this particular mission, Miller was part of a seven-man long-range reconnaissance patrol of American Special Forces and Montagnard tribesmen. After inserting in Laos, one of the Montagnards tripped a booby trap, which wounded five men in the patrol and brought down a much larger force of North Vietnamese troops.

Wounded in the chest in the fighting, Miller along with every member of the patriot was now wounded. In an interview done much later, he said he felt like he was drowning. Miller then had what classified as a “religious experience.” His mentor, SSG Roy Bumgarner, who led Miller with the 1st Cav, appeared to him and told to him to calm down or his panic would lead him to go into shock.

“It was like a religious experience. I knew something had happened. I was actually falling and thinking, “Why am I falling? When you see that much blood, and you know that it is yours, it has a tendency to scare you.”

Miller said, “I then calmed down and tried to figure out what I had to do.”

Miller single-handedly repelled two attacks by a platoon-sized enemy element, crawling to an exposed position and engaging the enemy, after rescue helicopters were driven off by heavy ground fire. During the heavy fighting, four of the members of his patrol were killed.

Miller was the only man in the patrol that could continue to fight and by nightfall, was nearly out of ammunition. Finally, a relief patrol was able to reach him and the other two survivors and they were able to get out safely.

Miller (right) at the SOG compound in Vietnam.

The President gave Miller his wish and he returned to Vietnam for another tour. He returned from Vietnam and remained in the Army, retiring in 1992 as a Command Sergeant Major. He then went to work for the VA as a benefits counselor.

Miller would still occasionally visit Ft. Bragg and the Special Forces students at Camp Mackall where he would talk to the students about leadership and survive in combat. His message to the young SF troops? “Share your fears only with yourself, share your courage with others…and you will inspire people to do incredible things.”

Miller passed away from cancer on June 30, 2000, at the age of 55. Army Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke for Special Forces men everywhere. “We have lost an individual, I think, who served as an icon to what service in the armed forces is about,” Shelton said.

Miller’s attention to detail, combined with his moral and physical courage, made him the ideal soldier, he added. “Doug Miller epitomized that,” Shelton said. “He will be sorely missed.”

MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION:

For The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Franklin Douglas Miller, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, in action against enemy aggressor forces at Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 5 January 1970.

Staff Sergeant Miller was serving as team leader of an American-Vietnamese long-range reconnaissance patrol operating deep within enemy controlled territory. Leaving the helicopter insertion point, the patrol moved forward on its mission. Suddenly, one of the team members tripped a hostile booby trap which wounded four soldiers.

Staff Sergeant Miller, knowing that the explosion would alert the enemy, quickly administered first aid to the wounded and directed the team into positions across a small stream bed at the base of a steep hill. Within a few minutes, Staff Sergeant Miller saw the lead element of what he estimated to be a platoon-size enemy force moving toward his location.

Concerned for the safety of his men, he directed the small team to move up the hill to a more secure position. He remained alone, separated from the patrol, to meet the attack. Staff Sergeant Miller single-handedly repulsed two determined attacks by the numerically superior enemy force and caused them to withdraw in disorder. He rejoined his team, established contact with a forward air controller and arranged the evacuation of his patrol. However, the only suitable extraction location in the heavy jungle was a bomb crater some 150 meters from the team location.

Staff Sergeant Miller reconnoitered the route to the crater and led his men through the enemy controlled jungle to the extraction site. As the evacuation helicopter hovered over the crater to pick up the patrol, the enemy launched a savage automatic weapon and rocket-propelled grenade attack against the beleaguered team, driving off the rescue helicopter.

Staff Sergeant Miller led the team in a valiant defense which drove back the enemy in its attempt to overrun the small patrol. Although seriously wounded and with every man in his patrol a casualty, Staff Sergeant Miller moved forward to again single-handedly meet the hostile attackers. From his forward exposed position, Staff Sergeant Miller gallantly repelled two attacks by the enemy before a friendly relief force reached the patrol location.

Staff Sergeant Miller’s gallantry, intrepidity in action, and selfless devotion to the welfare of his comrades are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

Photos: US Army

Colonel Robert Howard, Medal of Honor 30 December 1968

Bob Howard was and still is, a legend among the Special Operations and Special Forces communities. He was the only man ever nominated for the Medal of Honor three times, all within a 13-month period, and truth be told, should have been awarded it for all three.

Howard was wounded 14 times in combat but was awarded just eight Purple Hearts, why? According to him, the other wounds weren’t bad enough to keep him out of action. By war’s end in Vietnam, he’d spent nearly 5 ½ years there. Again, when asked why, he simply responded, that there was he could do the most good.

Even among the SOG (Studies and Observations Group) veterans who performed all kinds of derring-do behind the lines in Vietnam as well as Cambodia and Laos, he was still referred to in hushed reverent tones.

World War I and II had the national heroes such as Alvin C. York and Audie Murphy. Had not the Vietnam War been so unpopular at home and with the press, Howard would be there right beside them and be as well known to the public. Because sadly, outside of the Special Operations community, few really know the story of Bob Howard.

His exploits read like the script of a bad “B-war film” and yet every word of those are absolutely true. One of his recommendations for the Medal of Honor, which was later downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross was recalled by Major John Plaster who served with Howard in SOG in Vietnam. Plaster recalls the operation as a typical Bob Howard, then a Sergeant First Class (SFC), as a tale filled with heroism.

“Accompanying a larger SOG force, he performed magnificently, single-handedly knocking out a PT-76 tank. A day later he wiped out an anti-aircraft gun crew, and afterward rescued the crew of a downed Huey. Repeatedly wounded, he was bleeding from his arms, legs, back, and face, but he refused to be evacuated. Again submitted for the Medal of Honor, his recommendation was downgraded, this time to the Distinguished Service Cross.”

On December 30, 1968, just six weeks after the previous incident, Howard’s actions would result in President Nixon awarding him the Medal of Honor in the White House. Howard accompanied a platoon of SOG troops, American and Vietnamese going into Laos in search of a missing recon man, Robert Scherdin.

Upon infiltration, they were ambushed by a much larger enemy force, Howard was badly wounded, his M-16 was blown out of his hands and rendered useless.He was temporarily knocked unconscious. But as soon as he came to, he knew what to do. Howard low-crawled to the aid of a wounded lieutenant. He then had to drag the man nearly two hundred yards under heavy enemy fire. A sergeant gave him a .45 pistol and fought off NVA soldiers with it and a grenade. As if that weren’t enough, Howard then formed the men into a tight perimeter and called in an airstrike right on top of their position. The resultant explosions would lift the Americans into the air and peppered them as well as the enemy with shrapnel. He described his actions a few years ago in an interview.

“When I come to, I was blown up in a crump on the ground, and my weapon was blown out of my hand. I can remember seeing red and saying a prayer, hoping I wasn’t blind. I couldn’t see. And I knew I was in a lot of pain and my hands were hurting. I couldn’t get up, and I really didn’t want to get up anyway because I couldn’t see. And then I finally starting getting the vision back and it was like blood was in my eyes, and I started feeling, but my hands were all blown up.

“And then it was like there was a big flame and there was smoke and there were people screaming and hollering. It, in fact, was an enemy soldier that was burning the people that would have been ambushed with a flamethrower. And the guy walked up to me and was getting ready to burn me, and he looked at me and he didn’t burn the lieutenant. The lieutenant was about 5 feet away from me, and he’s laying face forward, and he was hollering and he was screaming. I knew he was hurt. And the guy looked at me with the flamethrower, and then I looked at him. I guess I looked so bad and pitiful, he decided not to burn me up. He just turned and walked off.”
“So I’m pulling him back down the hill, and there was a sergeant that was laying down behind a log with a weapon that hadn’t been wounded that had seen this. But he was crying and not using his weapon. Here I am, begging him to help me because I can’t walk and drag the lieutenant back down.
“I said, ‘Well, give me your weapon,’ and he wouldn’t give me his weapon, but he did give me a .45. Just as he gave me the .45, and I’m trying to tell him to give me a couple more magazines of rounds for it, a bunch of enemy soldiers come running toward us. So here I am trying to fire the handgun, and I can remember shooting this enemy soldier that was fixing to stick me with a bayonet. He was running toward me. In fact, he fell across the lieutenant that I was dragging, and so just as he fell across there was another one behind him. They were trying to get us alive is what they were trying to do.”
“They brought the fire into our position,” Howard said of the airstrike. “In fact, I remember fire landing right between my feet and, you know, ricochet hitting me in the face. You know, that’s how intense it was.”

