The Parallax Shift

Special Forces materialized during a period when US military doctrine was actually least favorable to their creation. Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who entered office near the end of the Korean War, the military’s emphasis shifted from preparing its forces for near-term potential conflict...

Origin of the Species

Critical to the antecedents of modern Special Operations Forces is the question of how you define their mission. If the notion is that these troops are bands of heroes, then their history can be traced into antiquity, for in warfare there has always been...

Who’s who in Special Forces

Harry C. Aderholt (1920–2010). In effect the father of air force special operations, “Heinie” Aderholt was a pilot in an air transport unit in North Africa and Italy in World War II. Planes like his had been involved in so-called Carpetbagger flights, inserting...

What Future for the “Army of One”?

What Tensions Exist within the Special Operations Community Today? Tensions exist, and some of them are over SOF roles. The shape of the next great conflict matters. If it is a war with, say China, over Chinese adventures across the Pacific Rim, American leaders...

After September 11

Brigadier General Stanley McChrystal stood near the door of a C-130J transport, ready for a practice parachute jump near Fort Bragg, when the air force jumpmaster leaned over to say something to the lead man, McChrystal’s boss. It was September 11, 2001. McChrystal overheard...

Ebb and Flow

The world of Special Forces expanded, perhaps exponentially, during the 1960s. Green Berets got most of the attention, but much of what they did—especially with the Studies and Analysis Group—would have been impossible without the unconventional warriors of the air force and navy. The...

Prologue

The Afghanistan war began with high hopes and in a thrilling way. A few Americans—just a few—enlisted local allies and toppled the national government led by the Taliban, an Islamist political-religious movement that had emerged triumphant from a civil war and, in power,...

Toward New Horizons

As Special Operations Forces moved into the 1980s, they had a new sense of commitment, within a US defense policy offering favorable portents. Toward the end of his administration, President Carter had begun to create a “rapid deployment force” capable of short-notice deployment...