I was not in the Army so I don’t know but is it unusual to have that many Green Berets in one operation? I’ve never heard of a concentration this large of Green Berets.
“is it unusual to have that many Green Berets in one operation?”
Unusual, yes, but not unprecedented. It is a pretty big engagement. There are probably a good number of assorted support, admin, technical and command people; in addition to Green Beret Teams working within larger Afghan units. They don’t mass together 600 guys to fight like an Infantry Battalion.
The press tends to lump in everyone assigned to an SF unit as "Green Berets". While support personnel are vital to the completion of the mission, they are not "Green Berets", even though they are assigned to an SF unit.
Unless things have changed, the only ones authorized to wear the green beret are men who have completed the Special Forces Qualification Course, commonly referred to as the Q Course.
During my time, it was 12 SF guys to a team, if you had a full team, which was very rare. 6 teams to a company, plus company HQ, so less than 100 per company. So even if an entire Battalion was used, it would still be less than 400 actual SF qualified guys on the ground.
Once again, it's probably shoddy research on the part of the reporter.
The great raid, 1945:
133 U.S. soldiers from the 6th Ranger Battalion during the Raid at Cabanatuan.
2 US soldiers killed, 1000+ (est)
Japanese killed.