Weirdo is of course almost right, Marines and Paras although exceptional are not S.F.
But those in the U.K that are, number a few more than two. Just not Regt strength.

OP Tp for example. now called 473 Bty I believe.
C'mon the trigpoints.

[edit on 30-6-2004 by Smudge]

What nobody heard of Special O.P Troop (4) 73 Battery Royal Artillery.....

They operate behind enemy lines first as O.P's then as sabotuers, originally designed for the first stages of the cold war, where NATO would retire, leaving Spec. O.P's dug in, in pre arranged hides. Soviet Bloc advances over the O.P's leaving them behind enemy lines to report back on troop movements and bring in artillery and aircraft fire.
After the initial stages they were to carry out sabotage and hit and run missions using the hides as a base. Resupply was through agent contacts and dead letter boxes.

After the collapse of the Soviet Block, the troop was considered too valuble to scrap, so it was returned to U.K where it was retasked as quick reaction Special O.P's for deployment around the world as needed. Training comes under the auspices of 22 Regt. and the lads now train in special insertions and mobility. Chopped down land rovers etc.

Their badge is that of the TRIGPOINT

I thought they were now used jointly with Navy for calling in criuse missile strikes

[edit on 2-7-2004 by weirdo]

Originally posted by devilwasp
they do exsist
its the US amry's elite special forces unit
very professinal lads they are

Delta is one unit of Specfor, and does exist.

m9

BTW boys and girls, there has been much mention abou the para pathfinders being SF. They're not. They are a specialised platoon within the parachute regiment, and they ARE very highly trained, but they are not on the official list of British special forces. They do not recieve SF pay - they have only started receiving extra money this year in the form of the new HALO pay allowance. This is no different from any of the other specialist pay allowances in the army, in that once you have passed the course you can claim the pay. The difference is that the Pathfinders are the only conventional British Army force trained in HALO or HAHO, thereby making them the only conventional troops receiving the pay.

The job of the pathfinders is to parachute in several hours (or even days) in front of the main force in order to do preliminary recces and set up the LZs for the main force. They do use some specialist kit and weapons (e.g. some use M16s etc.), but they are not officially special forces.

The only official special forces in the British Army are the SAS and SBS, although I would like to believe that there are some other parts of the forces that should be recognised as such, including the pathfinders.

Paddy

[edit on 28-12-2005 by PaddyInf]

Sorry if this has already been posted, I didn't look at all the pages of the thread.

The 1st Special Forces Opertional Detatchment - Delta, or commonly reffered to as Delta Force, is a highly specialized and highly motivated group of soldiers. It is the U.S. Army's unit specifically charged with combatting terrorism. The size is fairly small by military standards. Last I knew it consisted by 3 squadrons, a,b, and c. It was created on November 19, 1977 by Col. Charlie A. Beckwith after training with the British SAS and seeing the need of type a unit to combat the rise of terrorism. The selection course consists of psychological tests, obstacle courses, swims, and the notorios 40 miler. There is a 7% passing rate of the selection course. They get most of their recruits from either the Army Rangers, Green Berets, or other sections of the Army. They recruit twice a year and sometimes pick selected individuals based on their specialties. After the selection course begins the 6 month training program where they are chosen to be part of team 1 (assault group) or team 2 (sniper group). They train with demolitions, close quarter combat, hand to hand fighting, marksmanship, hostage rescue, and room clearing, counter terrorism. They excell at freefall parachuting and amphibious landing techniques.
They provide bodyguard services for senoir military personnel. In addition, Reconaissance and target spotting in support of air strikes and laser-guided missiles have become a major function for delta.

Their headquarters is located in a remoted section of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It contains numerous shooting facilities (both for close quarter battle and long range sniping), an olympic-size swimming pool, dive tank, three-story climbing wall, and CQB shooting house. The nickname of the CQB killing house is "the house of horros". It is designed to teach teams and individuals how to assault buildings that have been captured by terrorists. Each operator has to act as the hostage in live fire room clearing excercises. The rest of the facility contains mock ups of trains and buses for tubular assaults, and there is reported to be a section of a wide-body jet in the units of the "aircraft room."

They are considered to be the best trained and best equipped counter-terrorist unit in the world. Delta maintains close links with the 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment for full helicopter support. Delta Force engages in frequent personnel exchanges with the British SAS and other special forces teams of other U.S. allies.