Howard was wounded so badly that his SOG teammates feared that they’d never see him again. But not afterward, Bob Howard went AWOL from the hospital and rejoined his unit. He was given a battlefield promotion to 1LT and stayed on active duty until retiring as a full Colonel.

It is amazing that no one has of yet, told his story in a film. Perhaps someday, Steven Spielberg, or Clint Eastwood who would do Bob Howard’s story justice, will do a film, finally honoring his heroism. It is long overdue.

Howard’s Medal of Honor Citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard (then Sfc .), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an American-Vietnamese platoon which was on a mission to rescue a missing American soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam. The platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force. During the initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been wounded seriously and was exposed to fire. Although unable to walk, and weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first aid and removing the officer’s equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the ammunition pouches on the lieutenant’s belt, detonating several magazines of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing that he must rejoin the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the platoon area. Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded, giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the encircling enemy. For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard’s small force and supporting aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in sufficient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-swept landing zone until all were aboard safely. 1st Lt. Howard’s gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Photos: US Army/White House

SWC Is Always Under the Microscope, Now From the Outside

Opinion: By now, practically everyone associated with Special Operations Forces have heard of, read, and/or discussed the recent letter from a “concerned Green Beret” that blasted the command climate at the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Ft. Bragg, NC.

Titled “Careerism, Cronyism, and Malfeasance in SWCS: The End of SF Capability”, the letter went into minute detail about how the command of SWC, is putting undue influence and pressure onto the cadre of the school to push unfit, unqualified Special Forces candidates thru the school’s pipeline to the operational Special Forces groups. The letter was first published on Sofrep.com but was sent out thru normal army channels to SF units all over the world.

As many of our readers who are current or former members of the Regiment and SWC, the schoolhouse is always under the microscope. Because the course, the Special Forces Qualification Course is almost like a living document. It changes with the command environment, it will evolve as strategic and tactical situations that the troops face on the evolving battlefield change. But the one thing that no one wants to see is outside influence and eyes on the course from those who aren’t from the community. When outside influences with no knowledge or background in Special Forces come to bear on the training of said force, it usually doesn’t end well.

The author, or authors (rumor has it, it was a recently retired SWC instructor, unconfirmed)… as I suspect there were numerous hands involved in this piece, went into minute detail describing in a 6,300 piece, that officers and senior NCOs have put career advancement ahead of the Regiment’s well-being:

Our Regiment has a cancer, and it is destroying the SF legacy, its capability, and its credibility.
SWCS has devolved into a cesspool of toxic, exploitive, biased and self-serving senior Officers who are bolstered by submissive, sycophantic, and just-as-culpable enlisted leaders. They have doggedly succeeded in two things; furthering their careers, and ensuring that Special Forces more prolific, but dangerously less capable than ever before. Shameless and immodest careerism has, in no uncertain terms, effectively destroyed our ability to assess, train, and prepare students, or to identify those students that pose very real risk to Operational Detachments. I cannot stress how systematic and severe the effects on the force will be if the standards, recently implemented here in the Special Forces Qualification Course, remain in place.

The author name names, specific incidents and other details that… which if any are true, worthy of serious concern and need to be addressed by the command asap. And the purpose here isn’t to decide whether or not they are entirely true.

We’re no longer involved in the pipeline of the SF training and assessment of candidates at SWC. It isn’t for us to decide whether or not these complaints, (and there is a slew of them) are worthy of merit. But the one thing we’ve built in our own experiences is trust. Trust in one another and trust in the process. The instructors have earned that trust and we now have to believe in what they’re telling all of us is a problem. If this many of the current SF instructors feel this way, then it is a truth in their eyes and reflects a serious problem in the pipeline. And as former instructors at SWC and members of the Regiment, we stand behind what they’re seeing, without casting judgments at anyone or specific incidents. And these issues aren’t new, instructors many times in the past have felt the same way at different times and in different eras.

Then it becomes the command’s duty to change that. The school and the command element at SWC must have its instructors, all of them, to believe that what they’re doing is not only the right thing but an essential part in perpetuating the long-term viability of the Regiment. It is called leadership. If instructors don’t believe in what they’re doing, the entire process becomes flawed. The Regiment can’t afford that.

The Commander of SWC, MG Kurt L. Sonntag, who was the recipient of so much of the criticism in the letter, didn’t try to sweep it under the rug, but to his credit, addressed the allegations in a very timely manner. While he didn’t address details, and we expected that, he tried to ensure all of the instructors, at SWC that the standards remain in place and that nothing has changed.

“Many of you have seen the anonymous letter calling into question the integrity of our training standards and the quality of the Soldiers being produced. Let me be clear, I would be proud to serve with each and every one of our Special Forces Qualification Course graduates, and I stand behind the quality of every Soldier we are sending to the operational force.”
“As the operational environment changes, we will continue to adjust instruction to fulfill our obligation to produce fully-qualified Army Special Operations Soldiers. Some of the comments in the email warrant further evaluation, and we are doing that through formal inquiries and a number of existing institutional forums.”

“Let me reiterate, CSM Arrowsmith and I seek healthy dialogue as a means of improvement. Every level of the command has been encouraged to challenge the current process, phasing and training methodology to ensure SWCS’ training remains relevant to meet the needs of the 1st SFC (A). Training at SWCS will continue to evolve to meet the needs of the Army. We will remain relevant while upholding the highest academic, military and physical standards. SWCS strives for a professional, rewarding experience for its students, cadre and families.”

We’ve read numerous posts from NCOs and Officers on social media platforms that have worked with MG Sonntag, who will attest to his knowledge and integrity and don’t buy at all into his pushing the standards lower to achieve a greater success rate in the course to further his own career. And we’ve seen others post on those same social media sites that the allegations are correct. The two sides have to meet somewhere in the middle. And they will.

The general wrote (where the underlining was ours, not his), that certain parts of the letter will require further examination. The hope here is that SWC and the command will delve into the issues brought up in the letter and not waste time in trying to pin down “who” wrote it. The who is unimportant, the issues that the instructors bring up are the crux of the matter. We’ve seen the rumors that certain elements of the command are actively trying to track down the writer of the letter. No good can come of that. Witch hunts only end badly and destroy the fabric of what makes our Regiment so great.

That the school and the SWC command and the soldiers in it are always under the microscope goes without saying. They’re constantly being evaluated by the Regiment on the quality of the troops being sent forward. We wrote back in April that the standards of the Regiment have to remain high. But that occasionally, and this would be one of those times, that outsiders become involved in the process.

The Special Operations community is always under the spotlight even though they themselves would rather remain in the shadows as the “Quiet Professionals” but because of their nature, the public and the government are fascinated by them.

As a result, too many times, people in government with no operational experience, nor any idea what it takes to operate in a Special Operations environment, read up a bit and become instant experts. They then try to get involved with the training and assessment with Special Operations troops. This usually doesn’t end well.

Let’s all hope that this doesn’t turn into one of those situations but unfortunately, the opposite may be true. Outsiders and non-Long Tab wearers have no business getting involved in Special Forces training.

There have always been criticisms of SWC and the SFQC, for 65 years every graduation for the course constitutes the “Last Hard Class” or the first easy one depending upon one’s point of view and level of sarcasm. But this letter speaks of much deeper problems. Judging from MG Sonntag’s letter of response, they’re going to address those issues.

