Jump to content

Delta Force

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by The velociraptor (talk | contribs) at 18:18, 19 November 2007 (→Delta Force in popular culture). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the computer game, see Delta Force (computer game). For the movie, see The Delta Force (film).
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Airborne)
File:SFOD-D Patch.jpg
1st SFOD-D (A) Insignia
Active1978
CountryUnited States
BranchUnited States Army
TypeUnited States Special Operations Forces
RoleVersatile Special Operations Force, mainly trained for Counter-Terrorism.
Part ofUnited States Joint Special Operations Command
Garrison/HQFort Bragg, North Carolina (35*09'15.71N, 79*04'38.71W)
Nickname(s)"Delta Force"
EngagementsOperation Eagle Claw
Operation Urgent Fury
Operation Just Cause
Operation Desert Storm
Operation Restore Hope
Operation Gothic Serpent
Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Iraqi Freedom
2003 invasion of Iraq
Operation Vigilant Resolve

The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D) — commonly known as Delta in the U.S. Army, Delta Force by civilians, and Combat Applications Group by the Department of Defense — is a Special Operations Force (SOF) and an integral element of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

Delta Force's primary tasks are counter-terrorism and national intervention operations, although it is an extremely versatile group capable of assuming many missions, including, but not limited to, rescuing hostages, raids, and eliminating covert enemy forces. Delta Force conducts missions similar to those attributed to the British Special Air Service (SAS), on which it was originally modeled.

Background

The unit was started by Colonel Charles Beckwith in 1977. Throughout its creation, the unit had the benefit of experience from the British SAS.

The unit took part in Operation Eagle Claw, the failed attempt to rescue American hostages from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1980. The mission failed due to an overly complex plan, inadequate Special Operations Aviation training for the accompanying aircrews, a collision between a rescue helicopter and a refuelling tanker aircraft, and mechanical problems with the helicopters transporting the rescuers, caused by a severe sandstorm which clogged the engine intakes and reduced the pilots' visibility to nearly nothing.

After that debacle, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the "Nightstalkers", was founded and made responsible for the transporting of special forces personnel to and from Areas of Operation.

In 1999, writer Mark Bowden published the book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War, which chronicles the events that surrounded the October 3, 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. The book, in a short brief, relates Delta Force's involvement in the operations that occurred before the events leading to the battle. The book was later turned into a film by director Ridley Scott in 2001.

1st SFOD-D has also participated in operations in a variety of foreign locations, including in Beirut, Lebanon and extensively in Central America, fighting the Salvadorian revolutionary group Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and assisting the CIA-funded Contras, in Nicaragua[citation needed].

Overview

The Pentagon tightly controls information about Delta Force and publicly refuses to comment on the secretive unit and its activities.

Delta Force operators are granted an enormous amount of flexibility and autonomy, similar to their US Navy counterparts in the DEVGRU. They reportedly do not maintain any general uniformed presence and civilian clothing is the norm on or off duty while at Ft. Bragg. This is done to conceal the identities of these "secret soldiers". When military uniforms are worn, they lack markings, names, or branch names. Hair styles and facial hair are allowed to grow to civilian standards in order for the force to be able to blend in and not be immediately recognized as military personnel.

This special status that sets the force apart from the "regular army" is depicted quite accurately in the book Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (though less so in the film of the same name). Delta operators are allowed a significant degree of latitude in their "personal grooming standards." They are allowed to grow their hair longer than what "normal" army regulations would allow. Although the Army Rangers used to sport the standard "high and tight" haircut, the fact that the Ranger mission currently involves the support of Delta Force operations allows them to periodically assume the same "civilian" look of their Delta brethren.

Weaponry

Delta's unconventional nature also allows its members to carry highly-customized weapons. Like any other military unit, Delta has dedicated mission taskings including snipers and squad machine gunners. The flexibility of Delta means that weaponry is quite varied and often depends on the mission at hand or personal preference of the individual operators. Below is a list of common or highlighted weapons; the list should not in any way be considered complete, and it should also be noted that Delta Force operators often have access to the entire armory of the United States Army.

