Delta Force

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Airborne)
US Army Special Operations Command patch worn by Delta
Active	November 21, 1977 – present
Country	United States
Branch	US Army
Type	United States Special Operations Forces
Role	Versatile Special Operations Force, mainly trained for Counter-Terrorism
Size	Unknown
Part of	United States Special Operations Command United States Army Special Operations Command Joint Special Operations Command
Garrison/HQ	Fort Bragg, North Carolina (35.12047,-79.363775)
Nickname	Delta Force, Delta, D-boys
Engagements	Operation Eagle Claw Operation Urgent Fury Operation Just Cause Operation Acid Gambit Operation Desert Storm Operation Restore Hope Operation Gothic Serpent Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom

The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D)—commonly known as Delta, Delta Force or the Combat Applications Group (CAG) by the United States Department of Defense, is an elite Special Operations Force (SOF) and an integral element of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). It is the United States' primary counter-terrorist unit.

Delta Force's primary tasks are counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency and national intervention operations, although it is an extremely versatile group capable of assuming many covert missions, including, but not limited to, rescuing hostages and raids.^[1]

History

Delta was formed after numerous, well-publicized terrorist incidents in the 1970s led the U.S. government to create a counter-terrorist unit.

Key military and government figures had already been briefed on a model for this type of unit in the early 60's. Charles Beckwith, a member of the US Army Special Forces had served as an exchange officer with the British Special Air Service (22 SAS Regiment). Upon his return, Beckwith presented a detailed report highlighting the Army's vulnerability in not having an SAS-type unit. U.S. Army Special Forces in that period focused on unconventional warfare, but Beckwith recognized the need for, "not only teachers, but doers."^[2] He envisioned highly adaptable and completely autonomous small teams with in a broad array of special skills for direct action and counter-terrorist missions. He briefed military and government figures, who were overtly resistant to create a new unit, or change existing methods. Finally, in the mid-70's, as terrorism grew, Pentagon brass tapped Beckwith to form the unit.^[3]

Beckwith had estimated that it would take 24 months to get his new unit mission-ready. In the meantime, the 5th Special Forces Group created Blue Light, a small counter-terrorist contingent which operated until Delta became fully operational in the early 1980s.

On November 4, 1979, shortly after Delta had been created, 53 Americans were taken captive and held in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran. The unit was assigned to Operation Eagle Claw, and ordered to covertly enter the country and recover the hostages from the embassy by force on the nights of April 24th and 25th in 1980. The operation was aborted after flying problems and accidents. The review commission that examined the failure found 23 problems with the operation, among them unbriefed weather encountered by the aircraft, command-and-control problems between the multi-service component commanders, a collision between a helicopter and a ground-refueling tanker aircraft, and mechanical problems that reduced the number of available helicopters from eight to five (one fewer than the minimum desired) before the mission contingent could leave the transloading/refueling site.^[4]

After the failed operation, the U.S. government created several new counterterrorism units. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the Nightstalkers, was created specifically for Delta infil/exfil in missions like Operation Eagle Claw. The Navy's SEAL Team Six was created for maritime incidents. The Joint Special Operations Command was also created to control and oversee joint training between the counter-terrorist assets of the various branches of the U.S. military.

Organization and structure

The unit is under the organization of the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) but is controlled by the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Virtually all information about the unit is highly classified and details about specific missions or operations are generally not publicly available. A number of sources including the book Inside Delta Force by Command Sergeant Major Eric L. Haney (ret.), suggest the unit's strength ranges from between 800 to 1000 personnel, including the following operational groups:

Detachment designations

• D – Command and Control (Headquarters)
• E – Communications, Intelligence and Administrative Support (includes finance, logistics, medical detachment, research and development, technology and electronics, etc.)
• F – Operational Arm (The Teams of Operators)
• Medical Detachment maintains special doctors at Fort Bragg and various other bases around the country secretly, to provide medical assistance as needed.
• Operational Support Troop, or "The Funny Platoon", is the in-house intelligence arm of Delta. They grew out of a long-running dispute/rivalry with the Intelligence Support Activity. They will infiltrate a country ahead of a Delta intervention to gather intelligence.
• Aviation Squadron, although Delta relies heavily on the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and US Air Force assets to transport them to and from operational deployments and training exercises, within the unit there is a small aviation squadron used for limited in-house air transportation. The aviation squadron consists of twelve AH-6 Attack and MH-6 Transport helicopters (although this figure may have increased). It is not known if pilots are recruited from the Air Force, 160th SOAR or if they are Delta operators trained as helicopter pilots.
• Operational Research Section
• Training wing

Delta Force's structure is similar to the British 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the unit which inspired Delta's creator, Charles Beckwith. 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.^[5] Naylor wrote that approximately 250 of those are operators trained to conduct direct action and reconnaissance missions.^[5] There are three main operational squadrons:

• A Squadron

• B Squadron

• C Squadron

These squadrons are based on the organization of the SAS "Sabre Squadron" and each contains 75 to 85 operators^[6]. Each sabre squadron is broken down into three troops, one Recce/Sniper troop, and two Direct Action/Assault troops, that can either operate in teams or in groups as small as four to six men. According to testimony given to the House Armed Services Committee on June 29, 2006 by Michael Vickers, DELTA, along with all other Special Mission Units, is scheduled to add an additional squadron and increase in size by one third.

Recruitment and training

Recruitment

Most recruits come from the United States Army Special Forces and the 75th Ranger Regiment, but some operators have come from other units of the Army.^[7] Since the 1990s, the Army has posted recruitment notices for the 1st SFOD-D^[8] 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 U.S. Army's special operations unit organized for the conduct of missions requiring rapid response with surgical application of a wide variety of unique special operations skills..."^[9] The notice states that all applicants must be male, in the ranks of E-4 through E-8, have at least two and a half years of service time remaining in their enlistment, be 21 years or older and score high enough on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test to attend a briefing to be considered for admission.

Historical selection process

Eric Haney's book Inside Delta Force described the selection course in its inception in detail. Haney writes the selection course began with standard tests including: push-ups, sit-ups, and a 2-mile (3.2 km) run,and an inverted crawl. The selection candidates were then put through a series of land navigation courses to include an 18-mile (29 km), all-night land navigation course while carrying a 40-pound (18 kg) rucksack. The rucksack's weight and the distance of the courses are increased and the time standards to complete the task are shortened with every march. The physical testing ended with a 40-mile (64 km) march with a 75-pound (34 kg) rucksack over very rough terrain which had to be completed in an unknown amount of time. Haney wrote that only the senior officer and NCO in charge of Selection are allowed to see the set time limits, but all assessment and selection tasks and conditions were set by Delta training cadre.^[10][11] The mental portion of the testing began with numerous psychological exams. The men then went in front of a board of Delta instructors, unit psychologists and the Delta commander, who each ask the candidate a barrage of questions and then dissect every response and mannerism of the candidate with the purpose to mentally exhaust the candidate. The unit commander then approached the candidate and told him if he had been selected. If an individual was then selected for Delta, he underwent an intense 6 month Operator Training Course (OTC), where they learned counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence techniques. This included firearm accuracy and various other munition training.^[11] The Central Intelligence Agency's highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) often recruits operators from the Delta Force.^[12]

Training

Delta Force has occasionally cross-trained with similar units from allied countries such as the Australian Special Air Service Regiment, British Special Air Service, Canadian Joint Task Force 2, French GIGN, German GSG 9, and Israeli Sayeret Matkal.^[13] They have also helped train and cross-trained with other U.S. counter-terrorism units, such as the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team and the Navy's DEVGRU.