The general does bring up an interesting topic when changes were made to the SFAS (Special Forces Selection and Assessment) Course in 2011, the cadre were identifying candidates who were failing out of the SFQC but had successfully passed selection. Major Brian Decker made the changes to Selection and the results were a big increase in the number of troops successfully passing SFQC. So there shouldn’t be a large percentage of failures after Selection. We spoke with him back in the spring about the changes to and the improvements in the course.

But the instructors have a point. Some troops just don’t belong in SF, it isn’t an indictment on those troops. It just isn’t cut out for everyone. The beret and tab will not make a man a better soldier. That comes from within, the man makes the beret and tab special, not the other way around. And a candidate who voluntarily withdraws should never be put back into the course.

The Special Forces Regiment is one that the troops who have served in and are currently serving in, put out the best-trained soldiers on the planet. No one wants to see that change. Let us hope that the current command in the Special Warfare Center address any issues out there and continue with the Regiment’s legacy of excellence.

De Oppresso Liber

Photo: US Army

USASOC Turns 27 Years Old Today, December 1, 1989

Time flies when you are having fun, or in the case of the United States Army Special Operations Command, when you are employed so heavily, the years, never mind the days and months fly by.

On today’s date in 1989, USASOC was activated and although it wasn’t that long ago, the world, as well as the command has changed a great deal. The command was activated just days before the US would invade Panama, or in the case of many troops involved from USASOC, namely the 3rd Bn, 7th Special Forces Group and SOCSOUTH, they’d just pick up and move out from their team rooms.

The command was activated and went right into Just Cause, and shortly thereafter Desert Shield, Desert Storm. And it seemed like the op-tempo never slowed down.

Since 9/11 and the quick invasion of Afghanistan right after that, no major command in the Army has been involved in the Global War on Terror as heavily as USASOC.

History: On Dec. 1, 1989, the Department of the Army established USASOC at Fort Bragg, N.C. , as a major Army command to enhance the readiness of Army special operations forces.

In addition to reporting to the Department of the Army, USASOC also functions as the Army component of the U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM, located at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. USSOCOM is the unified combatant command responsible for all Department of Defense special operations forces within the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

From the USASOC Command Page:
Structure: With an allocated strength of approximately 23,000 Soldiers, USASOC commands both active-duty and Army Reserve special operations forces. The command also provides oversight of Army National Guard special operations forces’ readiness, organization, training, and employment in coordination with the National Guard Bureau and state adjutants general.

USASOC controls seven major subordinate elements, which in turn train and maintain forces for deployment by USSOCOM to combatant command theaters worldwide.

USASOC has four major subordinate commands that include the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional), U. S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command, all located at Fort Bragg, N.C. Located elsewhere is the 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Ga.

The 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) (Provisional), Fort Bragg, N.C., controls five active Special Forces groups and has training oversight for two groups in the Army National Guard. The Green Berets are uniquely selected, trained and equipped for deployment around the world during peacetime, conflict, and war. Regionally and culturally oriented, Special Forces Soldiers are experts in unconventional warfare, direct action, special reconnaissance, foreign internal defense and combating terrorism. The command also includes the 4th and 8th Military Information Support Groups (Airborne), the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade (Airborne) and the 528th Sustainment Brigade (Airborne).

The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) at Fort Bragg, N.C., is one of the Army’s premier education institutions, managing and resourcing professional growth for Soldiers in the Army’s three distinct special-operations branches: Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Military Information Support.

The 75th Ranger Regiment, Fort Benning, Ga. , is the Army’s premier light infantry force. The Rangers are flexible, highly-trained and rapidly deployable Soldiers with specialized skills who can be employed against a variety of targets. The regiment’s three battalions plan and conduct direct action missions in support of U.S. policy objectives.

The U.S. Army Special Operations Aviation Command organizes, mans, trains, resources and equips ARSOAC units to provide responsive, special operations aviation support to Special Operations Forces and is the USASOC Aviation staff proponent

1st SFC: The US Army 1st Special Forces Command is tasked with organizing, equipping, training, and validating forces to conduct full spectrum special operations in support of USSOCOM, Geographic Combatant Commanders, American ambassadors, and other governmental agencies.

Special Forces Green Berets deploy and execute nine doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counter-insurgency, special reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, information operations, counter-proliferation of WMD, and security force assistance.

There are five active component and two National Guard Special Forces Groups. Each SF Group is regionally oriented to support the US interests in their specific area.

1st SFG(A): Joint Base Lewis-McChord Washington

3rd SFG(A): Ft. Bragg, NC

5th SFG(A): Ft. Campbell, KY

7th SFG(A): Eglin, AFB FL

10th SFG(A): Ft. Carson, CO

19th SFG(A): Draper, UT

20th SFG(A): Birmingham, AL

4th Military Information Support Group: The 4th MISG remains the Army’s only active military information support operations unit.

The ranks of the 4th MISG include regional and language-trained experts who understand political, cultural, ethnic and religious subtleties. With functional experts in all aspects of tactical communications, the 4th MISG offers joint force commanders unmatched abilities to influence target audiences as well as support to U.S. diplomacy.

95th Civil Affairs Brigade: 95th Civil Affairs Brigade Soldiers enable military commanders and U.S. Ambassadors to improve relationships
with various stakeholders in a local area to meet the objectives of the U.S. government.

95th Civil Affairs Brigade teams work with U.S. Department of State country teams, government and nongovernmental organizations at all levels and with local populations in peaceful, contingency and hostile environments.

US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School: The JFKSWC trains, educates, develops and manages world-class Civil Affairs, Psychological Operations and Special Forces warriors and leaders in order to provide our nation with highly educated, innovative and adaptive operators.

1st Special Warfare Training Group

Special Warfare Education Group

Special Warfare Medical Group
Special Warfare Warrant Officer Institute

David K. Thuma Noncommissioned Officer Academy

Directorate of Training and Doctrine

Branch Proponents (CA, PSYOP, & SF)

Army Special Operations Capabilities Integration Center

ARSOF Training, Leader Development, and Education

ARSOF Personnel Policies and Programs Center

US Army Special Operations Aviation Command: The USASOAC traces its lineage back to the early 1960s when Special Forces were just beginning to expand and the unit supported the 5th, 7th and 1st SFGs in Vietnam. After the debacle at Desert One in 1980, the Army dedicated a command specifically for Special Operations Aviation. Today, 160th SOAR has almost 3000 soldiers and more than 200 aircraft.

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment: Ft. Campbell, KY

75th Ranger Regiment: The Ranger Regiment has four geographically displaced battalions ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. Their capabilities include air assault and direct action raids seizing key terrain such as airfields, destroying strategic facilities, and capturing or killing the enemy.

1st Ranger Bn: Hunter Army Airfield, GA

2nd Ranger Bn: Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA

3rd Ranger Bn: Ft. Benning, GA

75th Ranger Special Troops Bn:

USASOC has certainly grown since the early days of the command and it will continue to grow. The demands placed upon the Special Operations troops of the military has continued to stretch the units to their breaking point. The demand for high-quality Special Operations troops is higher now than ever before.

With the US government using Special Operations troops as their “Go-To” first unit of choice, USSOCOM and USASOC will be tasked to do more and more as the events of the world play out.

Photos: USASOC

Book Review: “War Stories of the Green Berets” by Hans Halberstadt

Frequently, we get emails or tweets here at SpecialOperations.com in the realm of questions about the training and the qualification course. Many of course deal with Selection and I have to tell people that the Instructors don’t actually kill anyone during the events and one doesn’t have to be 10-feet tall to pass. But one I got last week was different and an intriguing one so I’ve decided to post it and address it in our post today.

J.P- wrote, “as a young man getting ready to attempt Selection soon, I was wondering if you can reccomend (sic) any books that deal with Special Forces, specifically SF history and maybe some that aren’t as well known as others.”

