U.S. Army (Rangers; Special Forces, Det-Delta; 160th Night Stalkers)
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U.S. ARMY
75th Ranger Regiment

ORGANIZATION

Rangers consist of three battalions, headquarters, and headquarters company.
1st Battalion is located at Hunter Army AirField, Georgia.
2nd Battalion is located at Fort Lewis, Washington.
3rd Battalion is located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Headquarters is located at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Each battalion contains:
3 Combat Companies with: 3 Rifle Platoons (about 45 men each), Weapons Platoon (about 23 men). Each Rifle Platoon is made up of 3 Rifle Squads of three Fire teams each and a machine gun squad. All squad leaders are at least Staff Sergeants and team leaders are Sergeants. Specialists (equivalent to Corporals) who have the Ranger Tab (attended Ranger School) may be team leaders when necessary.
Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) with: Company headquarters, Fire Support Team, USAF FAC Team, Medical Team, Communications Team, Support Section (Food Service, etc.).
Headquarters contains: Commanding Officer (colonel), his staff, special staff (communications officer, fire support officer, surgeon, staff judge advocate, USAF weather officer and USAF tactical air control officer), HQ Company Staff, Fire Support Element, Communications Platoon, Reconnaissance Platoon, Medical Treatment Team, and RIP (Ranger Indoctrination Program).
TRAINING
Jump School: All must have attended Jump School/be Airborne qualified.
Ranger Indoctrination Program (RIP): 3 1/2-week program designed to weed out those who can't make it. Timed marches/runs, swim tests, and military skill testing. After this is completed, the men are considered Rangers and go to the Battalions for operational training. 6-12 months later they may attend the Ranger School.
Ranger School:
Ranger Assessment Phase (RAP)--Fort Benning, Georgia (5 days). Testing for admittance to the Ranger School. PT Tests and military knowledge tests.
1st Phase--Camp Darby, Georgia. Covers Hand-to-Hand Combat, Patrolling, Advanced Land Navigation, Leadership, Survival Training, PT/Obstacle Courses, Field Exercises.
2nd Phase--Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah. Covers Desert Survival, Patrolling, Battle Drills, Advanced Combat Techniques (Ambushes, crossing barbed wire, assaults, etc.), Field Training Exercises.
3rd Phase--Camp Merrill, Georgia. Covers mountaineering operations.
4th Phase--Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Covers Jungle/Swamp Operations, additional Advanced Combat Techniques, Small Boat Operations, Field Training Exercises.
Operational Training: each Battalion trains 48 weeks a year to maintain performance. Physical training is done five days a week. During a three-year cycle each battalion trains in extreme cold and in amphibious operations. Jungle, mountain and desert training are done once a year, at least. Urban training is conducted every six months.
Officers and NCOs: All officers and NCOs must be Ranger School graduates and all Officers must have served at least a year in a leadership position in a non-Ranger unit (be at least a First Lieutenant).
MISSIONS
Infiltration/Exfiltration by land, air and sea.
Conduct Direct Action.
Conduct Raids.
Recovery of Personnel and Special Equipment.
Conduct Conventional or Special Light Infantry Operations.
NOTES
High number of NCOs.
Highest percentage of NCOs who later become Officers in the Army.
Each Battalion rotates for a month as the Ranger Ready Force. They must be able to deploy anywhere in the world within eighteen hours.


