Here's What We Know About Delta Force

Special Ops Magazine

Business Insider: Here's what we know about Delta Force, the super secretive troops who went after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

* The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (SFOD-D) unit, otherwise known as Delta Force, was involved in the US's successful raid on the compound of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
* The highly secretive unit — comprising about 1,200 operators — recruits mainly from other Special Forces units like Army Rangers and Green Berets.
* The unit was started in 1977 under Col. Charles Beckwith, who saw the need for a force that could mobilize quickly to fight unconventional threats.
* Beckwith envisioned a force like the British Special Air Service, or SAS, which he served with as an exchange officer in 1962.

The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (SFOD-D) unit, otherwise known as Delta Force, is a highly selective, extremely secretive unit under the Joint Special Operations Command.

Since its inception in 1977, it has been involved in several high-profile and high-risk operations, like the 1993 mission in Somalia that inspired the movie "Black Hawk Down," as well as classified operations the public will likely never know about.

Here's what is publicly known about Delta Force.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: They have a long history.

What Is Delta Force Doing In Iraq?

Washington Post: What the Army’s top-secret commando unit Delta Force is doing back in Iraq

Friday morning, the Pentagon released the name of the first American serviceman to die in battle in the latest round of U.S. military involvement in Iraq: Master Sgt. Joshua Wheeler, age 39, killed during a raid by Kurdish and American commandos on an Islamic State prison near the town of Hawija that reportedly freed 70 hostages who were soon to be summarily executed.

Accompanying Wheeler’s name and age in the Pentagon’s release was a vague description of his unit: “Headquarters U.S. Army Special Operations Command.” That phrase is a euphemism, trotted out for the 12th time since 2003 to describe a soldier killed in Iraq. The official biographies of the soldiers described in this way follow a pattern: They are old for combat soldiers, usually in their 30s. They are veterans of the Army’s elite Special Operations units — the Green Berets or, in Wheeler’s case, the 75th Ranger Regiment. And they die in known insurgent hotbeds: Qaim, Ramadi and, Thursday, Hawija.

Previous Post: U.S. Special Forces By Themselves Will Not Be Able To Defeat The Islamic State

WNU Editor: A good summary on what Delta Force has been doing (and is doing). Unfortunately .... it is not the solution to having no strategy in the Middle East or elsewhere.

Delta Force Used IEDs To Secretly Killed Iranian Agents In Iraq

An IED developed by Delta Force and Seal Team 6 was designed to look like those made by Iraqi insurgents (such as this file photo) to carry out secret assassinations during the Iraq war, a new book claims

New York Post: Delta Force secretly killed Iranian agents in Iraq — with IEDs

The Iraq war was, in part, a proxy battle between the US and Iran. But fighting it had “political restrictions,” author Sean Naylor writes. In his new book, “Relentless Strike: The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command,” Naylor reveals that US special operations forces came up with a solution, one that would let them conduct secret assassinations without anyone — even our own FBI — finding out.

By early 2007, some US intelligence estimates held that as many as 150 Iranian operatives were in Iraq. Many were member of the Quds Force, the covert arm of Iran’s Shi’ite theocracy. Their mission was to coordinate the violent campaign being waged against US forces by Iraq’s Shi’ite militias.

“It was 100 percent, ‘Are you willing to kill Americans and are you willing to coordinate attacks?’ ” said an officer who studied the Quds Force’s approach closely. “ ‘If the answer is “yes,” here’s arms, here’s money.’ ”

Update: US special operations 'designed IED even the FBI didn't know about for secret assassinations during the Iraq war' -- Daily Mail

WNU Editor: Why are details of this Delta Force program being made public? This story should have remained Top-Secret.

There Are Some Major Differences Between Delta Force and SEAL Team 6

We Are The Mighty: 5 key differences between Delta Force and SEAL Team 6

SEAL Team 6, officially known as United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), and Delta Force, officially known as 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta (1st SFOD-D), are the most highly trained elite forces in the U.S. military.

Both are Special Missions Units (SMU) under the control of the secretive Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), they perform various clandestine and highly classified missions around the world. Each unit can equally perform various types of operations but their primary mission is counter-terrorism.

So what’s the difference between the two? Delta Force recently took out ISIS bad guy Abu Sayyaf in Syria; DevGru took out al Qaeda bad guy Osama Bin Laden a few years ago. Same-same, right?

Wrong.

WNU Editor: There may be differences .... but in my opinion these elite forces are equally awesome.

A Look At Delta Force

Delta Force: Army’s ‘Quiet Professionals’ -- Washington Times

Operate in shadows – not in spotlight.

As Navy SEALs bask in the limelight for daring missions, some in the Army are wondering whether the other half of the nation’s counter-terrorism covert warriors - Delta Force - is being upstaged and left in the shadows.

Adm. William H. McRaven, a SEAL who commanded the Joint Special Operations Command when SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan last year, favors his guys over Delta, some say.

“All I’ve heard and observed is that he is obviously pro-SEAL and that explains why Delta has been sidelined,” said a retired ArmyGreen Beret who still conducts special operations as a government contractor.

Read more ....

My Comment: These are the military units of the future .... expect more stories on them in the years to come.