US Army Special Forces 1952-84 by Gordon Rottman

Author:Gordon Rottman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: US Army Special Forces 1952–84
ISBN: 9781782004462
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

The commander (right) and some NCOs of Detachment A-302 of the 3rd Mike Force, after receiving Silver Stars for their part in Operation ‘Attleboro’, December 1966. (P. Lopez)

The operations and intelligence course is for senior NCOs and covers the many aspects of mission planning, and UW and special operations intelligence techniques. It is not conducted during Phase II, but taken by team operations sergeants.

Phase III is where the students can put into practice all that they have learned at the team level. During this phase’s four weeks they learn the basics of UW operations and mission planning. It is completed by a two week UW exercise. Students plan and otherwise prepare for the mission, and then parachute into Uwharrie National Forest north of Ft Bragg. Each team links up with its guerrilla group (made up of instructor-led SF students). The student team will organise and train the guerrillas and then assist them in the execution of a raid plus other UW tasks. The students graduate upon accomplishing Phase III, and are now ‘flash qualified’.

Officers were initially trained in a manner similar to enlisted men with much of the training being accomplished within the units. In 1956 the SF Officer Course was established; this was always a 12 week course. It covered many of the same areas as the enlisted Phases I and III with the addition of the many planning, operational, and intelligence aspects of UW and special operations. Since 1981, however, the officers have been integrated with the enlisted men, conducting Phases I and III with them and undertaking their own Phase II training.

Once assigned to an SF unit the trooper has ample opportunities for additional training—in fact his training never really ends. Even in Vietnam, from the late 1960s, SF troops went through a two week Combat Orientation Course conducted by the Recondo School. Additional individual and team training are conducted continuously. This includes MOS cross-training and language qualification (not every man is trained in a second language, contrary to popular opinion). Advanced training in SCUBA and free-fall parachuting are also conducted by selected individuals. Other Army courses are also available such as the Ranger; Pathfinder; Jumpmaster; and Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Courses. Unit training encompasses exercises in different terrain and weather environments.

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