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Special Forces

ORGANIZATION

There are five active Special Forces Groups, two Reserve, and two National Guard:
1st Area of Operation: Pacific and Eastern Asia. Located: Fort Lewis, WA.
3rd Area of Operation: Caribbean and Western Africa. Located: Fort Bragg, NC.
5th Area of Operation: Southwest Asia and Northeastern Africa. Located: Fort Campbell, KY.
7th Area of Operation: Central and South America. Located: Fort Bragg, NC.
10th Area of Operation: Europe and Western Asia. Located: Fort Carson, CO.
11th (Army Reserve) Located: Fort Meade, Maryland
12th (Army Reserve) Located: Arlington Heights, Illinois
19th (National Guard) Area of Operation: Asia. Located: Camp Williams, UT.
20th (National Guard) Area of Operation: Europe and Western Asia. Located: Birmingham, AL.
2 Forward Deployed Companies (one in Germany and one in South Korea)
Special Forces Battalions:
3 Battalions per Group
1 C-Detachment (headquarters/support elements):
Detachment Commander (Lt. Colonel)
Executive Officer (Major)
Staff with: Adjutant (Captain), Intelligence officer (Captain), Operations officer (Captain), Supply officer (Captain), Command Sergeant-Major, Intelligence NCO (Master Sergeant), Operations NCO (Master Sergeant), Supply NCO (Sergeant 1st Class), Administrative Supervisor (Staff Sergeant), Senior Field Radio Repairman (Sergeant), and 4 Radio Operators (Sergeants).
3 B-Detachments
18 A-teams
SF Battalion Support Company
Military Intelligence (MI) Detachment (with 3 SOT-As [Special Operation Team-A] that deploy with SFOD-As to provide SIGINT and EW capabilities. Has no interrogation teams attached)
SF Battalion Service Detachment
Special Forces Companies:
3 Companies per Battalion (A (Alpha), B (Bravo) and C (Charlie) Companies).
1 B-Detachment (headquarters/support element):
Detachment Commander (Major)
Executive Officer (Captain)
Staff with: Adjutant (Captain), Intelligence officer (Captain), Operations officer (Captain), Supply officer (Captain), Command Sergeant-Major, Intelligence NCO (Master Sergeant), Operations NCO (Master Sergeant), Engineering NCO (Sergeant 1st Class), 1-2 Weapons NCOs (Sergeant 1st Class), Medical Specialist (Sergeant 1st Class), Communications Supervisor (Sergeant 1st Class), Supply Sergeant (Sergeant 1st Class), Administrative Supervisor (Staff Sergeant), Assistant Supply Sergeant (Staff Sergeant), Preventative Medical Specialist (Specialist 6th Class), Combat Engineer Specialist (Sergeant), 4 Radio Operators (Sergeants).
6 A-Teams per Company (1 HALO, 1 SCUBA, 4 "Ruck")
SF A-Teams (Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha):
Detachment Commander: Captain
Executive Officer/Intelligence Specialist: Warrant Officer
Operations NCO/Team Sergeant: Master Sergeant
Intelligence & Operations NCO: Sergeant First Class
Weapons NCO: Sergeant First Class
Assistant Weapons NCO: Staff Sergeant
Engineer NCO: Sergeant First Class
Assistant NCO Engineer: Staff Sergeant
Medical NCO: Sergeant First Class
Assistant Medical NCO: Staff Sergeant
Communications NCO: Sergeant First Class
Assistant Communications NCO: Staff Sergeant
For any particular team, the position of Executive Officer is served by a Warrant in possession of considerable regional expertise in language, political science, HUMINT and COMINT techniques, and interrogation methods above and beyond that of other team members. No other team member is cross-trained in this area; the function is solely the responsibility of the XO.
Supporting Units:
112th Signal Battalion
528th Support Battalion
SF Group Support Company
Military Intelligence (MI) Detachment
Service Detachment
Signal Detachment
Medical Section
Personnel Section
Special Projects Teams: These teams are not on declassified Special Forces TOEs (Tables of Organization and Equipment). SF troops assigned to them are removed temporarily from the SF command structure and placed under other DoD departments. Known in SF as "long hair teams" due to their relaxed grooming standards, they provide various Black and Grey operational services.
TRAINING
The Q (Qualification) Course
Special Forces Assessment and Selection (21 days)- A 3-phase battery of tests to determine intelligence, aptitude, foreign language ability, physical endurance and mental stability.
Phase 2/ MOS Training (approx. 2mos.)- This is where the trainees learn their specialty. There are courses for SF Officer, SF Weapons, SF Communications, SF Medical (the longest at 23 weeks), SF Engineering and SF Intelligence and Operations
Phase 13 - This puts the team together for training in field craft, advanced specialties, etc. It culminates with "Robin Sage," a 2-week guerrilla wargame to show what has been learned.
Note: The SF Q Course is constantly undergoing refinement and this is the current incarnation. Few older SF vets went through this. Phase 13 is so called because it incorporates elements of the old Phase 1 & 3. Some training has been dropped/moved in this layout (such as most of the survival training, which now resides at the SERE [Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion] School/Course).
MISSIONS
Unconventional Warfare (UW)
Direct Action (DA)
Special Reconnaissance (SR)
Foreign Internal Defense (FID)
Counter-Terrorism (CT)
Psychological Operations (PSYOP)
Civil Affairs (CA)
Coalition Warfare/Support
NOTES
Unit identification: A-Teams are numbered as ODA-### (Example-ODA-345). This stands for "Operational Detachment Alpha," with the first number representing the group, the second and third representing battalion and team designation. ODAs ending in 4 designate a HALO group; those ending in a 5 designate a Combat Diver/SCUBA team. (This is true in 3rd Group, anyway, and the numbers are probably true SF-wide.)
A soldier must be an E-4 or higher to apply for Special Forces.
When talking to members of SF, remember they are Special Forces, not "Green Berets." You will be informed that they are troopers, not hats!