Consider it done. The history of SF doesn’t really begin just with Aaron Bank and the SF of 1952. The OSS in World War II, with the Jedburghs and the Operational Groups (OGs) were the first true forerunners to what SF and CIA became down the road. There are plenty of great books about the beginnings of OSS and Special Forces and we’re compiling a list of some of the definitive great books to read in that regard.

But for today, if you want to understand where you are and where you’re going as a candidate in Special Forces, then look to the past. Special Forces got its reputation during many years of combat during the Vietnam conflict. And the more you can learn about the men and operations of that era then you can gain an understanding of what you are about to attempt.

“War Stories of the Green Berets”, The Vietnam Experience, by Hans Halberstadt is a great book for not only the military history enthusiast but for the potential candidates who someday hope to wear the Green Beret.

Halberstadt has done dozens of interviews with former Special Forces soldiers who fought in Vietnam and the stories are always intriguing, oftentimes funny and many times sobering.

Many of the legends of Special Forces tell their stories. Among them, Martha “Maggie” Raye, a Hollywood entertainer and trained nurse who would visit the austere SF A-camps and during rough times would pitch in and work as a nurse. Colonel Maggie as she was affectionately known by the SF troops, always preferred the Sergeants company to that of the officers and could drink many of those sergeants under the table.

Dan Pitzer (RIP), was the senior medic on an A-Team that got ambushed in 1963, during the ambush while moving up to help one of the Vietnamese, Pitzer broke his leg. Lt. Nick Rowe tried to help Pitzer but was clubbed from behind and both men were taken, prisoner. Pitzer spent the first year of captivity alone in solitary confinement. He set his own leg by suspending himself from the tiger cage bars and straightening his leg by hanging from it. He and Rowe spent a considerable amount of time as prisoners together.

Years later Pitzer would work for SERE Committee at the JFK Special Warfare Center that Colonel Rowe started after their return. In those days, you already had to be Special Forces qualified to go to SERE. Pitzer got up in front of the class, gave a long presentation on his experiences as a POW, his treatment by the Viet Cong and how he was subsequently “released” from captivity. He had a room of hardcore SF guys captivated. You could hear a pin drop. His story in the book about Christmas Eve as a POW is a must read.

Jon Caviani, who was awarded a Medal of Honor for valor in Vietnam and who spent time as a POW told some funny stories some sad and an eye-opener about killing an NVA sentry with a knife. His remembrances on the Medal of Honor and the hassles of remaining in the Army while being a Medal of Honor awardee as well being one while n Delta was interesting and different than one would expect. The secretive Delta Force wasn’t worried about Caviani’s experience level but his public profile, but they needn’t have worried, he didn’t give speeches, make appearances nor attend any functions.

Jim Morris, the former Special Forces officer who authored a few books, “War Story” one of which that should be required reading for Special Forces candidates. Morris later worked as a journalist for Soldier of Fortune magazine. One of his stories was made into a film, “Operation Dumbo Drop.” In this book, Morris penned a sarcastic piece that only someone who served in the military could understand with the jargon and acronyms that was wryly brilliant.

Vernon Gillespie was a Captain and Commander of a Special Forces A-Team in 1964 at Buon Brieng when the Montagnards, sick of oppression by the lowland Vietnamese revolted. Gillespie’s camp was the only one of six in the area that didn’t revolt. The Army sacked all of the Special Forces officers as if they were responsible. Gillespie became the first face of Special Forces in the mainstream when National Geographic ran a story on him. It coincidentally was my own first glimpse into what would become my own life, when reading it while visiting my grandmother’s house.

Halberstadt’s book is definitely worth the read, I understand a newer version is now available and has been expanded with modern stories woven in. That is fantastic because the book was already a great read. I absolutely recommend this one as a fantastic read, as the stories are quick, easy to read and gives a glimpse of what being a Green Beret was truly like in Vietnam.

In the near future, we’ll have some other books to choose from and have a “required reading list” for Special Forces troops.

Photos: Amazon

Battle of Mazar e Sharif, Special Forces Troops Mount Horseback Assault

The fall of Mazar-e-Sharif on November 9, 2001, was the first major defeat of the Taliban and was taken by the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan (Northern Alliance), along with US Army Special Forces A-Teams and precision Air Force bombardment.

The taking of the city was somewhat of a shock for both the coalition troops as well as the Taliban. US intelligence estimates thought that the city would hold out until nearly mid-2002. The Taliban had been in control of the city since 1998 and had fortified the area with a tremendous amount of reinforcement.

But the Northern Alliance teams, with a few Green Beret and Air Force Combat Controller advisors, harnessed the might of the US Air Force and decimated the Taliban or their proxies wherever they massed. By the time the Taliban withdrew anywhere between 300-500 had been killed, another 500 captured and about 1000 defected. It was a classic UW (Unconventional Warfare) success story showing what a handful of Green Berets can do working with a dedicated and tough guerrilla force. And in doing so the Green Berets of the 5th Special Forces Group (5th SFG) had conducted the first horseback mounted attack by US troops in the 21st Century.

Infiltration: Just weeks after 9/11, the US would begin the process of taking the Taliban to task for allowing al-Qaeda to use their territory. In the early morning hours of Oct.19, 2001, an MH-47E Chinook landed in Darya Suf Valley in Afghanistan and 14 heavily laden men alit and gathered their equipment and extra gear and were met by Northern Alliance fighters along with four US CIA men assigned to assist the guerrillas. The men were ODA-595 from the 5th SFG along with two Air Force Combat Controllers. Another SF A-Team, ODA-555 landed hundreds of miles south and was also linking up with other Northern Alliance fighters. These men though small in number and very lightly armed would soon be changing history.

The Northern Alliance (NA) troops didn’t have many vehicles, many of them were riding horses and when ODA-595 met with the regional commander, they quickly were issued a horse and rode for eight hours to his mountain headquarters. The commander, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum had his eyes set on Mazar-e-Sharif, because that city, close to the border of Uzbekistan controlled the road to Kabul.

The Special Forces men advising Dostum and his NA had been in two pitched battles at Bishqab and Cobaki, riding into battle on horseback and American air power had turned the tide of each in favor of the lighter armed and numerically inferior SF/NA coalition. However, the news reports coming out had painted a very different picture of what was happening. According to the news, the SF troops were doing nothing. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was demanding answers. The commander of A-595, Captain Mitch Nelson, opened his laptop to find messages questioning what his troops were doing. What he wrote was an instant classic SITREP.

“I am advising a man on how to best employ light infantry and horse cavalry in the attack against Taliban T-55s, mortars, artillery, personnel carriers, and machine guns – a tactic which I think became outdated with the invention of the Gatling gun. [The mujahideen] have done this every day we have been on the ground. They have attacked with 10 rounds of ammunition per man, with snipers having less than 100 rounds – little water and less food. I have observed a PK gunner who walked 10-plus miles to get to the fight, who was proud to show me his artificial leg from the knee down.

We have witnessed the horse cavalry bounding overwatch from spur to spur to attack Taliban strongpoints – the last several kilometers under mortar, artillery, and sniper fire. There is little medical care if injured, only a donkey ride to the aid station, which is a dirt hut. I think [the mujahideen] are doing very well with what they have.

We could not do what we are doing without the close air support – everywhere I go the civilians and mujahideen soldiers are always telling me they are glad the U.S.A. has come. They all speak of their hopes for a better Afghanistan once the Taliban are gone.”

Then-Staff Sgt. Bart Decker, Air Force combat controller, on horseback with Northern Alliance forces. U.S. Army photo

On November 2, a third Special Forces A-Team infiltrated the area, ODA-534, along with members of the CIA SAD (Special Activities Division). They linked up with another Northern Alliance warlord, Atta Mohammed Noor 25 miles to the west of A-595.

The Taliban began trying to move a massive amount of troops including foreign fighters into Mazar-e-Sharif. Of the 4000 troops they were moving across the mountains there, only about 500 made it into the city. Massive B-52 airstrikes were decimating their ranks.

On November 9, members of the two ODAs and the CIA team positioned themselves in positions on the mountainsides and began calling in airstrikes against the Taliban at Tangi Pass – the entrance to the city where the NA/SF planned to attack.

