What You Need to Know: The U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, were officially established on June 19, 1952, with the creation of the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Gaining fame through Barry Sadler's 1966 song "The Ballad of the Green Berets" and the 1968 film starring John Wayne, they became an iconic symbol of military excellence.

-Their core missions include unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, direct action, counterterrorism, and special reconnaissance.

-From significant roles in the Vietnam War—where they earned numerous honors—to modern operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Green Berets have a storied history. Equipped with specialized weapons like the M4A1 carbine and Browning M2 machine gun, they continue to be a critical component of the U.S. Armed Forces' special operations.

Inside the Green Berets: America's Elite Special Forces Unveiled

“Fighting soldiers from the sky/Fearless men who jump and die/Men who mean just what they say/The brave men of The Green Beret.” Thus goes the opening verse to “The Ballad of the Green Berets,” sung by the late U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, a song which spent five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1966, and was redone in a choral rendition by Ken Darby in the 1968 John Wayne film ”The Green Berets.”

That song and movie combo made the U.S. Army Special Forces, better known as the “Green Berets” the first component of the U.S. Armed Forces’ Special Operations community to gain fame in the American public eye.

But beyond the pop culture embellishments, what makes the real-life U.S. Army Special Forces so truly “special?”

Green Berets: Where It Began

The special forces officially trace their creation back to June 19, 1952, with the establishment of the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (10th SFG[A]) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. According to the group’s official history page:

“The group’s mission was to conduct partisan warfare behind enemy lines in the event of a Soviet invasion of Europe. The 10th Special Forces Group originally attracted many former members of the OSS, Rangers and Airborne units from World War II as well as many foreign nationals … The Green Beret was authorized for wear at Bad Tölz by the Group commander, Col. William Ekman, on 17 November 1955, and its usage became group policy. Every soldier in the unit wore a green beret as part of the uniform. The Department of the Army (DA) did not recognize the beret as official headgear, and only after President John F. Kennedy’s visit to Fort Bragg in October 1961 was the wear of the Green Beret authorized. President Kennedy, a major champion of the Special Forces, issued a Presidential Directive recognizing the Green Beret as the ‘Symbol of Excellence’ and the official headgear of Special Forces.”

Besides being the year that the green beret was authorized as a uniform, 1955 was also a significant year for special forces insofar as that was the year the 10th SFG was recognized publicly for the first time, thanks to two articles that the New York Times published about the unit, describing them as a “liberation” force designed to fight behind enemy lines. Hence the highly apropos motto “De Oppresso Liber” (To Free the Oppressed).

Cold War Service: From the Vietnam War to the early 1990s

Hollywood notwithstanding, it was indeed during the Vietnam War that the so-called “Green Berets” first earned their real-world fame. Though I can’t do their history full justice within the confines of a 1,000-word article, suffice to say that the SF operators’ Vietnam service began in June 1956 when the original sixteen members of the 14th Special Forces Operational Detachment (SFOD) arrived in-country to train a cadre of indigenous Vietnamese Special Forces teams; on October 21 of that same year, Captain Harry Griffith. Cramer, Jr. of the 14th SFOD became the first American soldier to die in Vietnam (he was thirty-one years old at the time of his death).

Fast-forward to July 6, 1964, and then-CPT (later COL) Roger Hugh Charles Donlon of the 7th Special Forces Group became the first soldier to receive the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

The 5th SFG was the most famous SF unit of the war; its soldiers ended up winning sixteen of the seventeen Medals of Honor awarded to the SF troops during that controversial conflict, plus one Distinguished Service Medal; ninety Distinguished Service Crosses; 814 Silver Stars; 13,234 Bronze Stars; 235 Legions of Merit; forty-six Distinguished Flying Crosses; 232 Soldier’s Medals; 4,891 Air Medals; 6,908 Army Commendation Medals; and 2,658 Purple Hearts.

Subsequent to the Vietnam drawdown, the special forces’ mystique was further bolstered from 1977 onward when COL Charles Alvin “Chargin’ Charlie” Beckwith founded Army’s 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), better known simply as Delta Force.

The Green Berets’ last major combat action of the Cold War was during the 1991 Persian Gulf War (aka Operation Desert Storm). Though it’s been twenty-five years since I read Douglas C. Waller’s book The Commandos: The Inside Story of America’s Secret Soldiers, I recall that it gives a detailed and harrowing account of a special forces unit’s firefight against some of then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s troops. Long story short: in spite of extremely difficult odds, the special forces troops came out on top.

Special Forces After the Cold War

After the 9/11 attacks and the resultant Global War on Terror, the Green Berets’ existence took on a new degree of importance. The story of their “Horse Soldiers,” who helped the Northern Alliance overthrow the Taliban (along with a bit of help from U.S. airpower) is the stuff of legend. And during the 2003 Iraq War, subsequent to the overthrow of Saddam, they created and trained Iraqi special operations units to fight against the insurgency.

Today, the core special forces mission set consists of five doctrinal missions: unconventional warfare; foreign internal defense; direct action; counterterrorism; and special reconnaissance.

Weapons of Army Special Forces

As per the American Special Ops website, Army Special Forces use:

· Handguns:

o Beretta M9 9×19mm

· Carbines and Assault Rifles:

o M4A1 Block 2 5.56×45mm NATO

o MK 13 CQBR - 5.56 x 45mm

o MK 16 SCAR-L - 5.56 x 45mm

o Mk 17 SCAR 7.62x51mm NATO

· Sniper and Anti-Material Rifles:

o MK 12 Mod 0 - 5.56 x 45mm

o M24 SWS 7.62x51mm NATO

o M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System (SASS) 7.62x51 mm NATO

· Machine Guns

o Mk 46: a variant of the M249 SAW adapted for special operations forces

o Mk 48: a 7.62 x 51mm version of the Mk 46

o M240: 7.62 x 51mm

o Browning M2 (the legendary “Ma Deuce”) .50 caliber

About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ). He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch , The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). 

Image Credit: Main image is from Chinese State Media. All others are Creative Commons.