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Special Forces' Job: Be Ready For Anything
Colorado Springs Gazette | June 17, 2002 | John Diedrich

Posted on 06/18/2002 10:25:52 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen

TBILISI, Georgia - Chief Warrant Officer Jim Sissons delivered a baby in northern Iraq, pulled locals' rotten teeth in Africa and policed war-ravaged towns in Bosnia.

Now he's teaching top Georgian army officers how to run their forces U.S.-style.

It's typical duty for Army Special Forces soldiers, the so-called "Green Berets."

In Afghanistan, Special Forces soldiers fought with local forces against the Taliban and al-Qaida. Defense experts coined it the "special operations war," and "special forces" has become a catch-all phrase to describe special operations.

But there is only one unit that is officially called Special Forces. It's a small, secretive army within the U.S. Army that specializes in training other nation's militaries and conducting guerilla warfare.

They have become a sort of "force du jour" among Pentagon planners who talk of fighting an unconventional war on terrorism. In the former Soviet republic of Georgia, Green Berets from Fort Carson's 10th Special Forces Group are training the nation's struggling military, in part, so it can hunt terrorists suspected of hiding here.

The U.S. force in Tbilisi numbers about 70 soldiers and will grow to a maximum of 150 - tiny by military standards but typical of Special Forces.

Green Berets are highly trained, mature soldiers who typically spend six months of the year deployed. They go in small groups or alone, trusted to execute a mission with more responsibility and risk than the average GI.

Special Forces soldiers shy away from media coverage and sometimes can't even tell their families where they are going.

"If we had our way, we would go in and you wouldn't know until we got out," said Chief Warrant Officer Hurley Gilpin, 52, a Green Beret since Vietnam. "The less people know about what you do and why, the more secure you are."

That secrecy has fed the mythology of the Green Berets. Mention Special Forces to the average American, and he or she might imagine commando teams fighting hand-to-hand behind enemy lines. In reality, that kind of mission may come up once in a Special Forces soldier's career. More often, their missions are like the one in Georgia.

The soldiers have a hard time explaining that to friends and family. "People think it's like James Bond or MacGyver stuff where you can make an explosive out of two chocolate bars, a spoon and a little (duct) tape," said Sgt. 1st Class Lynn Davis, a Special Forces soldier for 10 years. "It's kind of amusing."

Special Forces is made up of mostly enlisted soldiers who are an average of 31 years old with 11 years in the Army. They must go through airborne training and two years of rigorous selection and specialty training before being accepted into a Special Forces group.

Special Forces is built around the concept of 12-man teams called Operational Detachment Alpha or A Teams. They resemble self-contained armies with weapons, engineering, communications and medical experts, all with back-ups in case someone is separated or killed.

The teams operate like families, according to their members. They know the names of each other's children, who call them "uncle." They socialize together and track each other's birthdays. As in families, there are squabbles, and the soldiers can be ruthless with each other. But they greet each other as "brother" in the true sense of the word.

"It's like having 10 brothers," said Davis, a member of the team in Georgia.

"You know each other that well. You can tell them anything and rip them apart, but if someone comes in from the outside and says something, expect to have a fight from 10 or 12 guys."

Davis said there is a certain camaraderie you don't find in the regular Army, fostered by the Green Berets' intense training. They are constantly jumping from planes or training to ski with 80-pound rucksacks.

Staff Sgt. John Martin, the newest member of the team in Georgia, dreamed about being a Green Beret for 22 years. In third grade, he was thumbing through his dad's old record collection when he spotted the "Ballad of the Green Beret." He put it on his record player and was stirred by the lyrics. He played it every day after school.

"I always thought these guys were 10 feet tall," he said. Martin, 32, who is single, said he joined Special Forces to be part of something that's tough and elite.

Soldiers say they were drawn to Special Forces because they wanted to work with more professional soldiers and get out from under some of regular Army's rigid rules.

On missions, they live differently than fellow GIs. In the Balkans, Green Berets live among the locals and move around without helmets, body armor or visible weapons. Regular soldiers usually must wear "battle rattle" and live on guarded bases.

Perhaps the biggest difference between Special Forces and the conventional Army is trust. One soldier or a small group can execute difficult missions without much supervision.

For instance, in spring 1991 after the Persian Gulf War ended, Sissons and other 10th Group soldiers went to northern Iraq to manage the flood of Kurdish refugees. Sissons and 50 other soldiers delivered relief to 100,000 Kurds in one camp.

They organized what had been a chaotic distribution of food, water and medicine, and set up camps for the Kurds. They reduced the number of people dying of starvation from dozens a day to a trickle. The Kurds looked to the American soldiers for help with everything, Sissons said. One day, a Kurdish man pulled him into a tent. His wife was about to deliver a baby. He figured because Sissons was an American he was a doctor. Sissons, 39, worked with what he had. He pinched the umbilical cord with a paper clip.

"And I cut the cord with this knife right here," Sissons said, pulling out a pocket knife.

Sissons washed the baby and presented him to the father, who named the baby after the soldier.

Sissons found himself in a similar situation in 1989 when he and a team went to Mauretania in North Africa to accompany Army doctors who were training locals and caring for people there. One day an Army dentist who had cut his hand while pulling rotten teeth asked Sissons to help. He talked Sissons through pulling a tooth. Pretty soon, Sissons was doing dentistry full time.

"We were just shooting them up (with novocaine) and cracking these rotten teeth out," Sissons said.

