The Atlanta Journal and Constitution October 14, 2001
New war perfect fit for Special Forces
By Bill Torpy
"This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origins: won by subversives, insurgents, assassins, won by ambush instead of combat, by infiltration instead of aggression." --- John F. Kennedy, 1962, speaking at West Point.
Fort Bragg, N.C. --- Once again, America is fighting a new kind of war. This time, once the Air Force finishes pummeling its targets, the Army's "quiet professionals" --- not fresh-faced ground troops --- will go to work. By almost all accounts, special operations forces are most likely already on the ground working in Afghanistan. The command at Fort Bragg acknowledges that some of the 6,000 special operations troops based here have been deployed.
Outside the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School last week, a Green Beret with a sturdy neck and hearty handshake simply says he's got a job to do and leaves it at that. No names, please. Things here are always secure. But the base is locked down even tighter these days. Razor wire encircles the base, and soldiers armed with M-16s guard even the on-base day care facilities.
But soldiers like that hearty-necked Green Beret (officially known as U.S. Army Special Forces soldier) and his comrades in the Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations --- also here at Bragg --- know winning a war is more than just reducing an area to rubble and body parts. Secrecy is vital. Intelligence is the best weapon. And little things often win wars.
Here, highly trained, seasoned soldiers have learned that victory can be achieved by treating a child's diarrhea, teaching a peasant to use a two-way radio or devising propaganda pamphlets that extol the virtues of America. "Forget the sledgehammer; this is about low-intensity combat. It's about patience," said retired Maj. Andy Messing Jr., who served in the Special Forces and founded the National Defense Council Foundation. "These troops know you have to take the cause away from the enemy."
The original 'A-Team'
Special op troops here are well-read, speak foreign languages and are generally low-key. But make no mistake. They're also tough. They jump out of airplanes at 30,000 feet and march 30 miles all night, each one lugging a 60-pound pack all the way. Sure, there's ego involved. The 12-man Green Beret units were calling themselves "The A-Team" long before George Peppard and Mr. T took up that moniker. But their individual skills must be incorporated into a team concept, so a sense of self gets lost.
"They're more mature, flexible and creative," said Messing, who fought in Vietnam before joining Special Forces and seeing action as an adviser in El Salvador in the 1980s. "They don't go into Special Forces to be a man. They're already a man." And they have a certain spirit that caused them to be three-time volunteers --- once into the Army, then into airborne divisions and, finally, for the Special Forces, who are experts in training and fighting with "indigenous forces."
Messing calls special operations soldiers the "hippies of the Army" --- many albeit with whitewalls around the ears --- because of their distaste for military spit and polish. Give them a general mission, but don't order them how to do it, he says. Stanley Olchovik, who spent 30 years in the Green Berets and who now lives near Fort Bragg, said his men wore civilian clothes and had "funny" haircuts that reflected the times when he led an anti-terrorism unit in Berlin in the late 1970s.
"Young people wore young haircuts. Middle-aged guys had middle-aged haircuts," said Olchovik. "You had to fit in." That shows just how vital the secrecy is and how much understatement is a way of life for these soldiers. You know those guys at the Legion post bar with fantastic tales of espionage, terror and skulduggery? Since they talked, odds are they weren't special operations soldiers.
In Berlin, Olchovik's mission was classified, and he worked alongside the top-secret Delta Team, the highly trained kidnapping, rescue and anti-terrorism team. Said to be based at Fort Bragg, it reportedly has been deployed to the Mideast. "That's an area we just don't talk about. Let's just leave it at that," said Maj. Gary Kolb, spokesman for special operations at Fort Bragg.
"The activities they are engaged in are allergic to the light of day," said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy organization. "To advertise we have the best kidnapping operation in human history --- no purpose would be served by bragging about that fact."
The terms "self-starters" and "outside the box" are thrown around a lot when describing special operations troops. Those traits are needed for those who parachute, walk or are helicoptered deep into enemy territory.
'Our kind of war'
The bar is set high for Special Forces soldiers, normally corporals or sergeants by the time they sign up. "There's a 21-day assessment phase just to see if they are trainable," said Kolb. The phase determines if they are physically fit, if they can quickly absorb information, if they can navigate on land, work with others and withstand stress. More than 50 percent of the recruits wash out in this phase. Those who remain refine those skills.
After that, the troops are split up for training into specialties such as engineering, communications, medicine and light weaponry. They then regroup into teams and role play as if they are in a foreign country, working alone or with indigenous troops. The fifth stage is learning a second language. Currently, 21 languages are taught, including Arabic. But the two most common languages in Afghanistan are not taught.
The training concludes with SERE --- survival, evasion, resistance and escape. Flexible thinking is key because "even the best plans become obsolete when the first shot is fired," said Olchovik. He should know. While he experienced success sending troops into North Vietnam, he tasted failure as a member of the failed 1980 bid to rescue American hostages from Iran.
With all this in place, the troops retrain time and time again. Often, they are deployed in missions Americans rarely hear about, said Messing. He claims 3,000 to 4,000 special operations troops are at any given time deployed on 150 missions in 70 countries.
There are many troubling aspects about Afghanistan --- the terrain, a battle-hardened guerrilla enemy, wavering allies. But the special op people say they are up to the task.
"This is our kind of war. This is what we've trained for for many years," Kolb declared. "Unfortunately, it's the ultimate way of proving yourself."
Copyright 2001 The Atlanta Constitution