  • A common weapon of choice may be the M4 carbine often in use with various accessories including the M203 grenade launcher, and other accessories of the SOPMOD kit. The H&K MP5SD may still be available to Delta operators, but has fallen out of use as a CQB (close quarters battle) weapon due to the general acceptance of the superiority of the M4 carbine and the 5.56mm round's ballistic performance when compared to that of the MP-5's 9mm cartridge. However the MP-5SD is inherently much quieter, being integrally suppressed.
  • Delta force operators often decide to pick up or bring in weapons that are in use with the indigenous forces or the enemy in the Area of Operations (AO). This is to help them blend in with the locals, to use local-style ammunition scavenged during the mission, or to conceal their country of origin if weapons are lost or captured.
  • It has been noted in a popular weapons magazine that "Delta Force gives each member a stipend with which to purchase his own customized M1911 in .45 caliber."[1] Former Delta operator Larry Vickers states on his webpage that the experience which contributed to his line of handbuilt 1911 pistols came from his fifteen years in Delta where "more .45 ACP ammo is shot out of 1911 style pistols than any other place in the world". [2]
  • Delta snipers use M14 in urban environments due to their semi-automatic ability, allowing for a follow-up shot much more quickly than with a bolt-action rifle. In Mark Bowden's book, Black Hawk Down, he records that one of the elite Delta Force soldiers, Sergeant First Class Randy Shughart, chooses an M14 rifle because of the increased stopping power offered by the 7.62 mm NATO and reliability. Haney, in fact, notes that Delta snipers frequently use the M14 rather than more specialized sniping rifles. More recent upgrades to the M14, such as the M21 and M25 rifles are commonly in use, and often misidentified as M14s. In addition, the SR-25 rifle, a 7.62mm platform that is based on the same semi automatic operating system as the M4 and M16 rifle is also currently in use in the special operations community.
  • Larry Vickers worked with Heckler & Koch to come up with a better weapon than the M4, and then asked his former colleagues to help test the weapon. [3] The Heckler & Koch HK416 was the first weapon to result from this program, and uses a different type of piston action as a remedy to the inherent fouling issue that the M4 Carbine carries with its direct impingement system. [4] The Heckler & Koch HK417 is a weapon based on the same piston system but designed to shoot the larger 7.62 NATO round for more stopping power, as the lack of stopping power from the 5.56 NATO is another criticism of the M4 from Special Forces troops. In a telling display of Delta Force's opinion on the new weapon, the first 500 production HK416 carbines were purchased by Delta Force, in addition to the prototypes already with Delta. [citation needed]

Organization

According to the book Inside Delta Force by Command Sergeant Major Eric L. Haney (ret.), the smallest unit is a team, consisting of four to five members. Each team specializes in HALO/HAHO, SCUBA, or other skill groups. The next tier is the troop level, consisting of four to five teams. Finally, squadron level (there are four squadrons) consists of two troops (Assault and Sniper). Squadrons are broken down into troops and teams as needed to fit mission requirements.

In Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, Army Times staff writer Sean Naylor describes Delta as having nearly 1,000 operators. Naylor wrote that only approximately 250 of those are operators trained to conduct direct action and reconnaissance missions. Those soldiers are divided into three squadrons—A, B, and C—with each squadron subdivided into three troops. Two are assault troops while a third troop specializes in reconnaissance and surveillance and is known as the "recce" troop. The remaining soldiers in Delta are highly trained specialists in mechanics, communications, intelligence, and other support activities, on top of a headquarters staff.

Naylor also wrote that Delta maintains an aviation platoon using aircraft painted in civilian schemes and with fake identification numbers, different from the aircraft of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) [5]. This aviation platoon allegedly uses as many as twelve AH-6 and MH-6 Little Birds[6].

Recruitment and training

Most recruits come from the United States Army Special Forces (the Green Berets) and the 75th Ranger Regiment. Not just anyone can become a Delta operator; personnel must attend a Delta briefing at Fort. Bragg to be even considered for admission. Since the 1990s, the Army has posted recruitment notices for the 1st SFOD-D [7], which many believe refers to Delta Force. The Army, however, has never released an official fact sheet for the force. The recruitment notices placed in Fort Bragg's newspaper, Paraglide, refer to Delta Force by name, and label it "...the Department of Defense's highest priority unit..." [8]. The notice states that all applicants must be males, 22 years or older, have a general technical skill of 110 or higher, and be in the ranks of E-5 through E-8, with at least four and a half years in service.

Such recruits are usually men with skills such as proficiency in a foreign language or other desirable traits. The selection course begins with standard tests including: push-ups, sit-ups, and a three mile run. The recruits are then put through eighteen-mile, all-night land navigation courses while carrying a thirty-five pound rucksack. The rucksack's weight and the distance are increased and the time to complete the task is decreased with every march. The physical testing ends with a forty-mile march with a forty-five pound rucksack over very rough terrain which must be completed in an unknown amount of time. It is said that only the highest-ranking members of the Pentagon are allowed to see the set time limits, but all assessment and selection tasks and conditions are set by Delta training cadre[citation needed]. The mental portion of the testing begins with numerous psychological exams. The men then speak to the commander of Delta and others within the unit. If an individual is selected for Delta, then a 6 month training cycle/probation begins, starting with firearms accuracy and training with other types of munitions.

