Navy SEALs, Delta Force, and SOCOM general - The most "Special" groups in the U.S. Military

The SEALs did better in the international sniper competition this year than they usually do
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Reading the Afghan war logs is disturbing. Nearly every time Green Berets or Rangers went out of a mission they would suffer high casualties and kill several unarmed civilians or have a friendly fire incident. Ruining the work building relationships the regular infantry units had done. Why even have special operations at that point? Conventional infantry units had insanely strict rules of engagement and seemingly managed to follow them pretty well, and they were just kids. And a I know it's been said before in this thread but a full-time professional military force, special operations or otherwise, suffering that many casualties and/or not taking the time to see if the person your shooting is a woman/child/elderly person is completely baffling.
Afghanistan war logs: Task Force 373 – special forces hunting top Taliban

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from journalist wesley morgan
Old but interesting
https://www.audacy.com/connectingve...ial-ops-amidst-human-trafficking-drug-arrests
One of those stopped at the gate was a member of the Army's elite counter-terrorism unit called Delta Force who had recently been picked up by the unit after serving in 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group. A Physicians Assistant assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group was also questioned, according to the source.
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I'm ignorant of the security clearance process but if the guy was already under investigation while he was with 3rd group, how does that not show up in a top secret investigation when he applies to join Delta?
In a man bites dog incident, a former Green Beret's wife has been arrested for allegedly murdering him
https://abc11.com/post/green-beret-...bless-body-found-pond-cumberland-co/16110933/
Mike Waltz really likes group chats
https://newrepublic.com/post/193386/mike-waltz-signal-other-group-chats
 
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@nonameuser5678 Great informative post, but remember to archive articles, even if it isn't Reddit.
Archive 1 / Archive 2 /Archive 3 /Archive 4
nonameuser5678 said:
Why even have special operations at that point? Conventional infantry units had insanely strict rules of engagement and seemingly managed to follow them pretty well, and they were just kids. And a I know it's been said before in this thread but a full-time professional military force, special operations or otherwise, suffering that many casualties and/or not taking the time to see if the person your shooting is a woman/child/elderly person is completely baffling.
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I've been putting together the puzzle. From the early inception, Special Operators selected for people who were overall pretty antagonistic towards officers, or at least neutral to an officer's authority. In "Inside Delta Force" Haney writes that in front Beckwith himself, he mentioned that he thinks officers are careerists who watch their own ass and really are not "one of them".

And there are other incidents where it would seem SOF operators "tolerate" officers like if they were just annoying/tolerable middle managers that should just let the sergeants do their own thing.

Also, reported by SEAL Ian Fitzgerald, neither Rangers nor Green Berets are trained to the extent that SEALs are, which makes sense from even a time and cost point of view.

I actually think the officers are either scared of the enlisted SOF, and Haney is right about them just being careerists, or worst, they encourage "total independence" and lack of oversight thinking this makes them "more effective". And now we come to a problem.
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Even as far back as Cuba, it appears the Special Forces were an unruly, quasi-criminal bunch. (Here's another answer as to why SOF who just go the CIA field jobs pipeline, call it OGA lol) I know Norman Schwarzkopf, also really distrusted them from Vietnam.

So you have a people already primed for violence, distrustful of authority, with a heightened op-tempo and probably consuming drugs. Combine that with an authority that provides little oversight, just wants to ride out the stint, or actively encourages that unruly behavior because they can write off civilian casualties (or worse, lie about civilians akthually being enemy fighters) without consequences.

The TF 373 quote though, is fucking morbid, and the fact that they realized it and did nothing is very indicative.
nonameuser5678 said:
Old but interesting
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"I can confirm that 15 Soldiers assigned to USASOC were questioned and released to their command. Two of those Soldiers have been cleared of any wrongdoing," according to Lt. Col. Mike Burns' statement.

lol

"The overwhelming majority of Army Special Operations Soldiers live the SOF values every day. The use of illegal drugs or any other illegal activity goes directly against these values and does not reflect the behavior we demand from every Soldier in our formation," the statement continued. "USASOC maintains a strict policy against the use of any illegal drugs. Illegal drug use is not acceptable nor is it tolerated. We are taking measures at every level to ensure the health and welfare of our Soldiers and to reduce these harmful behaviors in our formation."

lmao even
nonameuser5678 said:
I'm ignorant of the security clearance process but if the guy was already under investigation while he was with 3rd group, how does that not show up in a top secret investigation when he applies to join Delta?
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I think Army-speak for SOF being "under investigation" is just "in the process of covering it up". My theory, at least.
nonameuser5678 said:
In a man bites dog incident, a former Green Beret's wife has been arrested for allegedly murdering him
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"911 Call: 'Body with no Limbs' in a Pond"​

Gnarly. The dude's last name was Bonnell in an incredible bout of serendipity, just like the gooner, revenge pornographer Steven Bonnell.
nonameuser5678 said:
Mike Waltz really likes group chats
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Kek what a retard.
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What a twist nobody could have seen coming.
 
