What about UDs and Paratroopers, how do they fit in?
Not sure about UD's. Do they still exist as a unit? I know the Navy was calling their SpecOps units "U.S. Navy Special Warfare Units". The only Navy units I ever worked with were SEAL II (Attended their diving course on Crete and conducted some reciprical training for them in Berlin.)and the USS Threadfin, an old diesel sub we used for lock-in lock out, and an insertion exercise years ago.
Paratrooper units like the 82nd Airborne Division and the 173rd Airborne Brigade are not Special Operations Forces.
I do believe there is an element of the 101st Airmobile Division (formerly the 101st Airborne Division) that is under the SpecOps umbrella.
Lots of paratroopers are SpecOps. For example, All Special Forces and SEALS are paratroopers too.
I did not list all the SpecOps units. I do not know them all now. Some others are Navy DEVGRU (formerly Seal 6), special boat squadrons, PSYOPS, Civil Affairs, DELTA, USAF has a bunch of new units including the Phoenix Ravens, pararescue (PJs), Tactical Air Control Parties (TACP) who often deploy with SF "A" teams.
The list of SpecOps units is lengthy and constantly evolving and growing. When I joined SF there was but one 1-star General Yarborough. Today, SpecOps is a full 4-star command and Special Forces has a 3-star. None of that mattered to me. All I ever wanted out of SF was to be on an "A" team and I got to do that for many years, on many continents and in over 2 dozen countries.
I suppose the normal test of whether a unit is a Special Operations unit or not is if the Special Operations Commander is in their chain of Command. But I am not certain that is true now for everyone. |