Uniform

The Pentagon tightly controls information about Delta Force and publicly refuses to comment on the highly secretive unit and its activities. Delta operators are granted an enormous amount of flexibility and autonomy. To conceal their identities, they rarely wear a uniform and usually wear civilian clothing both on or off duty.^[11] When military uniforms are worn, they lack markings, surnames, or branch names.^[11] Civilian hair styles and facial hair are allowed to enable the members to blend in and avoid recognition as military personnel.^[11][14]

Operations and covert actions

The majority of the operations assigned to Delta are highly classified and may never be known to the public. However, details of some operations have become public knowledge. There have also been many occasions that Delta have been put on standby and operational plans developed but the unit was stood down for various reasons. Known operations and deployments include:

Central American operations

Delta has seen action extensively in Central America, fighting the Salvadoran revolutionary group Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and assisting the Central Intelligence Agency-funded Contras in Nicaragua.^[11]

Operation Urgent Fury

A second Delta mission launched in the early daylight hours of the first day of Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada was to assault Richmond Hill Prison and rescue the political prisoners being held there. Built on the remains of an old eighteenth-century fort, the prison cannot be approached by foot from three sides except through dense jungle growing on the steep mountainside; the fourth side is approachable by a narrow neck of road with high trees running along it. The prison offers no place for a helicopter assault force to land. Richmond Hill forms one side of a steep valley. Across and above the valley, on a higher peak, is another old fort, Fort Frederic, which housed a Grenadian garrison. From Fort Frederic, the garrison easily commanded the slopes and floor of the ravine below with small arms and machine gun fire. It was into this valley and under the guns of the Grenadian garrison that the helicopters of Delta Force flew at 6:30 that morning.

The helicopters of Task Force 160 flew into the valley and turned their noses toward the prison. Unable to land, the Delta raiders began to rappel down ropes dragging from the doors of the helicopters. Suddenly, as men swung wildly from the rappelling ropes, the helicopters were caught in a murderous cross-fire from the front, as forces from the prison opened fire; and more devastatingly, from behind, as enemy forces in Fort Frederic rained heavy small arms and machine gun fire down from above. According to eyewitness accounts by Grenadian civilians, a number of helicopters that could, flew out of the valley. In at least one instance, a helicopter pilot turned back without orders and refused to fly into the assault. Charges of cowardice were filed against the Nightstalker pilot by members of Delta who wanted to be inserted, but were later dropped.^[15]

Aeropostal Flight 252

On July 29, 1984 Aeropostal Flight 252 from Caracas to the island of Curaçao was hijacked. Two days later, the DC-9 was stormed by Venezuelan commandos, who killed the hijackers.^[16] Delta Force provided support during the ordeal.^[17]

Achille Lauro Hijack

President Ronald Reagan deployed the Navy's SEAL Team Six and Delta Force during the Achille Lauro Hijack to Cyprus to stand-by and prepare for a possible rescue attempt to free the vessel from its hijackers.

Operation Round Bottle

Delta planned an operation for three teams to go into Beirut, Lebanon to rescue Westerners held by Hezbollah, but the action was terminated when negotiations appeared to promise to deliver the hostages in exchange for arms. The operation was ultimately killed by the Los Angeles Times story that revealed the Iran–Contra affair.^[18]

Operation Heavy Shadow

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.

Operation Just Cause

Before Operation Just Cause by US forces took place, there were key operations that were tasked to Special Operations Forces. Operation Acid Gambit was an operation tasked to Delta to rescue and recover Kurt Muse held captive in Carcel Modelo, a prison in Panama City. Another important operation that was assigned to Delta was Operation Nifty Package, the apprehension of General Manuel Antonio Noriega.

Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm

Delta was deployed during Desert Storm to the region and tasked with a number of responsibilities. These include supporting regular Army units that were providing close protection detail for General Norman Schwarzkopf in Saudi Arabia. Army relations' officers tried to play down Schwarzkopf's growing number of bodyguards. Delta was also tasked with hunting for SCUD missiles alongside the British Special Air Service and other coalition Special Forces.