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A couple of updates. Another page from "The Fort Bragg Cartel"
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No punches pulled towards Delta Force.
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Apparently Tim Kennedy, with a baby injured from a grenade he threw. (Didn't see his streams so I don't know the stories) but damn, imagine being a baby and being on the receiving end of a 'nade.

USASOC (i.e. Delta's staff organization) has a youtube channel. Just a couple of vids with low views and gay editing. The latest video is a promo for CAPEX 2025 (???) And literally goes with "Would you like to know more?" in the title, and has footage from Ukraine. (Implying Delta is active in Ukraine, I think, which wouldn't be surprising).

The pleading soldier looking at a drone is a Russian soldier. It's a gnarly video, the Russian soldier surrenders to drone after a buddy blows his head off with a grenade after being injured by a drone-dropped grenade.


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SecDef Pete Hethseth had new tattoos I didn't know of. INFIDEL in Arabic, and literally Deus Vult, so there's no more lying about the cross in the chest being just a good boi christian symbol.

I fucking NEED a photo of SecDef with a Punisher Skull somewhere to have the complete set of douchebag.
 
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Looked up Seth's book date, August, damn. We need a content injection. I've got some SF books on backlog I might bump up.

ToEnsureVerification said:
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Apparently Tim Kennedy, with a baby injured from a grenade he threw. (Didn't see his streams so I don't know the stories) but damn, imagine being a baby and being on the receiving end of a 'nade.
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I had no idea there was a picture of the Tim Kennedy baby incident. Antihero had a guy on from this incident who claimed that he - not Tim - grabbed the baby. Tim never touched the baby according to him. This seems like a major contradiction?

Edit: It was this one, Tim Kennedy Book of Lies Part II. I distinctly remember the guest saying as explicitly as possible that Tim never touched that baby. I will probably clip this later when I can.
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ToEnsureVerification said:
timkenngrenadebaby.jpeg
Apparently Tim Kennedy, with a baby injured from a grenade he threw. (Didn't see his streams so I don't know the stories) but damn, imagine being a baby and being on the receiving end of a 'nade.
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That's a SEAL attached to A Squadron on their January-April '05 deployment to Iraq. The Tim Kennedy and Grenade comments are redditors driving their one joke into the ground like they always do.
"Tyler Grey"'s book is beyond parody
Tyler Grey was the epitome of the warrior archetype: a Delta Force operator, a master of counterterrorism. He hunted the worst bullies on the world’s playground—high-value targets, bomb makers, warlords—executing covert missions that never made the news.
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https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Forged-in-Chaos/Tyler-Grey/9798895652626

https://archive.is/9zvoT
Frat bro with too many concussions Bob Keller reviews movies. Shooting instruction must not be going well.... Bob put out an instructional DVD in 2016 less than 2 years after he was no longer operational and the shooting was worse than many white side SEALs. smh
 
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Green Beret Bryan C. Black
Posthumously Awarded Silver Star For Heroism During 2017 Tongo Tongo Ambush.



On April 8, 2025, the U.S. Army will posthumously award the Silver Star to Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black for his extraordinary heroism during a 2017 ambush in Niger. This ceremony, set to take place in his hometown of Puyallup, Washington, acknowledges Black’s selfless actions that ultimately cost him his life.
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The upgraded honor, eight years after Black’s death, comes after the Army received and reviewed new body camera footage from the firefight. The footage came from Sgt. 1st Class Jeremiah Johnson’s helmet camera, and shows more of Black’s actions during that battle.
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Black was a medical sergeant serving with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). He was part of an 11-person Special Forces patrol, working with 30 Nigerien troops, near the village of Tongo Tongo, when more than 100 Islamic State militants ambushed them. The patrol was starting to head back to base when it came under heavy fire.
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A Pentagon review of the ambush found that the vehicle with Black and two others in it was cut off from the rest of the convoy and soon surrounded. Black, along with Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, fought back. The new footage showed that Black, often while exposing himself to enemy fire, provided suppressing fire to cover his teammates. He fired so much that he ran out of ammunition early in the firefight. He was killed while moving to a new firing position to cover Wright and Johnson.

“His selfless sacrifice bought precious time for the detachment to break free of the ambush as he stoically accepted the brunt of the enemy’s attention,” the Army wrote.
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RIP Buddy

Video detailing the ambush
 

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Got this in my recommendations a while ago. It is sort of SOF-related as it deals with CIA field ops. Topics include a broad conversation on GWOT in Afghanistan.