Special Forces officer aims a laser target designator at a target in Afghanistan.

Taliban artillery, BM-21 Grad rockets responded, but were quickly suppressed by on-call US air support. The airstrikes were taking a deadly toll on the defenders. Once the enemy had been softened up enough, the NA/SF began their assault on foot, horseback, pick up trucks and by some captured BMP armored personnel carriers.

By the time the ground attack had started by 2 p.m., the NA troops of Dostrum and Noor were meeting only light resistance. They swept across the Pul-i-Imam Bukhri bridge and quickly seized the city’s main military base and the Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport.

As they were sweeping into the city, the Taliban began to retreat en masse along with foreign fighters and al-Qaeda towards Kunduz. There were anywhere between 5000 and 12,000 troops clogging the road on every conceivable vehicle to get away.

The taking of the city was shocking as US intelligence estimates thought it would take months before a large enough conventional unit could move on it. A handful of Special Forces troops advising a “rag-tag” guerrilla army on horseback took it in a matter of days. The SF troops with the outstanding performance of the Air Force’s Combat Controllers turned the battle into a rout. The US Air Force ruled the sky and the Taliban troops were decimated whenever they attempted to mass against the Northern Alliance. The taking of Mazar-e-Sharif gave the US a much-needed airstrip where they could launch aircraft right inside the country, instead of having to fly from far away.

But soon Afghanistan was flooded with a sea of conventional US troops. The Special Forces troops were relegated to a sideshow as the Big Army moved in. And sixteen years later, the country is still not secure, now being even less so as the Taliban once again controls much of the countryside. The Big Army has since moved on and now the Special Operations Forces of the US are back to being the main players again along with US air support.

One can draw on the words of Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson. Wilson was the driving force behind the covert CIA-led mission to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Once gone, the US quickly tired of the country which gave way to the Taliban coming to power. Wilson’s words could easily be the 2001 version of events just as easily as the 1989 version.

“These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world… and then we fucked up the end game.”

Photos: US Special Operations Command

Special Forces Stolen Heritage Flap Takes A Surprising Turn

Thank you for your concern now get the hell away from my pet project

Nothing moves faster than bad news and sometimes when 80,000 people of your own tell you that you are wrong then perhaps it is time to stop, step back and listen.

The US Army Special Forces community is mad and the last thing you want is one of them mad at you, but when 80,000 both active and retired Special Forces men are mad, then you’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest.

Special Forces known in the military as “SF” are the premier Unconventional Warfare (UW) specialists in the US military and one of the Army’s Special Operations Forces. They are known publicly by their headgear, Green Berets. But the SF are no longer the only men in the army wearing green berets. And that, among other issues pertaining to their legacy are what have them fighting mad. And mad at one of their own. But first a bit of background.

SF was born out of the OSS of World War II, from whom they draw their lineage. Colonel Aaron Bank, the first Commander of Special Forces was an OSS member.

After SF was organized in 1952, it quickly grew when the guerrilla wars or “wars of liberation” sprang up during the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy was impressed by the troops and knew the role that they were about to play in the war in Vietnam. Much to the chagrin of the Army at that time, Kennedy liked the look of the green beret which is the traditional wear of the Commandos of our European allies. He asked General Yarborough to make sure the men of Special Forces wore them for a visit he made to Fort Bragg. The President said, “The green beret is a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom.” By his order, the Department of the Army relented and on 25 September 1961 by Department of the Army Message 578636, which designated the green beret as the exclusive headdress of the Army Special Forces.

The Special Forces patch was blue and in the shape of an arrowhead to acknowledge the stealth and field skills of the American Indian. The Indian Scouts of the Old West wore crossed arrow brass which SF has adopted. The crossed arrows are also found on the unit crest. In the middle of the patch is a Sykes-Fairbairn fighting knife of the British Commandos and the 1st Special Service Force of World War II, a special operations mountain unit. The three lightning bolts signify Special Forces three methods of infiltration, by air, sea, and land. The Airborne tab above the patch signifies that it is a unit that conducts airborne operations as part of its mission. The Special Forces tab signifies that the wearer of it has passed the SF Qualification or “Q” course.

Special Forces and other Special Operations Forces run courses designed to weed out the unfit for their qualification courses called Selection and Assessment. The SF course is called SFAS and is a three-week smoker where candidates are physically and mentally tested with a minimum of sleep in a course designed to get harder with each passing day. If selected, the candidate will attend the “Q” course. Depending on the candidate’s specialty, it will take anywhere from a year to two years to graduate. It is a long, difficult, expensive process. The cost for training of one Green Beret is about $1,000,000.

Since the Global War on Terror (GWOT) began the operational tempo of deployed SF units has been extremely high. One of Special Forces’ primary missions has been Foreign Internal Defense (FID). Now in an attempt to free up SF to more of a war-fighting advisory role, General Mark Milley, the Army’s Chief of Staff and a former Special Forces officer has decided to use conventional army troops to train, foreign conventional allies. Thus freeing up SF to train and advise the Special Operations troops of our allies. The SF community is split on that subject. Many feel that the conventional army can handle the training of the basic unit tasks and WILL free up SF for more advanced training and warfighting. Others feel like the FID mission is tied into Unconventional Warfare tasks and that the conventional troops are ill-prepared to handle the task. And that the training of our allies is an SF mission.

Milley created these units called Security Force Assistance Brigades, or as they’re calling themselves S-Fab. He said in a presser recently that these Brigades will function like SF but aren’t SF. To the SF community, that is way too close to their name. But that is just the beginning.

Milley chose as the headgear for the S-Fab, an olive green beret, not the rifle green of SF but an off-color. They adopted for their patch an arrowhead design, very similar to Special Forces’ with a sword or dagger in the center. It is also very close to an upside down Recondo patch from Vietnam. They have issued a tab that says “Combat Advisor” and finally, they began calling themselves “The Legion”, which the 5th Special Forces Group has used a unit nickname for many years.

So how “special” are these S-Fab troops? Their training lasts six weeks, not a year, or two…six weeks. They started their own Selection and Assessment course. That lasts a grand total of 48 hours.

Needless to say, the stealing of the SF legacy, their patch design, the name (S-Fab), and the Legion moniker got SF troops and retired ones up in arms. And suffice to say, they were pi$$ed off. It was an obvious attempt they feel to lump this new unit, the pet project of General Milley into the legacy of the SF units in a backhanded, kind of way. It would give this new, untested and barely trained unit instant credibility.

Brown, or Olive green….perhaps too close for comfort

Derek Gannon, a writer from SOFREP.com and a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan with the 5th SFG(A), the real “Legion” put together an online petition to gather support from the SF community to force the Special Operations Command and the Department of Defense to cease the issuance of Green Berets for the S-Fab units. The results speak for themselves. In just a few days over the weekend, Gannon has garnered over 80,000 signatures. The Chief of Staff’s office was inundated with phone calls and emails.

On Monday morning, General Milley’s secretary reached out to Gannon and said the general would like to talk to him. It is important to note, that the Chief of Staff for the US Army reached out to Gannon. Not the other way around. When he’s reaching out to you, then I’d say you got his attention and what you are trying to say has hit home. However, once the general called Gannon, he made it clear he wasn’t budging and his talking points via Gannon, who posted this on a Special Forces Facebook group were as follows:

Gen Milley says hello and he hears us.

Gen Milley wants us all to know that 1st SFAB is his baby. He is requesting all hate go directly to him and not the kids in SFAB. We have scared the living shit out of them and we are starting to look like bullies. Stop fires on the SFAB proper.
The Beret: Will not change. “The beret is the international color of Infantry. It is not Hunter Green it is brown/green.” It is the headgear. I informed him that civilians cannot tell the difference. He will look into it and send out (to me I think) the actual side by side. He chose the color.
The Legion: He has full stopped any and all reference to “The Legion” and/or “The V Legion.”
The patch: Patch and tab will not change. It is (according to him) from the Office of Military Heraldry and is NOT an SF patch. he says it is from MACV and not MACV-SOG. The patch and tab are staying.