In 1979 they worked with the FBI at the Pan American Games in Peurto Rico as part of an anti-terrorist team set up to anticipate possible terroris activity at the event.

1980- Deployed to Iran to rescue American hostages who were being held by Iranian fundamentalists in Tehran.

1983- Participated in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada including the air assault of Richmond Hill Prison to free hostages, as well as assisting in the seizure of a key airfield.

1984- Deployed in Middle East in response to the hijacking of a Kuwait Airlines airliner, during which 2 Americans were killed.

1985- Again deployed in response to a hijacking, this time to Cyprus in anticipation of an assault on a TWA airliner.

1987- Sent to Greece to secure U.S. Army Col. James "Nick" Rowe in response to reports that Vietnamese communist agents were planning an action against him.

1989- Successfully rescued an imprisoned U.S. citizen during the opening minutes of Operation Just Cause in Panama and participated in the widespread search for Gen. Manuel Noriega and his advisors.

1991- deployed to Gulf to serve as bodyguards for senoir U.S. officers and later as part of a massive effort to locate and destroy mobile SCUD missile launchers in Iraq's northern desert.

1993- As part of Task Force Ranger, took part in numerous operations to apprehend warlord Muhammad Farah Aidid in Mogadishu, Somalia. Gary Gordon and Randy Shugart received the medal of honor for trying to protect the crew of the downed Blackhawk helicopter Super Six Four.

1995- Deployed to Bosnia as part of an interational effort to locate Serbian war criminals.

1997- Small advanced team sent to Lima, Peru immediatly following the takeover of the Japanese Ambassadors residence in January 1997 along with six members of the British SAS.

1999- Deployed to Kosovo in support of U.S. forces operating against the Federal Republic of Yugoslovia.

2001- Following events of September 11, Delta is deployed to Afghanistan in search of Al Qaeda forces, in particular their leader Osama Bin Laden.

2002- Operation Anacondas.

They have been involved in numerous other operations including Operation Iraqi Freedom and the situation in Haiti in 1993.

I hope this answers some questions and if there are anymore feel free to ask and i'll do my best to answer.

also, the stuff about how delta force is handpicked from the SEALS, rangers and berets, is not right. My father was in regular military, E-6 ranking, and was part of field artillery and airborne assault. He was accepted into delta training but before he could start the training he broke his back during a parachuting excersise.

Sorry I forgot to add that they are the only U.S. Special Forces unit to accept female soldiers so I here, but nothing has been officially confirmed. I'd imagine it would be true for the need of deep cover agents. They also report directly to Special Operations Command (Socom) and then to the Joint Chiefs of Staff last I knew.

[edit on 18-1-2006 by asp821]

asp821, what was the source you used for that information, it's very informative, if it's a book you have, what's the name of it? I'm interested in the reading.

Shattered OUT...

I've used many books to find information on it and do a report. The ones I've prolly got the most information from was "Inside Delta Force" by Eric Haney and "Delta Force" by Col. Charlie Beckwith. The others are "Ultimate Special Forces" by Hugh McManners, "U.S. Counterterrorist Forces" and "Encyclopedia of the World's Special Forces." I've also got information from founding Delta Force members but I've never got anything significant out of them.

Alright, thanks.

Shattered OUT...

Not an operator myself, but I believe that Delta does not have any female soldiers.

Originally posted by therainmaker
Not an operator myself, but I believe that Delta does not have any female soldiers.

Oh theres females in the force alright. They are meant for something else. They don't do most of the dirty work.

Delta Force is at Ft Bragg, they have a compound on the way to Sicily drop zone. I never heard of any females in the unit and when the conduct interviews there are no females. Also I never saw any other services there, just Army, but it is a persistent rumor.

I have this to say about SFOD-D, they are much younger than I expected. I also have a lot less respect for training than I did before. As good as it is, you need maturity to learn from people who know. I don't care how much training you have, when you don't listen to those know and go out of their way to show you how to do it for real, you're still newbie who knows nothing....

Oh, they exist,all right. They have been involved in many a covert operation. Black Hawk Down, that was them. basically all wars that the U.S has been, they've been in.

Oh, and by the way, the proper designation for them is Special Forces Operational Team-Delta, or SFOD-D.

If you want to get really technical and talk about the "proper" name you'd want to use Combat Applications Group.