Special Forces Command exercises command and control over five active component groups. Additionally, it exercises training oversight of two Army National Guards groups. Each Special Forces Group is regionally oriented to support one of the war fighting commanders-in-chief (CINCs). Special Forces soldiers routinely deploy in support of the CINCs of U.S. European Command, U.S. Atlantic Command, U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Southern Command and the U.S.Central Command. On November 27,1990, the U.S. Army 1st Special Operations Command was redesignated the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne). The mission of USASFC (A) is to train, validate and prepare Special Forces units to deploy and execute operational requirements for the U.S. military's warfighting commanders in chief throughout the world. Besides USASFC (A), there are five active component groups and two US Army National Guard groups [as of 1994 there were five active and four guard and reserve groups]. Each group has three battalions, a group support company and a headquarters company. The companies have six Operational Detachment Alphas, or A-teams, assigned to them. The ODA is the heart and soul of SF operations.

Special Forces Operational Detachment A (SFOD A)

The "A Detachment" or "A Team" is the basic SF unit. This twelve man unit is specifically designed to organize, equip, train, advise or direct, and support indigenous military or paramilitary forces in UW and FD operations. The detachment has a commander (Captain), XO (Warrant Officer), and two enlisted specialists in each of the five SF functional areas: operations, weapons, engineers, medical, and communications. Each SF company has one SFOD A trained in combat diving and one SFOD A trained in military free-fall parachuting.

Special Forces Operational Detachment B (SFOD B)

The SF company headquarters, also known as a "B Detachment," is a multi-purpose C2 element with many employment options, It cannot isolate and deploy SF teams independently without significant augmentation.

Special Forces Operational Detachment C (SFOD C)

The "C Detachment" provides command and control, and staff planning and supervision for SF battalion operations and administration. The SFOD C plans and directs SF operations, provides command and staff to operate a FOB, and provides advice and staff assistance on employment of SF elements to joint SOC, JSOTF and other major headquarters.

Unlike any other divisional-sized unit, USASFC (A) is not located in one place, but spread out from coast-to-coast and throughout the world.

Special Forces units perform five doctrinal missions: Foreign Internal Defense, Unconventional Warfare, Special Reconnaissance, Direct Action and Counter-Terrorism. These missions make Special Forces unique in the U.S. military, because it is employed throughout the three stages of the operational continuum: peacetime, conflict and war.

Foreign Internal Defense operations, SF's main peacetime mission, are designed to help friendly developing nations by working with their military and police forces to improve their technical skills, understanding of human rights issues, and to help with humanitarian and civic action projects. Unconventional Warfare (UW) includes a broad spectrum of military and paramilitary operations conducted in enemy-held, enemy-controlled, or politically sensitive area. UW includes, but is not limited to, guerilla warfare, evasion and escape, subversion, sabotage, and other operations of a low visibility, covert, or clandestine nature. Often SF units are required to perform additional, or collateral, activities outside their primary missions. These collateral activities are coalition warfare/support, combat search and rescue, security assistance, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, countermine and counterdrug operations.

Coalition warfare/support emerged as a result of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. This activity ensures the ability of a wide variety of foreign troops to work together effectively in a wide variety of military exercises or operations.

U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne) traces its lineage to the 1st Special Service Force (Devil's Brigade) and derives its heritage from elements of the Office of Strategic Services (Jedburghs, Operational Groups and Detachment IO 1).

Special Forces soldiers have earned the title of "Quiet Professional." They have been involved in peacetime operations and armed conflicts around the world over the past five decades. In addition to service in Vietnam, Special Forces were recently employed in Panama during Operation Just Cause and during Operations Desert Shield and Storm.

Desert Storm Commander, Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, described Special Forces as the "eyes and ears" of conventional forces and as the "glue that held coalition forces together".

Special Forces soldiers continue to serve at home and abroad providing humanitarian assistance and assisting with foreign internal defense in friendly foreign nations. Recent humanitarian assistance missions include Promote Liberty, Provide Comfort, Sea Angel, Guantanamo, Cuba, Hurricane Andrew, and Restore Hope.

On November 27, 1990, the U.S. Army 1st Special Operations Command was redesignated the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne). Its mission: to train, validate, and prepare Special Forces units to deploy and execute operational requirements for the war-fighting commanders-in-chief.

In defense planning, decision makers look to Special Operations Forces (SOF) to provide a strategic economy of force in support of conventional forces; to expand the range of available options; and to provide unique capabilities. The U.S. Army Special Forces are known as "Force Multipliers". It is said that a 12 man Special Forces A-Team can render the fighting power of a light infantry company.