I told the General that the Brotherhood has no issue with the mission of SFAB, we have issue with our lineage and heritage being co-opted.
The General told me that Green Beret core mission set is evolving to FID/JCET exclusively for host-nation SOF/Commandos. The Green Berets will no longer train conventional forces. 1st SFAB will. Green Berets are evolving to direct action advisor’s like the Horse Soldiers of Afghanistan and the Jedburghs of WWII. Gen. Milley feels the USSF is spread way too thin and therefore DoD is refocusing them to specific warfighting tasks.
The intent is to push USSF into clandestine/DA operations. A a larger SOCOM GWOT slice of the pie. Gen. Milley wants to free up ODA’s to conduct warfighting.
He has received over 1,200 emails and phonecalls in 72 hrs for this. He wants all queries and complaints to come to him.
He reiterated that he has done everything to preserve the heritage of The Legion and USSF.
He is aware of this back-brief.
1st SFAB is having its flagging ceremony in Benning in two weeks. They will take the field in green/brown berets.

Apparently, his pet unit was feeling the wrath of SF troops and veterans, where they removed parts of their Facebook page because of it. I know that many vets were venting on the guys who are in the unit. Which is why the general said to vent on him. He didn’t care for this “dumping” on his new unit that he had a hand in creating. Imagine the feelings of the men (80,000) who have felt this way about their unit for the past 65 years? If he thinks that is bad, wait until their flagging ceremony. One has to wonder whether if there will be a veterans contingent of Special Forces there.

By saying that the Berets are green/brown is splitting hairs and Milley of all people should know that. It is green, not rifle green but olive green, and if it is that close, to cause the slightest bit of confusion, it is hence BS and shouldn’t have been chosen.

25 September 1961 by Department of the Army Message 578636, which designated the green beret as the exclusive headdress of the Army Special Forces. There is no gray area there. And the beret color of commandos is green …everywhere. And this unit isn’t any more Infantry than they are Special Forces, so even if they’re adopting an “infantry” color, there are more different MOS’ there than infantry among the actual deployable troops being assigned there.

Here is the S-Fab Patch next to the SF patch and then the Recondo patch. Beneath this is the MACV patch the general says is the what the official heraldry states. Now my eyesight isn’t what it used to be. So, I will leave it up to the reader to determine.

And for the General to say that he’s done that he’s done everything to preserve the heritage and legacy of Special Forces…sorry that dog won’t hunt. I was going to use a more explicit term but my wife has told to cut down on my use of cuss words.

And by him telling Gannon that they won’t use the “Legion” moniker, that was just a nice way of throwing the Sf veterans a bone and saying, “Thanks for your concern, now stay the hell away from my pet project.”

The S-Fab aren’t Special Forces, they aren’t special in any way. But to attract volunteers to a six-week shake and bake school the Army is promising berets, tabs, hefty bonuses and immediate promotions.

Shortly after General Milley spoke with Gannon this afternoon, he did an interview where he said the following:

“Special Forces does not train the Afghan National Army. They don’t train them now. They never have. Same thing in Iraq,” he added. “There’s a reason for that. One, that’s way beyond the capacity of Special Forces. It’s also beyond the skill set.” Beyond their skill set?

I don’t know General Milley, to my knowledge we’ve never met, other than being born in the same hospital a few days apart. So I can’t or won’t comment on his intentions. But he had to know this was going to backlash… and there is no reason for it. None. He could have easily stood up this new unit, one that has no lineage or heritage to Special Forces without tying their legacy far too close to the men who sweated and bled for theirs.

I don’t get it… and never will. And neither will the Special Forces men who have given so much for this country for over 65 years already. You know them…the Green Berets. The guys who earned them… the real ones.

**update***

As of 2300 hrs on 3o Oct, General Milley has amended his comments about the Afghan army:

GEN Mark A. Milley
This is General Milley and I want to assure everyone that the color of the SFAB Beret will be brown and will not be green or any shade of green. It is derived from the Brown Infantry Beret worn by many Armies. There was no intent to dishonor or misappropriate the Green Beret of US Army Special Forces and all it stands for. Second, I should not have said that SF “never” advised the ANA or ISF. That is not true. The majority of advising to the ANA and ISF conventional units was done by conventional US Army and Marine units while SF focused on the ANA Commandos, Iraqi Special Forces and other specialized units. All of which were part of the ANA or the ISF. Also, there were some SF teams that did advise ANA and Iraqi conventional units. I was obviously incorrect and I apologize. Finally, I ask that people support this concept. SF is way overstretched and this is an effort to professionalize and institutionalize the conventional US Army advisory capability. I appreciate everyone’s comments and feedback.
Photos US ARMY

SOF Truths- SOF Can Not Be Mass Produced… Right? Apparently Not

Well, here’s another fine kettle of fish. For the past 65 years, thousands of Special Forces troops lived under the mistaken impression that it took hard work, dedication, time and a Herculean effort just to make it into SF. That didn’t take into account the training that went into making the guys who made it through the qualification course into solid A-team members…sorry Operators, (I’m showing my age).

But apparently, we’ve all been wrong, because the Big Army has figured out a way to reproduce all of that in six weeks. Six weeks! Who the hell knew that? Yes, the Big Army has developed Security Force Assistance Brigades which at Ft. Benning they are being called S-Fab…even the SF moniker to go with them.

These S-Fab units which are organized under a surprisingly SF-like structure consisting of NCOs (SSGs and above, however, SP4 Promotable can apply) and Officers and have a mission remarkably similar to the SF FID mission…because it is.

The SFAB concept has several commonalities with special operations forces, although it is clearly not intended to be a replacement or a duplicative effort. Along with advising allied forces, SFABs will provide partner armies institutional development, build partner capacity and enable local solutions to local challenges. These new brigades must be prepared to operate outside of the fully manned platoon, company and battalion formation. Inside the security cooperation umbrella, some security force assistance missions may be restricted to smaller teams advising partner forces, without a degradation in performance or security.

Ft. Benning has created the SFAB/Military Advisor Training Academy which traces its name back to the Vietnam era. Those dinosaurs of SF will fondly remember running in the sand on the old “Mata Mile” course. Part of their training will take place at Ft. Bragg at the SWC for foreign weapons training.

And here’s the kicker… these S-Fab units are going to try to entice SF NCOs and Officers there and if necessary levee them to teach at their school and/or hold leadership positions within the units. Hmm instant credibility, right?

Qualified Special Forces officers and NCOs have the ability to compete for brigade and battalion commands and command sergeants major as a second command opportunity. Additionally, SOF senior officers and NCOs are slated for key locations within the Military Advisor Training Academy and the Capabilities Management Directorate. Former advisers can shape and train future advisers.

And they are going to field these new generation “SFers” in just six weeks. And before you jump on the new generation SFers comment, take a real close look at what the unit is looking like. First, their unit patch isn’t even a creative copy of the Special Forces arrowhead design. Instead of a dagger, it looks like a short sword…the only thing missing was the three lightning bolts for SF’s methods of infiltration, but these guys won’t be on jump status. And they apparently haven’t figured out how to squeeze the Combat Diver Qualification course into their six-week qualification yet.

Olive Green Beret. (Photo Facebook SF Brothers)

At the end of their course, these SFAB folks get a Tab (Advise-Assist) and a Green Beret. An olive green one….How ‘bout that.

If it wasn’t bad enough that they absconded with the SFer moniker, the patch, the Green Beret, they couldn’t even come up with an original nickname. For many years now, the 5th Special Forces Group has been calling itself “The Legion”, which, unless you’ve been living under a freakin’ rock …or living at Ft. Benning apparently was lost on these folks. That’s right, these SFAB people are calling themselves “The Legion” it is on their brochures, their videos trying to get people to volunteer and I’m sure it is already on a sign somewhere at Benning. So, I don’t know about anyone else, but who can’t wait to see what the unit’s Beret flash is going to look like?

