Tag: green berets

Glen Oliver Lane and the fate of his small recon team still haunt me to this day. We never met. Our paths crossed only momentarily 47 years ago in Vietnam.

“Much to my utter and complete dismay, the colonel looked at me and said, ‘Not to worry, the major has this handled.’ I was stunned, and simply walked back to the comm center.”

As time marches forward, SOFREP continues to reflect on Spec Ops history, including insights into once-secret operations. One such secret operation was conducted for eight years during the Vietnam War, hidden from the press, the public, and the politicians. The secret war was conducted under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam – Studies and Observations […]

The Utah National Guard suspects its facilities, equipment and personnel may have been involved in making a swimsuit calendar. Of all the bizarre unauthorized uses of my tax dollars, this seems one of the more reasonable.  Where were these calendar models when I was in SF? (If you answered “elementary school,” you would be correct.) The […]

The units that make up America’s Special Operations community are now spread across all four branches and include upwards of approximately 80,000 personnel. Many are support and staff positions, but when we talk about the “tribes” of Special Operations we are really just referencing actual SOF-qualified troops, those who have been through RASP, BUD/S, SFAS, […]

Special Forces soldiers are grouped into 12-man Operational Detachment Alpha teams or ODA’s. In this manner they are organized for unconventional warfare, the only unit in the military specifically designed to fight the type of counter-insurgency operations that America finds itself in today. Because of their task organization and inherent decentralization, each ODA has it’s […]

Explore the intricate structure, diverse missions, and rich history of the US Army Special Forces, an elite military unit uniquely organized to counter insurgencies and unconventional threats.