Special Forces to Expand

At a time when the Pentagon is making reductions such as cuts in the high-tech Future Combat Systems program, Special Operations Forces are being increased across the board. On April 6, 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the addition of more than 2,800 Special Operations personnel, a five percent increase. The Army’s share will be more than 500 Soldiers added to the Special Forces (SF) Command. Each of the Command’s five Active Duty Special Forces groups (SFG) will add one battalion.

In August, the 3rd SFG (Airborne) activated a new fourth battalion. COL Gus Benton II called the increase a new beginning, “for even greater success in the future."  “The increase in SF is not solely for missions in Iraq and Afghanistan,"  explained a Special Forces Public Affairs spokesman. “It’s for SF deployed around the world in several different theaters."  The additions will allow for more SF on the ground and relief for those who have been continuously deployed since 9/11.

The need for more SF troops, also known as Green Berets, came from the last Quadrennial Defense Review, with commanders in the field requesting more of the SF’s skills set. But the request did not expand their role. “The increase in SF is not to have more guys doing more missions, but more guys doing the same missions that we are performing already,"  says the spokesman.

The Green Berets were the first into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. In Afghanistan, they fought with the Northern Alliance to defeat the Taliban. Today, they work with villagers to provide services and infrastructure while hunting down the Taliban with the help of the Afghan Army, which the SF helped train. In Iraq, one SF Group, fighting with Kurdish rebels, defeated six Iraqi divisions. When the maneuver war ended, they helped rebuild the Iraqi Army, eliminated Báath Party members and hunted down Saddam Hussein and his sons. Today, they help battle the insurgents.

Soldiers wearing the Green Beret are more than just unconventional fighters. They perform special reconnaissance missions, conduct direct action operations, defend the infrastructure of friendly countries and fight terrorism. Created in 1952 as a way to combat the spread of communism around the world, SF actually traces its lineage back to the Jedburg teams fighting behind enemy lines in World War II. Units such as the 75th Rangers trace their heritage back to Ranger units that fought the Indians and French prior to the American Revolution.

Soon, more U.S. SF Soldiers will be serving around the globe living up to their motto, “De Oppresso Liber"  (to liberate the oppressed).