When World War Two ended, the British SOE became no more, instead there was the MI 5 the domestic intelligence and MI 6 the foreign intelligence, also called SIS, the Secret Intelligence Service (007's employer). In the US the OSS was also split. The civilian branch went to the State Department and became today's INR, Intelligence and Research and the military portion of the OSS was given to the War Department. In 1946 a new civilian intelligence organization was created and in 1947 the Central Intelligence Agency was born. So, like the British, we had our domestic branch of intelligence, the FBI, and the foreign intelligence, the new CIA. However, we no longer had the military capability of the OSS, there was no organization within our military that could carry out the missions of OSS like the legendary Detachment 101 in Burma and Detachment 202 in China, not to mention all the work done in the European theater. It became quite clear that we needed something like the OSS when the Korean War broke out. The 8240th Army Unit and the UNPFK was part of the answer.
In 1950 the US Congress, in the midst of the Korean War, mandated that the US Army create a unit capable of conducting unconventional warfare behind enemy lines like the OSS. Thus, the US Army Special Forces was born in 1952 and training and recruitment of personnel began immediately at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A former OSS officer, Aaron Bank, now a Colonel was charged with setting up and training the first batch of US Army Special Forces personnel. Bank, as you may recall, was the young OSS captain that initially met with Ho Chi Min in Indochina during World War Two. Bank was fluent in French and had spent most of his war years in Europe, but for this meeting with Ho he was brought over because of his fluency in French, there were no Vietnamese speakers in the US Army at that time, and most Vietnamese, like Ho, spoke French.
At the same time in 1950 when Congress mandated the establishment of the Special Forces, Congress also passed the Lodge Act. Congressman Henry Cabot Lodge authored this bill which allowed the enlistment of foreign nationals, particularly those displaced personnel (DPs) from eastern European countries that were now part of the Communist Bloc. The Lodge Act allowed these foreign nationals to enlist in the US Army for a five year period. The idea was to recruit personnel with foreign language capabilities into the Special Forces for the purpose of fighting communism! The Lodge Act provided for some very interesting personnel in the early Special Forces!
When the first batch of personnel were graduated from the Special Forces training, about half of them were sent to Germany, to Bad Tolz, where the 10th Special Forces Group was established. The remaining personnel were split into two groups. One small group was assigned to the 8240th Army Unit in Korea while the other group remained in Fort Bragg to form the 77th Special Forces Group. The 10th in Germany was charged with responsibility for all of Europe. Many of its members were products of the Lodge Act and were fluent in various European languages and had been in Soviet Red Army or other Eastern European armies as well as the French Foreign Legion. The 77th in Fort Bragg was charged with taking care of the rest of the world! Quite a large territory to cover for one Special Forces Group! The 77th motto was "Any Time, Any Thing, Any Place, Any How!" a very appropriate motto for a unit that covered the entire globe! However, it soon became apparent that the 77th couldn't do it all. Members of the 77th were never at home, always flying to various trouble spots. Most of the troubles or "brush fire" wars at that time were in Asia, so it was clear that a group specifically assigned to Asia had to be raised.
As soon as the Korean War ended or a cease fire was made in 1953, a detachment of undisclosed number of personnel was dispatched from the 77th in Fort Bragg to Camp Drake, Japan and established the 8231st Army Unit. Also a detachment from the 77th set up house in Hawaii as the 14th SF Detachment. Although the Korean War had come to an end, sort of, things were getting worse by the minute in Indochina. Despite our promises to Ho Chi Min during World War Two, once the war ended, we turned our back on him and supported the French who did not want to give up their colony in Indochina. Ho, with his Viet Min, began waging a guerrilla war against the French and was gaining ground daily. The French, despite superior strength both in men and arms, suffered a humiliating defeat at a place called Dien Bien Phu, and 1956 became the end of French era in Indochina. Vietnam was split in half, like Korea (you'd think we learned something from our experience in Korea!) and the northern half was under Ho Chi Min and the communist Viet Min while the southern half was under the corrupt, Bao-Dai and the "free" Vietnam. Countrywide elections were to take place (where have we heard that before?), but like in Korea, it never happened and the northern part launched a guerrilla campaign against the south using recruits from the south that called themselves Viet Cong.
A year after the French were kicked out of Indochina, it became clear that we needed a Special Forces presence in Asia more than the small teams that we kept dispatching from the 77th. In 1957 the 8231st Army Unit in Camp Drake together with the 14th Detachment from Hawaii and additional personnel from the 77th set up in Camp Sukiran, Okinawa and became the 1st Special Forces Group. The 1st Special Forces Group's sole responsibility was Asia, however, as we all know, Asia is a pretty big place and a mere Special Forces Group of less than 400 men (that was the size of a Special Forces Group in those days) could hardly cover all that territory. So, the 77th continued to send personnel on various missions in Asia while the 1st was up to its neck in missions that ranged from training to combat in Southeast Asia and top secret missions that are still kept under the lid.