Our brethren from the 5th SFG(A) have to be jumping for joy over this. Imagine when these olive drab green beanies with their shiny new tabs and their SFAB attitudes call up a 5th SFG A-Team (a real one) and wants a favor.

I don’t know whose brainchild this was but whoever thought up the tab, the faux Green Beret, this patch as well as the SFAB bs name and “The Legion” needs to take a step back. One has to really wonder if the power behind that decision was someone who either quit or was a Non-Select at SFAS (Special Forces Assessment and Selection). That is the only logical response to this blatant, phony rip-off of what goes into making a real SF soldier.

And this entire time the people at the JFKSWCS (Special Warfare Center and School) have wasted so much time and effort into developing a Selection Course, creating the criteria that go into that course, then developing the different MOS courses, the time and effort into creating and assessing the SF candidates at Robin Sage. The process takes over a year and for certain MOS’ it may take even longer. Maybe next year, they’ll have a three-day block of instruction on UW (Unconventional Warfare for those Olive wearing “SFers”) and take a piece of that action as well.

Obviously, we don’t have the best and brightest at Fort Bragg. Because the folks at Benning have figured out a way to do all that in just six weeks. Six weeks…Jeez. What are we on the Oprah Show?

Excellence is Earned not Issued.

SOF Truths

Humans are more important than Hardware.
Quality is better than Quantity.
Special Operations Forces cannot be mass produced.
Competent Special Operations Forces cannot be created after emergencies occur.
Most Special Operations require non-SOF assistance

Photos: US Army, Wikipedia, SOFREP

5th Special Forces Group, 21 September 1961, “The Legion”

On this day in 1961, the 5th Special Forces Group Airborne, 5th SFG(A) was activated at Ft. Bragg, NC. A happy 56th birthday to “The Legion” and the men assigned to it both past and present.

The 5th SFG was made famous by their exploits during the war in Vietnam but during the next generation, the Group has served with distinction in both Desert Storm and the Global War on Terror (GWOT).

Headed to Southeast Asia: Less than a year after being activated, the Green Berets of the 5th SFG would begin their long service in the Republic of Vietnam. First with teams going over on temporary duty assignments but later, the Group would move its headquarters there in 1965. There the Group would remain until the drawdown of troops from Vietnam and the unit would return to Ft. Bragg, NC on March 5, 1971.

During the war in Vietnam, 5th SFG(A) would set up its headquarters in Nha Trang and Green Berets were tasked to set up camps in all four regions of the country. Green Berets from 5th SFG(A) setup over 270 camps manned by the CIDG (Civilian Irregular Defense Group), local indigenous forces who were from the mountain tribes (Montagnard) of Vietnam. The CIDG camps were arrayed mainly along the border regions where they could provide reconnaissance of North Vietnamese forces infiltrating the country along the Ho Chi Minh trail, and harass and interdict the enemy’s supply lines heading into South Vietnam.

The CIDG camps also had their own indigenous quick reaction teams trained by Green Berets of the 5th SFG(A), the Mike Force. These mixed units of American and Montagnard tribesmen could be alerted and sent to any A-Camp to help secure, reinforce and recapturing any CIDG camps run by Special Forces. They also provided excellent special reconnaissance capabilities as well as search and rescue for downed pilots and search and destroy missions against the enemy.

The 5th SFG(A) also provided a lion’s share of personnel for the MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam – Studies and Observation Group. These highly classified, multi-service, special operators conducted some of the most covert, unconventional warfare operations of the war. SOG’s mission was “to execute an intensified program of harassment, diversion, political pressure, capture of prisoners, physical destruction, acquisition of intelligence, generation of propaganda, and diversion of resources, against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam”

SOFREP’s own John Stryker Meyer was a member of SOG and many of his articles can be found on the subject of their operations.

During the war in Vietnam, despite being one of the smaller units assigned there, the Special Forces units there are among the most decorated units in our nation’s history. The Group was awarded 14 campaign streamers to fly on the unit’s colors. Eighteen, (soon to be 19), members of SF were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Nine of them were awarded posthumously. In addition, there were numerous other awards given to the members of the 5th SFG, They include:

Distinguished Service Cross 60
Distinguished Service Medal 1
Silver Star 815
Legion of Merit 235
Distinguished Flying Cross 46
Soldier’s Medal 232
Bronze Star with V Device 3,074
Bronze Star 10,160
Purple Heart 2,658
Air Medal with V Device 394
Air Medal 4,527
Army Commendation Medal with V Device 1,258
Army Commendation Medal 5,650
Navy Commendation Medal with V Device 2*

Post-Vietnam Service: In the period following the Vietnam war, the 5th SFG(A) remained at Ft. Bragg until the late 1980s when they moved to Ft. Campbell, KY.

Just a few short years later, the 5th SFG(A) deployed to Southwest Asia, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the summer of 1990. During Operation Desert Shield and the follow-on combat operations of Operation Desert Storm, SF members of the Legion conducted Foreign Internal Defense, Special Reconnaissance, Direct Action, and Combat Search and Rescue Missions.

The 5th Group would also provide “Coalition Support Teams” to every allied nation in the desert. General Norman Schwarzkopf would call these “the glue that held the coalition together.” It was a classic case of the value of Special Forces troops in building rapport and being culturally attuned to the allied nations.

The Legion was also active with humanitarian and security enhancement missions in Somalia, Kosovo, and Bosnia during this time.

Horse soldiers: Immediately after the bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon during 9-11, the 5th SFG(A) was preparing to strike back at the Taliban. Just 39 days after the planes struck the WTC, two ODAs (Operational Detachment Alpha or SF A-teams) ODA-555 and ODA-599 flew 11 hours in MH-47s and landed in Afghanistan as part of Task Force Dagger. There, severely isolated from friendly US forces, the A-teams made contact with the Northern Alliance and began conducting unconventional warfare operations against the Taliban.

There the SF men became the first US Army soldiers to fight on horseback since early 1942. The Northern Alliance used horses because that is all they had and the terrain and lack of roads lent itself more effectively to animal transportation. The iconic images of the 5th SFG(A) troops attacking the Taliban on horseback have been made into a sculpture that now resides at a World Trade Center Memorial in New York City. Less than a month later, there were 10 A-Teams operating inside Afghanistan. Together the SF troops with Air Force Combat Controllers and Northern Alliance fighters they routed the Taliban from Afghanistan in less than two months, using precision-guided ordnance, the US Air Force brought heavy damage to Taliban positions and equipment.

5th SFG troops returned to Ft. Campbell but not for long. The entire Group was also heavily involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom and the subsequent second invasion of Iraq. Members of 5th Group assisted in the capture of Saddam Hussein.

Green Berets from the 5th SFG are today still actively engaged against terrorist and insurgent forces in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. The Legion’s reputation continues to grow as the next generation of SF troops are carving out their own identity.

Happy Birthday 5th SFG(A). De Oppresso Liber.

Remembering Green Beret 1LT Loren Hagen Medal of Honor Aug. 7, 1971

As the US involvement was winding down in Vietnam in 1971, there was still dangerous work being down by the Special Operations Forces working under the cover of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam, Studies and Observations Group). This in the shadows unit was once active all South and North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos but as the war was winding down for the US, these special operators from the Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, and USAF Air Commandos, their function was to mainly aid in a safe withdrawal of US forces.

But intelligence was tracking a large force of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units heading just across the DMZ only about 12 miles east of Khe Sahn. This NVA force could threaten the cities of Phu Bai, Hue and Da Nang where the majority of US troops left in the country were stationed.

In a cruel postscript to the Tet Offensive of just three years before, Khe Sanh was abandoned by the South Vietnamese. A result of their abortive and costly offensive in the spring, the ground that the Marines fought and bled so hard for was simply abandoned to the NVA.

