MILNET: U.S. Army Special Forces

From the narrative from our Special Forces Warrior, here is a quick brief on the Army Special Forces makeup, centering on the A Team concept:

In Army SF there are theoretically 12 men on an A team, but that will fluctuate based on mission and availability of folks. There are 45 teams in a group, broken down between three line battalions and a support battalion.

The Support Battalion has the MI Company in whatever configuration it is currently in (it changes often), a Medical Company, a Signal Company, and a Rigger Company. Their functons are obvious.

The MI and Rigger Companies go through various reorganizations from time-to-time and you may want to confirm this. Line battalions are organized conventionally with a HHC type thing.

There is more commo and medical stuff naturally along with a SCUBA and engineer activity to support SF's unique activities. 1

There are 5 principal missions:

• Unconventional Warfare (UW) which is the commando stuff. IF the conditions exist to do behind the lines operations and IF the local population is conducive to being used as an underground then this mission is viable. In Iraq this was not done, even though there was resistance potential in Basrah and with the Kurds.
• Direct Action (DA) - Everyone thinks assassination, but that is against the law and we DO NOT do it. This is directly attacking a target with pure SF forces. Taking out the radars prior to the bombing of Baghdad was a Direct Action mission. Where Uconventional Warfare uses local forces, Direct Action uses US forces.
• Special Reconnaissance (SR) - This is done to enhance our national intelligence capabilities and what my company did. Nothing beats a pair of eyes on the ground. This is what the recon behind the Republican Guard on the Tigrus did.
• Counterterrorism (CT) - Pretty self-explanatory. They can be hostage rescue, recovery of sensitive material or Direct Action against a terrorist infrastructure. Not a big mission as the finesse it takes is difficult to develop and maintain. DELTA takes most of this. However, in a robust wartime situation like in Vietnam, this is a capability SF retains.
• Collateral Special Operations Activities - Nice catch-all. This includes Security Assistance, Humanitarian Assistance (Haiti), Counternarcotics, Personnel Recovery (pilot rescue stuff...done a lot during Desert Storm), etc.

These missions are strictly Special Forces. Psyops and CA can be done, and are. But large-scale stuff is done by USACAPOC. 1

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