One of the first things that the 1st SF Group did after it established itself on Okinawa was to send a detachment to Korea to set up the so-called Detachment-K or "Resident Team" as it was popularly called. The responsibility of the "Resident Team" in Korea was to help establish ROK Special Forces and at the same time, conduct some classified missions. Some of the old hands with the 1st were reunited with their former Korean counterparts from the UNPFK days, since many of the former UNPFK members transitioned into ROK Army. At the same time, teams from the 1st were sent up to Honshu, in Japan to help develop the Japanese Self Defense Airborne Brigade and their elite Airborne Rangers. With all the things that the 1st had to do in Asia, there was still the big problem in Vietnam and Laos! Members of the 1st were rotated into Vietnam on 6 month TDY missions, but since there was so much going on in Indochina, the 77th from Fort Bragg continued to send teams to Vietnam. By 1960 a provisional Special Forces Group in Vietnam was set up by a newly created 5th Special Forces Group. The 77th became the 7th Special Forces Group and continued to send teams TDY to Vietnam and the 1st was up to its neck in Vietnam.
Just about all of the friendly Asian countries' airborne or Special Forces units were originally trained by either the 77th in early days and, of course, the 1st. The Thai and Philippine Special Forces were trained by the 1st, as were the ROK Special Forces. Interestingly, the Taiwan Special Forces were trained by the old 77th. It was the very first overseas training mission conducted by the 77th! Otherwise, just about all Asian airborne and SF units were trained by the 1st out of Okinawa. The 1st spent so much time in Thailand that eventually it established the 46th Special Forces Company in Thailand.
What most Americans don't know or didn't realize is that the US Army Special Forces has had boots on the ground, so to speak, in North Korea for many years. Ever since the establishment of the Detachment-K, teams from Okinawa, as well as from Fort Bragg, regularly have conducted recon missions into North Korea. Most recently an Army General mentioned the fact that our Special Forces teams have regularly entered North Korea and conducted recon successfully, an art form that was developed during World War Two by the Alamo Scouts and was perfected by SOG in Vietnam.
The 1st conducted many classified missions that were never discussed, and in many cases have not been disclosed even today when the missions have been declassified. Members of the 1st would regularly receive part of their classified mission training at a CIA base in the southern part of Okinawa, a place that was called Camp Chinen. The 1st also established the jungle training center on Irimoto Island, which was used by everyone, the 503rd Airborne which became 173rd when it was sent to Vietnam, and the Marines. The Marines had their "Northern Training Area" on the northern part of the island, but for jungle training they used Irimoto, as they still do. Although the 503rd conducted its airborne drops at Yomitan, the 1st used the waters off Hamby Airfield (just southwest of Sukiran) for water drops. The 1st had its hands full in Asia, and it was truly a Special Forces Group that was specifically designed for Asia.
After the end of the Vietnam War, foolishly, the Pentagon deactivated the 1st SFG. It didn't take long to realize that it was a mistake. The 1st was reactivated in Fort Lewis, Washington, and the 1st Battalion was moved back to Okinawa, to Tori Station. So, the 1st is back on Okinawa, not the entire group like before, and not in Sukiran, but a Battalion (the same thing as a company in the old SF) at Tori Station.
At this point I hope that the readers of this blog will indulge me in my trying to explain the name "Special Forces." Contrary to the common use by media and everyone else calling Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and Marine Special Operations Capable (MARSOC) units "Special Forces," there is only one Special Forces in the US Armed Forces. That is the US Army Special Forces, nick-named the "Green Berets." All the other mentioned units are Special Operations units, not Special Forces. There is a reason why only the Army Special Forces wears a distinctive tab that clearly states Special Forces. This is not to take anything away from the Navy SEALs, the MARSOC, and the Army Rangers, they are all superb fighting units, the best in the world! They are all the best in their field, each one different, and like the Army Special Forces are under the umbrella of United States Special Operations Command, therefore, they are all Special Operations units, not Special Forces! Only the Army Special Forces are the Special Forces! There, I've said it. Sorry about the rant, but it annoys me to see and hear the misuse of the name Special Forces. It would be like calling the Navy SEALs Marines, or calling the Marine Force Recon members Rangers! I don't think either the Navy SEALs or the Marines would appreciate that!
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