SOF reinforce, augment, supplement, and complement conventional forces before, during, and after a conflict, thereby increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our military effort. For instance, SOF can be used early in an operation to prevent conflict and conserve resources. When conflict is imminent, SOF may be employed in a variety of prehostility missions to signal determination, demonstrate support to allies, and begin the complicated processes of positioning forces for combat and preparing the battlefield.

During conflict, SOF may be most effective in conducting economy-of-force operations, generating strategic advantage disproportionate to the resources they represent. SOF can locate, seize, or destroy strategic targets; obtain critical intelligence; test an enemy's defenses; diminish his prestige; disorganize, disrupt, and demoralize his troops; and divert important resources.

SOF expand the options of the National Command Authorities, particularly in crises and contingencies-such as terrorism, insurgency, subversion, and sabotage-that fall between wholly diplomatic initiatives and overt use of large conventional forces. SOF allow decision makers the flexibility to tailor U.S. responses to encompass this wide range of possibilities. Its small size, ability to react rapidly, and relatively self-sufficient nature provide the United States with military options that do not entail the risk of escalation normally associated when larger, more visible, conventional forces are employed. This enables decision makers to prevent a conflict or limit its scope and, therefore, better control U.S. forces and resources once they have been committed. SOF are the best choice for actions requiring a rapid response or a surgically precise, focused use of force.

Decision makers may choose the SOF option because it provides the broadest range of capabilities that have direct applicability in an increasing number of missions-whether military, humanitarian, or peace operations-in support of U.S. foreign policy.

SOF training is some of the most rigorous in the world, and it produces some of the most professional and expert military operators. They are mature forces who demonstrate superior performance in small groups or as part of an integrated U.S. response with other military forces as well as non-Department of Defense government and civilian agencies.

The small, self-contained units can work swiftly and quietly without the noticeable presence of conventional military troops. Even under the most austere conditions, they are able to operate without the infrastructure often needed by a larger force.

Because of this, they can penetrate enemy territory on missions such as personnel recovery; surgical strikes prior to conventional force operations; intelligence gathering; and pathfinding and target designation for air strikes. SOF also employ an extraordinary inventory of sophisticated weapons and technology. Often SOF units act as a proving ground for new equipment before it is transferred to conventional forces.

Although a superior military force, SOF need not use military force in a mission. Language skills, cross-cultural training, regional orientation, and understanding of the political context of their operating arenas make them unparalleled in the U.S. military. Their skills enable them to work as effectively with civilian populations as they do with other military forces to influence situations favorably toward U.S. national interests. This ability to apply discrete leverage is one of SOF's most important contributions to our national military strategy.

In an era of regional focus, reduced forward-based forces, decreasing resources, and growing uncertainty, SOF play a critical role in U.S. defense strategy by providing strategic economy of force, expanded options, and unique capabilities. SOF give the United States efficiency without compromising effectiveness and flexibility to respond to the unforeseen and unexpected.

Special Forces Career Management Field (CMF) 18 includes positions concerned with the employment of highly specialized elements to accomplish specially directed missions in times of peace and war. Many of these missions are conducted at times when employment of conventional military forces is not feasible or is not considered in the best interest of the United States. Training for and participation in these missions are arduous, somewhat hazardous, and are often sensitive in nature. For these reasons, every prospective Special Forces Soldier must successfully complete the 3-week Special Forces Selection and Assessment (SFAS) Course. The purpose of SFAS is to identify soldier's who have potential for SF training. The program assesses tactical skills, leadership, physical fitness, motivation, and ability to cope with stress. Activities include psychology tests, physical fitness and swim test, runs, obstacle courses, rucksack marches, small unit tactics, and military orienteering/land nav exercises.

Each SF volunteer will receive extensive training in a specialty that prepares him for his future assignment in an SF unit. SF units are designed to operate either unilaterally or in support of and combined with native military and paramilitary forces. Levels of employment for Special Operations forces include advising and assisting host governments, involvement in continental United States-based training, and direct participation in combat operations. The Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) teaches and develops the skills necessary for effective utilization of the SF solider. Duties in CMF 18 primarily involve participation in Special Operations interrelated fields of UW. These include foreign internal defense (FID) and direct action missions as part of a small operations team or detachment. Duties at other levels involve command, control, and support functions. Frequently, duties require regional orientation to include foreign language training and in-country experience. SF places emphasis not only on unconventional tactics, but also on knowledge of nations in waterborne, desert, jungle, mountain, or arctic operations.