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1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta

ORGANIZATION

There are 3 Squadrons, broken down into an unknown number of Troops. Each Troop has 16 men. These are further broken down into four 4-man squads. Each squad is color-coded for organizational and control purposes. There are about 800 members of Delta, with about 225 "shooters". Of the 225 operators, 1/3 are snipers.
Detachment designations:
D - Command and Control (The Headquarters)
E - Communications, Intelligence and Administrative Support (includes finance, logistics, medical detachment, research and development, technology and electronics, etc.)
F - Operational Arm (The operators themselves)
The medical detachment maintains special doctors at Fort Bragg and various other bases around the country secretly, to provide medical assistance as needed.
"The Funny Platoon": This is the in-house Intelligence arm of Delta. They grew out of a long-running dispute/rivalry with ISA. They will infiltrate a country ahead of a Delta intervention to gather intelligence. They are the only US Special Operation Force to employ woman in a combat role (the only other SOF that has employed women at all has been Army Special Forces, and then, only in a training role).
Delta has acquired a small Aviation Squadron for limited in-house use. This consists of twelve AH-6 Attack and MH-6 Transport helicopters. These have been painted in civilian colors and have fake tail number IDs. They still rely on the 160th SOAR and USAF for larger operations.
MISSIONS
Counterterrorism
Proactive Counter-terrorism (Hunting individual terrorist leaders, attacks on terrorist camps, etc.)
POW recovery ops during wartime
Strategic Reconnaissance
Special Assault
Security
Assist in nuclear terror threats/recovery of nuclear devices
NOTES

All Delta members have pagers for 24-hour call-ups.
All operators in Delta have been issued Federal Weapons Permits, which allow them to travel anywhere armed. They are ALWAYS armed.
Delta has relaxed grooming standards (long hair, earrings, etc.) to assist in undercover ops.
All members of Delta and their families are given cover stories to prevent their unit affiliation from leaking out.
Delta is almost all US Army, but members of the Reserves, National Guard, and the other services can also apply. They will be placed on duty with the unit if selected and serve a 3-year tour with the unit.
UNCONFIRMED: I have come across several times the statement that Delta and SEAL Team 6 no longer go by those names. They are left on for dealing with the public but are referred to by some other designation in official communications. This, as I said, is unconfirmed, so use at your own discretion.
USING DELTA FORCE

Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (SFOD-D AKA Combat Applications Group and Combat Development Group) involvement in a scenario could be handled in a number of ways. Any action taken outside of the United States could reasonably involve the unit, so if you tinker with the locales of a published scenario or create one of your own, you could slip them in that way. The missions undertaken by Special Operations Forces in today's environment are varied and give you a bit of latitude in involvement. Many units (SFOD-D included) have had their traditional missions muddied considerably by political necessity, military misuse and new threats. That is why you find SFOD-D hunting SCUDs in Desert Storm (a political necessity to keep Israel from broadening the war) or assisting in PeaceKeeping Operations in Somalia (a new threats environment). SFOD-D itself has grown from a hostage rescue force into a covert/clandestine special operations force with many missions outside of hostages. Factor in DG involvement and puppet-string pulling and any overseas mission could include Special Operations personnel with the flimsiest of justifications.

Domestically, the involvement gets trickier but far from unlikely. Having them attached as observers, advisors or liaisons can get them involved in any domestic operation. In any case where the threat of terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and so on are involved, military personnel from these units will be involved in these roles. SFOD-D is barred from performing domestic hostage operations (that is the responsibility of the FBI's HRT) but since the inception of Presidential Decision Directive-25 (PDD-25), Delta is exempt from the Posse Comitatus Act in other areas (as an interesting side note and possible Delta Green hook, naval forces are also technically exempt, hence the USMC is exempt).