Recon Team Kansas’ Mission: The mission to find out what was happening outside of Khe Sanh was given to Recon Team Kansas. The team consisted of three American Special Forces, 1LT Loren Hagen, and SGTs Tony Anderson and Bruce Berg and eight Montagnard tribesmen. The mission was a prisoner snatch in the middle of what was thought to be close to 10,000 NVA was a difficult one and the team decided on a course of action.

Hagen decided to land openly at an abandoned US firebase. With the NVA bound to react to them on the ground, the team would make a show of getting into a short firefight and then act like it was withdrawing out of the area by helicopter. But half of the team would remain and ambush the NVA troops sent to check out the US withdrawal and then snatch a prisoner. It was decided to beef up the team by adding three more American SF operators, SSG Klaus Bingham, and SGTs Bill Queen and William Rimondi which brought the force to a total for 14 men, six US and eight indigenous.

Recon Team Kansas landed at dusk on August 6 and Hagen immediately went about improving their positions and he deployed his men to cover the three slopes that converged on their hilltop. The NVA must have had the team under surveillance and known exactly where they were. Hagen’s men saw NVA campfire’s on the opposite ridgelines, something that was out of the ordinary for the enemy. By midnight NVA troops were probing around the bottom of the hill and shooting from all directions, trying to draw the team out. But the team held their fire and stayed quiet.

At 1 a.m. an Air Force AC-130 Spectre gunship raked the bottom of the hill with 20mm Vulcan fire and 40mm grenades. By 3 a.m. the situation became ominous. The team could hear the sound of trucks bringing troops into the area and tailgates opening. The NVA were moving large numbers of troops into attack positions. Just before dawn, more troops arrived. Just before dawn, the helicopter lift for the false extraction was taking off along with an Air Force Forward Air Control (FAC). Their arrival time was in just 30 minutes from their takeoff.

As daylight began to brighten the hill, Hagen could see large numbers of NVA completely encircling the hill. They estimated that the number of troops needed to do that was 1000. The NVA were determined to overrun the small force of SOG warriors before their air support arrived on station. Unbeknownst to the SOG men were that they had landed right near the NVA’s latest venture, a six-inch fuel pipeline that ran thru the DMZ and into South Vietnam.

This was to be vital for the upcoming 1972 Easter offensive where the NVA would deploy large amounts of armor. Elements of two NVA divisions were massing in the area, the 304th, and the 308th. More troops were pouring into the area concealed by an early morning fog. The hill would be assaulted by two regiments of NVA, about 2000 Infantry.

The Enemy Assault: The NVA had done a superb job of scouting the team’s positions. Their attack began with a well-placed RPG round that blasted the bunker of SGT Berg and the fire erupted on all sides. Anderson opened up with an M-60 machine gun at a wall of NVA that were rushing up the slope. Hagen saw the RPG impact on Berg’s position and despite an incredible amount of fire coming in all around his position, he didn’t hesitate. He yelled that he was going to Berg and made it only about 10-12 yards when NVA fire all around him cut him down, killing him instantly.

Bingham tried to crawl out from his position to reposition a Claymore mine when well-aimed NVA fire took him out with a head shot.

A Montagnard trooper, in the position below Anderson, fired several bursts but was cut down almost immediately by heavy return fire. The situation, already dangerous was becoming increasingly dire. In just the first few minutes, the team had four men dead and was in serious danger of being annihilated before the air support could arrive. Anderson as the senior man took charge.

He bolted over the hill to look for Hagen, dodging a flurry of grenades lobbed by the approaching NVA. He saw a huge group of perhaps 100 NVA Infantry coming straight up the hill. He cut loose an entire belt on the M-60.

Anderson kept up an enormous amount of fire from the M-60 as the NVA were hurling grenades at him from all angles. Miraculously, he survived and kept the NVA troops from overrunning their position. The Cobra gunships having got the call, left the Hueys and raced to the team’s rescue on the hill.

Anderson was hit by grenade fragments, finally knocking out the M-60. But he didn’t miss a beat and was firing his CAR-15 when he was hit in the elbow with small arms fire knocking him to the ground. Already peppered with grenade fragments, he kept the fire up.

The NVA had split the perimeter in two. All of the Montagnards save two were dead. Anderson grabbed them and somehow reached the hilltop where Queen, already wounded and Rimondi, the only member of the team not hit were firing furiously at the NVA. Their radio smashed by AK-47 fire and grenade fragments, Anderson was trying to reach the FAC with his hand-held survival radio. It was shot out of his hands. Rimondi tossed him his radio, the team’s last.

The NVA were now at point-blank range and the team was out of grenades. Just when the NVA were about to overrun the last of the team, the Cobra gunships arrived.

The lead gunship rained down 20mm cannon fire all around the team, decimating the NVA closest to the team members. The fighters arrived and they swept the hillside with Vulcan cannons and napalm. That crushed the NVA assault. The veteran NVA troops knew it was time to withdraw and where just seconds before they were poised to annihilate the SOG troopers, it was they who had to turn tail and run.

Finally, the Hueys arrived and the team was able to evacuate most of the dead. Anderson supervised the loading despite being wounded several times by grenade shrapnel and small arms fire. Rimondi and Queen both suffered multiple shrapnel wounds. Both Montagnards were wounded.

After Action Report: Of Recon Team Kansas’ 14 men, nine were dead and the rest wounded. The Air Force counted 185 dead NVA on the hill and at least double that amount were wounded. Despite being outnumbered more than a 100-1, the SOG troopers, with timely air support were able to throttle an NVA battalion.

Hagen was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. It was presented to his family. Anderson who took over and somehow led the men out of the maelstrom received a Distinguished Service Cross. He later accompanied the bodies of the Montagnards back home to their village for burial. Queen, Rimondi, Berg, and Bingham were awarded Silver Stars.

Hagen’s Medal of Honor citation reads:
1st Lt. Hagen distinguished himself in action while serving as the team leader of a small special reconnaissance team operating deep within enemy-held territory. At approximately 0630 hours on the morning of 7 August 1971 the small team came under a fierce assault by a superior-sized enemy force using heavy small arms, automatic weapons, mortar, and rocket fire. 1st Lt. Hagen immediately began returning small-arms fire upon the attackers and successfully led this team in repelling the first enemy onslaught. He then quickly deployed his men into more strategic defense locations before the enemy struck again in an attempt to overrun and annihilate the beleaguered team’s members. 1st Lt. Hagen repeatedly exposed himself to the enemy fire directed at him as he constantly moved about the team’s perimeter, directing fire, rallying the members, and resupplying the team with ammunition, while courageously returning small arms and hand grenade fire in a valorous attempt to repel the advancing enemy force. The courageous actions and expert leadership abilities of 1st Lt. Hagen were a great source of inspiration and instilled confidence in the team members. After observing an enemy rocket make a direct hit on and destroy 1 of the team’s bunkers, 1st Lt. Hagen moved toward the wrecked bunker in search for team members despite the fact that the enemy force now controlled the bunker area. With total disregard for his own personal safety, he crawled through the enemy fire while returning small-arms fire upon the enemy force. Undaunted by the enemy rockets and grenades impacting all around him, 1st Lt. Hagen desperately advanced upon the destroyed bunker until he was fatally wounded by enemy small arms and automatic weapons fire. With complete disregard for his personal safety, 1st Lt. Hagen’s courageous gallantry, extraordinary heroism, and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty, at the cost of his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon him and the U.S. Army.

For our readers who are aspiring to become members of the Regiment, this is a valuable learning lesson. Frequently you’ll hear during the Selection courses and the qualification rites of passage where the candidates are placed in stressful environments where they’re physically and mentally exhausted and they’re expected to think and act clearly. This mission was a great example of that. They’re proof that the system works and their courage and coolness under intense fire shows just what kind of men the Regiment is looking for.

Despite being outnumbered more than 100-1, and facing the prospect of being overrun at any second, the SOG warriors regrouped and fought their way out of an impossible situation. This is the never quit attitude and the drive to succeed against all odds.

Photos Courtesy: DOD