Operation Gothic Serpent

On 3 October 1993, members of Delta Force were sent in with U.S. Army Rangers in the conflict in Mogadishu, Somalia codenamed Operation Gothic Serpent.

They were tasked with securing several of Mohammed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants, as well as a few other targets of high value. The mission was compromised after two MH-60L Blackhawk helicopters were shot down by RPGs. This resulted in an ongoing battle and led to the death of five Delta operators (a sixth was killed by mortar fire some days later), six Rangers, five Army aviation crew, and two 10th Mountain Division soldiers. Estimates of Somali deaths range from 133 by an Aidid sector commander^[19] to an estimate of 1500 to 2000 by the US Ambassador to Somalia.^[20] 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.^[14] The book, in a short brief, relates Delta Force's involvement in the operations that occurred before the events leading to the battle.^[14] The book was turned into a film by director Ridley Scott in 2001.

Counter-terrorist training

In January 1997, a small Delta advance team and six members of the British SAS were sent to Lima, Peru immediately following the takeover of the Japanese Ambassador's residence.^[21]

Seattle WTO

Members of Delta Force were also involved in preparing security for the 1999 Seattle WTO Conference, specifically against a chemical weapon attack.^[22]

Operation Enduring Freedom

Delta Force and British Special Boat Service commandos at Tora Bora

Delta Force was also involved in the offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.^[23] Delta Force has formed the core of the special strike unit which has been hunting High Value Target (HVT) individuals like Osama Bin Laden and other key al-Qaeda and Taliban leadership since October 2001, the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. One such operation was an airborne assault supported by the 75th Ranger Regiment on Mullah Mohammed Omar's headquarters at a Kandahar airstrip. Although Delta Force's mission was a failure in capturing Mohammed Omar, the Rangers had captured a vital strategic airstrip.^[24]. The strike force has been variously designated Task Force 11, Task Force 20, Task Force 121, Task Force 145 and Task Force 6-26. The Delta Force have also increased operations in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. SFOD-D along with DEVGRU have achieved many victories against the Haqqani network, which is a strong faction of the Taliban, moving across the Pakistani border if needed.^[25]

Operation Iraqi Freedom

This photo was taken in Mosul during Uday and Qusay's last stand. Delta Force Operators can be seen in front of the regular soldiers wearing MICH helmets.

One of several operations in which Delta Force operators are thought to have played important roles was the 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[26] They allegedly entered Baghdad in advance and undercover. Their tasks included guiding air strikes, and building networks of informants while eavesdropping on and sabotaging Iraqi communication lines. They were also instrumental in Operation Phantom Fury in April 2004 when they were attached to USMC companies, usually as snipers; the reason for this is still unknown.^[27]

Delta were also present in the siege in Mosul where Uday and Qusay Hussein were killed, and were also involved in the hunt and eventual capture of Saddam Hussein. It has also been reported that Delta was on the ground north of Baquba on June 7, 2006 surveilling a compound where Al-Zarqawi had been staying. After a long manhunt, Delta had Zarqawi in their sights and had called in an airstrike ^[28]

See also

• List of special forces units
• Weaponry used by Delta Force
• Delta Force in popular culture
• List of Delta Force members
• Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division
• Canadian Forces Joint Task Force 2