The Joint Task Forces already mentioned provide another avenue for involvement (and a good DG manipulation hook). The Joint Task Forces grew out of then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney's designation of drugs as a threat to national security and Congress followed by passing a defense authorization bill that directed the military to assist in training and materials for law enforcement engaged in drug enforcement and/or interdiction. The Joint Task Forces work with a sister organization within the Justice Department known as Operation Alliance. It is Operation Alliance's job to send requests for assistance from various law enforcement agencies to the appropriate Joint Task Force. The JTF then sees if aid is appropriate based on a set of criteria and forwards the request to the commander of Forces Command (Fort McPherson, GA) who has final authority to allocate personnel and resources. Each JTF has a regional headquarters and a legal staff. The controversy over this system is that many times the flimsiest of evidence and even just the "suspicion" of drugs is enough to allocate military resources (helicopters, APCs, personnel and so on).

RANKS AND REQUIREMENTS

Command structure:


SFOD-D Commanding Officer: Colonel
Deputy (XO): Lt. Colonel
Squadron Commanders: Lt. Colonel
Administrative/Intelligence/Logistics/Operations/Support Directorates
Commanders: Lt. Colonels
Troop Commanders: Captains or Majors, plus a Sergeant Major
Squad Commanders: Senior Sergeants

All members of SFOD-D are either Sergeants (E-5) or higher for enlisted or Captains or higher for officers.


To enter SFOD-D a candidate must meet the following criteria before beginning the training course:

Male (exceptions for the "Funny" platoon) and at least 22 years of age
Physical evaluation
PT test (including swim qualification)
Psychological evaluation and Background Investigation
Airborne-qualified or able to attend airborne training
Be between the ranks of E-5 (Sergeant) and E-7 (Sergeant First Class) for enlisted
Be either an O-3 (Captain) or O-4 Major with at least 1 year of command experience at the company level for officers
Enlisted must have at least a 110 or higher GT Score and officers must have either a BS or BA degree

ARMAMENTS

While SFOD-D has the ability to choose weapons outside of the US military arsenal, this is usually only done if a mission would require it for some reason (such as a covert operation). They mostly stay with US-issue weapons for logistical and maintenance reasons. The weapons commonly (but not exclusively) carried are:


M-16 series of weapons (depending upon the mission which variant that is carried)
Mossberg 500 Shotguns
Remington 870 Shotguns
M40 Sniping Systems
M21 Sniping Systems
HK MP-5 series of weapons
Beretta M9 Pistols
Colt M1911A1 Pistols
SOCCOM pistol system
Macmillian and Barrett .50 Weapons Systems (these were used in Desert Storm for disabling SCUDs from a distance)



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160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)

ORGANIZATION

Task Force 160 was reorganized and designated as the 160th SOAR and assigned to US Army Special Operations Command in May 1990. They are known as "The Night Stalkers".
1st Battalion - Located: Fort Campbell, Kentucky. 18 AH-6, 18 MH-6 and 30 MH-60 helicopters. Some elements are forward deployed in Panama.
617th Aviation Detachment
2nd Battalion - Located: Fort Campbell, Kentucky. 24 MH-47 Helicopters.
3rd Battalion - Located: Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia. 10 MH-60 and 8 MH-47 helicopters. Directly supports the Rangers.
245th Aviation Battalion (Oklahoma National Guard). 25 AH-6, 15 UH-60 (to be replaced by MH-60) and 23 UH-1 Helicopters.
TRAINING
Officer/Pilot: 14 Week Qualification Course, followed by two other qualification levels: Fully Mission Qualified (progression time: 12-18 months) and Flight Lead (progression time: 36-48 months)
Enlisted/Support: 3 week Qualification Course


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Note: INSCOM Intelligence Support Activity

The Army did not disband the ISA in 1983. They are still active today. The group was working on a plan for securing hostages held in Beirut in the 80s. This plan fell through (and the chosen course of action by the government became known as the Iran-Contra Affair). It was this op that also led to the rivalry between the ISA and Delta (and the creation of Delta's "Funny Platoon"). The ISA conducted classified but acknowledged actions during the Gulf War. Most of the ISA's operatives are former Army SF and should use their template.


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