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ToEnsureVerification said:
No punches pulled towards Delta Force.
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Delta takes a lot of photographs. All this talk of "secrecy" and "sabotage" and acting like they're super duper sekrit operators, and yet, somehow, with alarming frequency, photos of operations get leaked by insiders. Advertising for recruits? Probably. Doesn't make it any less of a breach of OPSEC or concerning.
 
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karz said:
Delta takes a lot of photographs. All this talk of "secrecy" and "sabotage" and acting like they're super duper sekrit operators, and yet, somehow, with alarming frequency, photos of operations get leaked by insiders. Advertising for recruits? Probably. Doesn't make it any less of a breach of OPSEC or concerning.
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yeah, you don't seen thousands of photos, over an hour of helmet cam footage, detailed breakdowns of organizational structure, and deployment schedules from the CIA. They can actually keep their mouths shut. Ironically there is more known about Delta than conventional army units due to the Streisand effect.

Part of the podcast circuit stuff is obviously recruiting and propaganda. There was a big uptick in "we're awesome and totally don't commit crimes bro!" posts after Seth's articles released. But a lot of it is plain stupidity and lack of leadership. Every oper8tor who posts on Instagram or goes on a podcast has his own slightly different standard for what's too revealing. I've seen photos posted by one operator on a team with squadron patches and callsigns blurred. Then a few months later another member of the team posts the same photo with the callsigns unblured. Taken together random autists on the internet can figure out quite a lot, which leads to the operators getting baffled by highly specific questions they get asked.
 
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nonameuser5678 said:
Ironically there is more known about Delta than conventional army units due to the Streisand effect.
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karz said:
Doesn't make it any less of a breach of OPSEC or concerning.
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👊🇺🇸🔥
nonameuser5678 said:
There was a big uptick in "we're awesome and totally don't commit crimes bro!" posts after Seth's articles released.
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I'm very glad that USASOC sucks pretty bad at info operations, trying to disprove shit, or use bots and failing. It was really obvious after Galen's murder cover up that they were pumping their shit, but it never tipped the scale.
deleuzeon said:
Looked up Seth's book date, August, damn. We need a content injection.
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Seth will be slow dripping that content, before August.
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"Fayettenam" nice.

I suspect podcast appearances after he sends the book for review by media. Sooner rather than later. Seth better improve his setup. The shitty webcam or macbook cam and mic won't do. I want to hear that high quality audio and video and the wood American flag and AR-15 in the wall like every respectable brovet.
Yours Truly 2095 said:
RIP Buddy
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RIP, did you happen to know him personally by any chance? It's good he's getting a Silver Star, though I thought it was disproved that the ambush in Tongo Tongo was done by 100 militants, I think the estimate was 20-30 if I am not mistaken.
 
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ToEnsureVerification said:
RIP, did you happen to know him personally by any chance?
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Naw, It's just such a horrible situation to be in. The helmet cam and photos that was released a while back of that too is hard to watch. I'm not sure about the numbers it could just be the news site reporting old information, but 20-30 guys ambushing you is a lot. The whole story of that ambush is really frustrating and sad. It is something that you can easily see buried but it isn't and they're being more recognized which is good

Also Trump just released a video of them bombing 70 houthis in the open.
 
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Yours Truly 2095 said:
Naw, It's just such a horrible situation to be in. The helmet cam and photos that was released a while back of that too is hard to watch. I'm not sure about the numbers it could just be the news site reporting old information, but 20-30 guys ambushing you is a lot. The whole story of that ambush is really frustrating and sad. It is something that you can easily see buried but it isn't and they're being more recognized which is good