Bibliography

• Beckwith, Charles (with Donald Knox) (1983). Delta Force
• Haney, Eric L. (2002). Inside Delta Force. New York: Delacorte Press, 325. ISBN 978-0-385-33603-1.
• Bowden, Mark (1999). Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Atlantic Monthly Press. Berkeley, California (U.S.). ISBN 0-87113-738-0 about Operation Gothic Serpent
• Bowden, Mark (2001). Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw. ISBN 0-87113-783-6 about the hunt for Pablo Escobar
• Bowden, Mark (2006). Guests Of The Ayatollah: The First Battle In America's War With Militant Islam. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-925-1. 
• Bowden, Mark (May 2006). "The Desert One Debacle". The Atlantic Monthly. http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200605/iran-hostage. 
• Naylor, Sean (2005). "Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda", Penguin Group, New York about Operation Anaconda
• Griswold, Terry. "DELTA, America's Elite Counterterrorist Force", ISBN 0-87938-615-0
• National Geographic Documentary: Road to Baghdad
• Pushies, Fred J., et al. (2002). U. S. Counter-Terrorist Forces. Unknown: Crestline Imprints, 201. ISBN 0-7603-1363-6.
• Hartmut Schauer: Delta Force. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2008. ISBN 978-3-613-02958-3
• Dalton Fury: "Kill Bin Laden", ISBN 978-0-312-56740-8

References

External links

• The official website of the United States Department of Defense (DoD)
• The official website of the United States Army
• ShadowSpear Special Operations: SFOD
• Special Operations.com Delta Force Article
• Transcript of Sean Naylor's speech to American Enterprise Institute
• 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment (Airborne) DELTA at Global Security

Fort Bragg XVIII Airborne Corps 82nd Airborne Division 1st Brigade Combat Team 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry Regiment • 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment • 3rd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment • 307th Brigade Support Battalion • Special Troops Battalion 2nd Brigade Combat Team 1st Battalion, 325th Infantry Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment • 1st Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment • 407th Brigade Support Battalion • Special Troops Battalion 3rd Brigade Combat Team 1st Battalion, 505th Infantry Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment • 5th Squadron, 73d Cavalry Regiment • 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment • 82nd Brigade Support Battalion • Special Troops Battalion 4th Brigade Combat Team 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment • 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment • 782nd Brigade Support Battalion • Special Troops Battalion 18th Fires Brigade Headquarters & Headquarters Battery • 1st Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment • 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment • 3rd Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment • 188th Brigade Support Battalion • D Battery, 26th Field Artillery Regiment • 206th Signal Company Combat Aviation Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company • 1st Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment • 2nd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment, Company F • 3rd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment • 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment • 122nd Aviation Support Battalion 82nd Division Special Troops Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division • Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 82nd Division Special Troops Battalion • Company A (Signal) • 82nd Airborne Division Band • 82nd Airborne Division Advanced Airborne School 82nd Sustainment Brigade Special Troops Battalion • Headquarters and Headquarters Company • 11th Quartermaster Company • 21st Chemical Company • 18th Human Resources Company • 82nd Signal Company • 82nd Financial Management Company • 125th Mail Movement Team Other units 1st Sustainment Command (Theater) • 16th Military Police Brigade • 20th Engineer Brigade • 44th Medical Brigade • Womack Army Medical Center • 82nd Sustainment Brigade • 406th Army Field Support Brigade • 525th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade Special Operations Command Special Forces Command 3rd Special Forces Group • Delta Force Other units 4th Psychological Operations Group • 95th Civil Affairs Brigade • Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command • JFK Special Warfare Center Other units United States Army Parachute Team

United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Portal:Military of the United States United States Army USASOC Special Forces · 75th Ranger Regiment · 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment United States Marine Corps MARSOC Part of SOCOM: Marine Special Operations Regiment Not part of SOCOM: Force Recon · Division Recon · other USMC Special Ops Capable United States Navy NAVSPECWARCOM Navy SEALs · Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen United States Air Force AFSOC Units: 1st Special Operations Wing · 27th Special Operations Wing · 352d Special Operations Group · 353d Special Operations Group Types: Air Force Pararescue · Combat Control Team · Special Operations Weather · SERE · Tactical Air Control Party Special Missions Units JSOC Army: 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (Delta Force) · Intelligence Support Activity Navy: Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU or SEAL Team Six) Air Force: 24th Special Tactics Squadron Other: Advanced Force Operations (AFO) Source: SOCOM Fact Book