The bad years for the American special forces

Even today, after so many years, the Vietnam war for the U.S. is a humiliation and disgrace. He brought considerable changes to American society, and therefore also for the U.S. armed forces. It was converted from a conscript in a volunteer army and had to take drastic staff cuts out. This was the fate of the Special Forces, where over 60% of the staff has been saved. In addition, the 3rd, 6th and the 8th Group disbanded.
In 1977 within the Special Forces was a secret to this day anti-terrorism unit, the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta (SFOD-1) established under the command of Colonel Beckwith. The existence of the widely known as "Delta Force" force is denied today by the Pentagon. It is modeled after the world almost all special unit set up: The British SAS.
Within just two years, this resident of Fort Bragg troops were trained and developed, including SAS and German GSG9. But the first "real" action, the liberation of the hostages in Iran in 1980 did go wrong. The highly excellent in Vietnam paratrooper officer Beckwith had a short time later to retire and the U.S. had suffered another setback.


The promising 80

The new President Reagan came a new era for the U.S. Army. It has now been upgraded again and received entirely new structures. Also, the Green Berets were an upgrade.
Advisory missions were carried out during this period, especially in the devastated Central and South America, where local armies were important tips from the Special Forces. The increasing war against drugs meant for the Special Forces extensive operations on the continent. Even with the intervention in Grenada in 1983, some men came from "DELTA" is used.
Two other successes of the Green Berets, the status as a distinct branch of service (1 October 1984) and the creation of an independent officer's career (9 April 1987).

Operation "Just Cause" (Panama 1989)

The United States was already in use for years against the drug cartels, but Panama's leaders Manual Noriega spanned the arc with time. He was seen as a pivotal point of the drug trade in Central America and eventually declared war on America. The Green Berets of the 3rd Battalion of the 7th SFG presented the battle group "Black". This led through Fernspäh and surveillance operations as well as combat operations against the Panamanian army. They also held the strategically important Pacora Bridge in a tough fire fight against the "Battalion 2000". Panama has presented the Special Forces is a showpiece and not lose a single man

Operation "Desert Storm" (Iraq 1990/91)

The invasion by the Iraqi army in Kuwait and the ensuing storm of protest around the world meant for the use of Special Forces in the region. Shortly after the invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 anti-terror teams were sent to the Gulf region, as there were still many hostages in the hands of Iraq, and it was expected to continue this kind of action. Shortly thereafter, the group responsible for this part of the 5th SFG, moved to the area of ​​operation. As reinforcement followed her part of the 1st Battalion of the 10th SFG, and the recently established 3rd SFG. Even the National Guard Special Forces and Delta were sent to the disaster area.
The Green Berets did their traditional role: they support and trained allied Arab organizations. Furthermore, they led Fernspäheinsätze from deep in Iraq and Kuwait, provided important data and articulated during the air attacks its own bombs and missiles to the finish. Important enemy leaders were in place "kidnapped" to interrogate them. Numerous reconnaissance teams of Special Forces infiltrated by HALO / HAHO equipment (High-Altidude-Low-Opening/Hight-Altidude-High-Opening) or by helicopter the area and often stayed for weeks in hostile terrain. Commando raids were against enemy communication devices, communication links, etc. perpetrated.
But one of the greatest dangers the Iraqi SCUD missiles received represented a change in order to bring about war, Scuds were fired on Israel to move its Arab allies to that alliance to tilt at an Israeli intervention. Another threat came from the ability to equip the Scuds with chemical and biological warheads. Thus, the order was issued to all Allied special forces teams to make these Scuds locate and destroy. The Green Berets and other Special Forces, such as SAS, Delta or U.S. Navy SEALs infiltrated a helicopter, found the Scuds, destroyed the command and communication centers of the missile and drew with laser target marking devices such as the AN-PAQ-1, the remote from their own aircraft bombs or missiles into the target. After the war, the Special Forces, however, remained in the country and helped the needy Kurds in northern Iraq. The use of the Green Berets in the Gulf cost 11 soldiers lives that were killed in a helicopter crash.