Special Forces
From 7th Cavalry Regiment Wiki
Special Forces also known as Green Berets, are a Special Operations Force (SOF) of the 7th Cavalry tasked with six primary missions: unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, hostage rescue, and counter-terrorism. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, counter-proliferation, psychological operations, manhunts, and counter-drug operations.
The original and most important mission of the Special Forces had been "unconventional warfare", while other capabilities, such as direct action, were gradually added.
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History
Special forces have played an important role throughout the history of warfare whenever the aim has been to achieve disruption by "hit and run" and sabotage, rather than more traditional conventional army combat using large formations of troops and motorized armor groups. Other significant roles lay in reconnaissance, providing essential intelligence from close to or among the enemy, and increasingly in combating terrorists, their infrastructure and activities.
In antiquity, Hamilcar Barca in Sicily had specialized troops trained to launch several offensives per day. Later, during the Crusade wars, small, highly trained units of Knights Templar attacked individual Muslim units attempting to forage or seize booty. Muslim armies had several naval special operations units, including one which used camouflaged ships to gather intelligence and launch raids, and another which consisted of soldiers who could pass for Crusaders who would use ruses to board enemy ships and then capture and destroy them.
In Tang Dynasty ancient China and later feudal Japan, members of various clans or organizations of mercenary Special Forces operators, called Ninja, were highly trained in the various forms of martial arts (e.g., Ninjutsu) and special tactics for unconventional warfare and guerilla warfare utilizing the most technologically advanced weapons (e.g., firearms/explosives, snow shoes, water floatations devices etc.) and tactics (e.g., camouflage, stealth, meteorology, geography, psychological warfare) available at the time. They were usually hired by rival leaders for covert operations and black operations such as espionage, assassination, sabotage, security details, and destabilizing the political, social, economic and military infrastructure of a rival territory.
During the Napoleonic wars, rifle and sapper units existed who were not committed to the formal lines that made up most battles of the day. They instead held more specialised roles in reconnaissance and skirmishing.
For the British Army, it was during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) that the need for more specialised units became most apparent. Scouting units such as Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment made up of phenomenal woodsmen outfitted in ghillie suits and well practiced in the arts of marksmanship, field craft, and military tactics, best filled this role. This unit was formed in 1900 by Lord Lovat and early on reported to an American, Major Frederick Russell Burnham, the Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts. After the war, Lovat's Scouts went on to formally become the British Army's first sniper unit. Additionally, the formation of the Bushveldt Carbineers in 1901 may be seen as an early manifestation of a unit for unconventional warfare.
World War 1
During World War I Colonel Bassi of the Italian Army formed 27 battalion-sized "Reparti d'assalto" (Assault Units) called Arditi. They were assigned the tactical role of shock troops, breaching enemy defenses in order to prepare the way for a broad infantry advance. The Reparti d'assalto were successful in bringing a degree of movement to what had previously been a war of entrenched positions. The Arditi were not considered infantry troops, but were seen and organized as a separate combat arm and therefore received extended tactical training, the best and newest weapons and a distinct new uniform. Thus they are some of the modern world's first special forces. On the German side, the success of the Spring Offensive reflected on their successful employment of specially trained stormtrooper or Sturmtruppen units, who used unconventional infiltration tactics.
World War 2
During World War II, in 1940, the British Commandos were formed following Winston Churchill's call for "specially trained troops of the hunter class, who can develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast." The Commandos were selected from volunteers among existing servicemen and went on to spawn a number of other specialist units including the Long Range Desert Group, the Special Air Service, the Special Boat Service and the Small Scale Raiding Force of the Special Operations Executive.
The Wehrmacht also adopted early-on special forces units of sorts during the War. The Waffen-SS, formed from the Schutzstaffel, originally served as guards of the National Socialist Party, and were converted into elite paramilitary regiments that played a major role in the War, especially the Eastern Front, where every SS regiment was sent. At the War's end, the SS had dissolved, however, and become little more than a handful of conscripts and soldiers. The last real combat the SS saw was at the Battle of Berlin, where they fought in conjunction with marines and citizens to stop the Soviet advance.
In mid-1942, the United States and Canada formed a sabotage ski brigade for operations in Norway who became known as the Devil's Brigade, officially known as the First Special Service Force, during their eventual service in Italy.
Within the 7th Cavalry
Special Forces Qualification Course
The Special Forces Qualification Course, or "Q-Course", is an intensive selection and training course taught by the selected Command Staff instructors for the purposes of preparing soldiers to function as members of the 7th Cavalry Regiment Special Forces. As a member of the 7th Cavalry Special Forces you are proficient in all aspects of warfare. The Q-Course is both rigorous and mentally demanding as it combines the instructions of other courses, such as Advanced Infantry Training (AIT), demolitions (Sapper), sniper training (SRT), advanced combat training (Rangers) into one comprehensive course. In order to become Special Forces qualified, students must pass all training phases with an Expert designation. Students that fail any phase of the course are immediately dropped from Q-Course and must recycle back to a later class. Instructions consist of both “classroom” work and field exercises that test the student’s proficiency with a specific skill.
Admission Requirements
- Successful completion of Sniper School
- Successful completion of Ranger School
- Minimum rank of Staff Sergeant.
- No Negative Counseling Statements in the last sixty (60) days.
- Company commander Recommendation.
- Battalion commander Approval.
- Regiment Commanding Officer Approval.
See Also
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Forces_(United_States_Army)
http://www.7thcavalry.us/2nd_battalion/S3/7CAV-TM-002.pdf