Now Sissons is teaching Georgia's top officers how to organize their military to U.S. standards. He will show them how to organize their staffs, plan training and put together a battle center.

After his work in Georgia is completed, Sissons will head back to Fort Carson. There he will prepare for the next time his special skills are needed.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 06/18/2002 10:25:52 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
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To: Stand Watch Listen;phasma proeliator;da_toolman;spetznaz;a_navy_vet;redbloodedamerican
bump for the ghost warriors.
2 posted on 06/18/2002 10:41:06 AM PDT by Atsilvquodi
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To: Stand Watch Listen
Great article, thanks for the post. These guys are elite.
3 posted on 06/18/2002 10:46:28 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: Stand Watch Listen;Atsilvquodi
This article probably depicts the life of a special forces soldier in its most accurate form. Most spec warriors may be extremely well trained, however most of their missions are rather laid back and not as gung-ho a most people think.

This does not mean however that they cannot kick a$$ and take names if they want to. For example ask the British SAS that was going deep into Iraq during the gulf war to set up some of the 'painting' devices for the smart bombs; or the Russian Spetsialnoye Nazranie (Spetsnaz) that rescued some Russian diplomats held hostage by Arab jehadis by covertly kidnapping some of the terrorists, cutting off their heads and penis', stuffing the penis' in the decapitated heads, and sending the heads back to the terrorist chief in a duffel bag with promises of 'further unrestarined action' (the hostages were released promptly); or maybe even the US SEALS that were the buzz in 'Nam; and the Israeli Sayeret groups that performed the Entebbe raid.

All these guys can kill you in a dozen ways...but that does not mean they spend all their time chopping off ears and making them into necklaces. Most of the time is spent doing such 'benign' stuff as fixing broken arms in some Afghan village, or digging wells and boreholes in some nation!

4 posted on 06/18/2002 10:57:12 AM PDT by spetznaz
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To: spetznaz
My dad worked closely with a Green Beret while doing geological surveys in Panama in the '60's - for a sea-level canal to be dug with nuclear explosives!
Anyway, to set up camp in the jungle, the green beret would be lowered from a helicopter, wearing shorts, tennis shoes, and equipped with a machete. Ten days later, the chopper would bring my dad in to a cleared landing area, with a hut for living quarters, and fresh meat cooking over the fire!
5 posted on 06/18/2002 11:29:24 AM PDT by Redbob
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To: RANGERAIRBORNE
FYI...
6 posted on 06/18/2002 11:38:00 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
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To: spetznaz
Too true.  They are not only trained to physical perfection, they also are known as the "erudite intellectuals" of the services.
7 posted on 06/18/2002 12:12:45 PM PDT by Frumious Bandersnatch
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To: spetznaz
"but that does not mean they spend all their time chopping off ears and making them into necklaces."

Actually, I never chopped off any ears-- and I don't know anyone who did. I do know a lot of folks who helped out at local orphanages, provided medical care for people who had never had any, worked with lepers, put in water wells for villagers who had never had clean water etc. etc.

If you are going to repeat left-wing propaganda, at least list the source, so we can debate it.

(Former "A"-Team member.)

8 posted on 06/18/2002 2:06:17 PM PDT by RANGERAIRBORNE
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To: RANGERAIRBORNE
The 'ear thing' was a JOKE.......if you look at its context you will see it was meant as a pun! I emphasized in my post that the spec ops guys spend most of their time doing basic medical services and doing public works! I did not mean it to be tied with some of that anti-Vietnam propaganda.

So i apologize if you took it wrong. HOWEVER read the WHOLE post the next time!

9 posted on 06/18/2002 5:40:47 PM PDT by spetznaz
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To: spetznaz
OK, thanks for the explanation. I guess I'm just sensitive on that issue- since the Commie fags who control the American press made this exact charge many times.

I am aware that there WERE war crimes committed- but if you will review the cases, you will see that they were OVERWHELMINGLY done by ignorant, scared-to-death draftees with room-temperature IQ's. (The very people I joined Special Forces to get away from).

10 posted on 06/18/2002 8:02:12 PM PDT by RANGERAIRBORNE
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To: RANGERAIRBORNE
From my experience these folks are diplomats 1st . I can not say enough about them or your group .

It was a sincere pleasure to have been chased thru Panama for 3 weeks by your peers .

Damn fine group of people , and they were more than willing to teach .

11 posted on 06/18/2002 8:11:36 PM PDT by Ben Bolt
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To: dorben
"It was a sincere pleasure to have been chased thru Panama for 3 weeks by your peers ."

If they chased you for three weeks and didn't CATCH you. I will disavow them!

By the way, "teaching" was the core of what we did- I once taught the elements of trigonometry (for mortar Fire Direction) to Laotian hill tribesmen who could not count past "3". Try saying " There are 2 pi Radians in a circle" to a group of slash-and-burn subsistence farmers sometime!

But in three weeks, they were able to read military maps and plot mortar fires using an M-16 plotting board (polar coordinates- something that the majority of American high school graduates have not mastered!)

12 posted on 06/18/2002 8:34:31 PM PDT by RANGERAIRBORNE
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To: RANGERAIRBORNE
Oh no .. You need not cut them off . Indeed i was caught . What came form the education was a few runs behind the Stasi .

2 Lrrps into North Korea . Got in deep and got it done .

I wont pretend to know it all but I do know what pi is .

The associations of the past and the current are something that is treasured inside of my core .

This is another place to teach and to learn .

13 posted on 06/19/2002 8:24:51 PM PDT by Ben Bolt
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