Also Trump just released a video of them bombing 70 houthis in the open.
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A report from ABC News [Archive] claims that it was indeed 100+ jihadis with technicals and mortars. It also claims a whole lot more:
  • The initial plan was for ODA 3212 to hit the target site (a camp where local CIA assets had traced the signal of a cellphone belonging to a mid-level IS-GS commander) with a second group of Green Berets from ODA 3216, but strong headwinds used up the fuel on the latter's helicopters on the flight in, forcing them to abort.
  • The ODA 3212 CO, CPT Perozeni, asks multiple times to scrub the mission since he now has no support, no food, and no water, and his force has not slept for a full 24 hours (much like the big Ranger attack in Afghanistan that was bungled a year prior). This gets passed up to the company CO, MAJ Van Saun, who then relays the message to the battalion XO, LTC David Painter (several hundred miles away in Chad). Painter overrules Perozeni and Van Saun.
  • Painter tells his boss, COL Bradley Moses, that ODA 3212 is taking point on the mission but not that Perozeni is repeatedly requesting to abort.
  • During the attack, Painter then repeatedly denies other US forces' requests to go in and provide backup. The first US troops don't get there until 3 hours after a French QRF beat back the jihadists long enough to fly out the survivors.
But wait, there's more!
  • GEN Waldhauser, the AFRICOM spokesman, holds a press briefing where he publicly shits on ODA 3212 for losing a 100-on-11 ambush:
  • "ODA 3212 "did not conduct [sic] those basic soldier level skills ... that are really necessary to go on an operation such as this..."
  • ""The special operators on the continent are serving well. They do high-risk missions. And based on my observations, this particular -- this particular team is not indicative of what they do," Waldhauser said, looking into TV cameras."
  • GEN Waldhauser also claims to the media that ODA 3212 had gone rogue... because they had set off to attack the site... on their own... without support... :stress:
  • The subsequent inquiry is run by Waldhauser's own chief of staff, which naturally results in USASOC trying to push all the blame off Moses and Painter and onto Perozeni, Van Saun, and the other surviving members of the ODA.
  • Perozeni - who got shot in the side while in the lead truck - gets two reprimands (both eventually rescinded), Van Saun gets one, the other survivors each get one as well. All of them retire from the Army. Painter gets off scot-free. Truly only the best stay on at USASOC.
  • 3SFG recommends the Medal of Honor for one of the fallen, SSG Dustin Wright, for going back to defend his battle buddy, SFC Johnson after the latter was shot; this is then downgraded to a Silver Star by GEN Tony Thomas, the head of SOCOM itself.
  • ...
  • In 2020 French SOF kill the head of IS-GS in a raid in Mali and recover Johnson's helmet camera, with a full 45 minutes of unedited footage (to include the infamous 5 minutes that IS-GS released) that no one in the DOD had ever seen:
All four fallen soldiers are seen fighting, and Johnson appears to lead his teammates by calling out targets he has spotted. He is also seen attempting unsuccessfully to radio desperate reports that he, Black and Wright have each been wounded, according to officials and family members who watched the full video.

Wright and Johnson -- in an act of unquestionable valor -- exposed themselves to sustained fire to pull Black to safety behind their truck after he was shot in the head and collapsed. Contrary to a previous conclusion that Black was killed instantly, in the unedited video obtained last August his chest can be seen heaving. Johnson checks his vital signs and calls out his name, and the two soldiers initially decide to stay with him rather than withdraw on foot as they realize they have no radio link to the rest of their team, which had left the initial contact site.

"Where is everybody?" Wright asks at one point.

After Johnson and Wright finally scramble at least 100 meters away from their truck amid a deafening volley of fire from dozens of ISIS fighters, Johnson shouts, "Ho! Ly! F**k!" as they briefly take cover behind a disabled pickup. Family members who watched the video said Johnson continues fighting even as he is hit again and again by bullets, finally telling his wounded comrade he has been "shot seven times."

  • After showing the full video to the families of the four KIA, AFRICOM promptly classifies it as SECRET.
  • SOCOM promises to reevaluate Johnson's award [they eventually bump him up from a Bronze to a Silver Star in 2022, a year after the article's release]
  • LTC Painter denies requests from comment from ABC on 12 separate occasions, and retroactively tries to justify the mission as being an attempt to gather intel on the whereabouts of a missing US hostage, Jeffrey Woodke, despite him never being mentioned in any intel briefs to the ODA. [Woodke was eventually released shortly after the US offered millions in aid money to the Nigerien government - it is believed that the Nigerien intelligence service negotiated his release, per AP News | Archive]

It's refreshing to see that Delta's entire parent organization is just as much of a shitshow as they are. This whole thing reads like a reverse Dunbar situation.
 
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Local Kleptocrat said:
It's refreshing to see that Delta's entire parent organization is just as much of a shitshow as they are. This whole thing reads like a reverse Dunbar situation.
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Holy shit, that's insane. Perhaps there's a reason there's so much distrust of the higher command.
Yours Truly 2095 said:
Naw, it's houthis who routinely also assemble in a tribal manner.
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BruceOfHeem said:
They're smart enough to use ballistic missiles but stupid enough to do this shit, absolute sand niggery.
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We've been here before. Lolcows never learn.
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And Red Sea trade is still down, so the insurance companies are not buying that the Houthis are no longer a factor. At least not enough to risk their 100 million dollar cargo ship to an ASM or drone that the US Navy might have missed. +70 killed is not going to move the needle. And now the Houthis have probably learned the lesson about tribal gatherings. Maybe.

On some :feels: news, the four US soldiers who died in a training accident in Lithuania are coming home after a funeral that has been attended by the Lithuanian President and Lithuania's high command.
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German soldiers paying their respects.

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Crusader LARPer SECDEF "We are clean on OPSEC", is going to Dover for the dignified transfer of the 4 soldiers who died in Lithuania instead of POTUS who is is playing golf. / Archive

The White House on Saturday announced President Donald Trump's victory in a senior golf club championship round while he faces criticism for recently imposed tariffs that have negatively impacted the stock market.

"The President won his second round matchup of the Senior Club Championship today in Jupiter, FL, and advances to the Championship Round tomorrow," the White House said in its statement.
 
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