On many occasions, Delta Force will cross-train with similar units from allied countries such as the Australian SASR, British SAS, the German KSK and the Israeli Sayeret Matkal and will even help train other U.S. counter-terrorism and national intervention units, such as the FBI's HRT.

Known Operations

Operation Country Year
Operation Eagle Claw  Iran 1980
Operation Urgent Fury  Grenada 1983
Operation Acid Gambit  Panama 1989
Operation Just Cause  Panama 1989
Operation Desert Shield  Iraq 1990
Operation Desert Storm  Iraq 1991
Operation Restore Hope  Somalia 1993
Operation Gothic Serpent  Somalia 1993
Operation Enduring Freedom  Afghanistan 2001
Operation Anaconda
(subordinate operation to OEF)		  Afghanistan 2002
Operation Iraqi Freedom  Iraq 2003
Operation Vigilant Resolve  Iraq 2004

Delta Force in modern conflicts

In his book Killing Pablo, Mark Bowden suggests that a Delta Force sniper may have eliminated Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. There is no hard evidence of this though and credit is generally attributed to Colombian security forces.

Delta force was also involved in the offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 [9]. Many observers strongly suspect that members of Delta Force made up one of two units involved in a raid on a residence belonging to Mullah Omar. According to the Pentagon, the level of resistance to that operation was minimal.

Though the Mullah was not present, some papers and computer disks were said to have been seized in the raid. Critics later alleged that the second unit was unnecessary, claiming that it was very large and uncoordinated. As a result, they say, the defenders were alerted early and the number of friendly casualties was in fact higher than reported. According to the book Shadow Wars by David Pugliese, Delta operators wanted a quiet insertion method which was denied as command opted for a combined Ranger assault. Taliban fighters apparently ambushed the team when they were extracting and several Delta operators were severely wounded.

One of several operations in which Delta Force operators are thought to have played important roles was the 2003 invasion of Iraq[10]. They allegedly entered Baghdad in advance, undercover with long hair and mustaches, along with SEALs from DEVGRU, guiding air strikes, building networks of informants while eavesdropping on and sabotaging Iraqi communication lines.

Delta Force has formed the core of the special strike unit which has been hunting individuals like Osama Bin Laden and others since the October 2001 beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. It has been variously designated Task Force 11, in OEF, then Task Force 20, then seemingly Task Force 121, then after that Task Force 145 and Task Force 6-26 (not necessarily in that order).

Famous Delta Force operators

See Also

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Special Weapons for Military & Police #34
  2. ^ http://www.vickerstactical.com/about/industry.htm
  3. ^ http://www.vickerstactical.com/about/HK416.htm
  4. ^ http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/02/atCarbine070219/
  5. ^ Sean Naylor, "Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda", Berkley, ISBN 0425196097, p.30
  6. ^ http://www.specencyclopaedia.com/web/continents/North%20America/United%20States%20of%20America/SOF/1st%20SFOD-D%20(A)/delta.shtml
  7. ^ Mountaineer. SFOD-D seeking new members. Fort Carson, Colorado: Mountaineer (publication). January 16, 2003.
  8. ^ "Fort Bragg's newspaper Paraglide, recruitment notice for Delta Force". Retrieved June 28. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "To find the cited document, use the 6/28/2007 edition of Paraglide, page A4" ignored (help)
  9. ^ http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/cepa/pubs/sep03/story13.htm
  10. ^ http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/03autumn/noonan.pdf
  11. ^ http://www.campbell.army.mil/1bde/distinguished_members_of_the_reg.htm
  12. ^ Hasenauer, Heike. A Special Kind of Hero. United States Army Publishing Agency: Soldiers. November 1995. Volume 50, No 11.
  13. ^ http://www.army.mil/leaders/csa/default.htm
  14. ^ http://www.dod.mil/news/Jun2003/n06172003_200306172.html
  15. ^ http://www.mccoy.army.mil/ReadingRoom/Triad/06272003/Army%20Chief%20of%20Staff.htm
  16. ^ http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Delta_Force_founder_Bush_started_WWIII_0324.html
  17. ^ http://www.cbs.com/primetime/the_unit/bios/ehaney.shtml
  18. ^ http://www.vickerstactical.com/consulting.htm
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Delta_Force&oldid=172525972"