#LIFE OF DELTA FORCE PROFESSIONAL#
#LIFE OF DELTA FORCE FREE#

Beckwith also created a 40-mile hike as an endurance test to separate the truly capable from those who had simply managed to remain in training to that point. It's reputed that Delta Force recruits must show 100 percent accuracy in shooting from 600 yards, and 90 percent accuracy at 1,000 yards. In 1996, Delta Force operators and SAS members stormed the home of the Japanese ambassador to rescue him from hostage-takers in Lima, Peru.ĭelta Force recruits are selected based on the special skills they possess, like exceptional marksmanship. He used the group as a model, and today Delta Force and SAS still serve side-by-side and exchange members in their cross-training programs. Beckwith spent a year in an exchange program with the SAS and was inspired by his experience. Beckwith created a grueling training course based on that of the British Special Air Service (SAS) - an elite commando unit capable of carrying out highly specialized missions. In 1977, Beckwith assembled the force and recruited from the Green Berets, the Army Rangers and the Airborne divisions.

In the next section, we'll look at how the Delta Force is structured. Delta Force is funded out of secret government accounts, away from the public eye, and is believed to answer only to the president.īut others claim that its purpose - maintaining the United States' role as a leading power and as the world's police force - necessitates the lack of restrictions and accountability surrounding its activities.

#LIFE OF DELTA FORCE FREE#

This causes some to worry that Delta Force has more power and less accountability than any military organization in a free democracy should. īut the group has been criticized for undertaking missions that are on the fringe of regular laws governing the military. And in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, reports of two missions by Delta Force - one failed and one successful - have become common knowledge. In 1993, Delta Force came under the microscope when its operators were among those who fought and died in a failed operation to remove a Somali warlord.

Since its inception in 1977, stories of the Delta Force's exploits and missions have leaked out, little by little, eventually forming a brief sketch of the unit. These references have turned up in transcripts from Congressional hearings and biographies of high-ranking military leaders.īut it's nearly impossible to keep a force so deadly and made up of the stuff of legends entirely under wraps. It's only in recent years that vague references by the government to the group's existence have been allowed to go uncensored. To this end, almost all of the information contained in this article is unsupported by any official reports from the United States. It must be said that neither the United States government nor the military officially acknowledges the existence of Delta Force.

#LIFE OF DELTA FORCE PROFESSIONAL#

Mark Bowden, author of the book 'Blackhawk Down' - for which he interviewed several Delta Force members - famously said of the operators, 'They are professional soldiers who hate the Army'. They work for whomever needs them - for the Army, the FBI and the CIA. They're not called soldiers, but operators and are said to shun the traditional philosophies of military life. Delta Force is a unit unto itself, composed of members from all branches of the military. While it often draws its ranks from the Army Special Forces (the Army Green Berets) and shares Fort Bragg, N.C., headquarters with them, it isn't an Army Special Forces detachment. It's also known as the Combat Applications Group (CAG). government won't even confirm that the group exists? Does such a force make the United States safer or more vulnerable? It's questions like these that swirl around the United States' most elite tactical combat group, the Delta Force.ĭelta Force is often referred to as Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta. How can a group - trained as professional assassins and approaching the status of mercenaries - be reeled in if the U.S. The force is armed with cutting-edge weaponry, well-funded and answers only to one man. Michael Sugrue / Getty ImagesĬonsider a special operations force that's trained to the highest level in the United States military. Most elite tactical combat group, the Delta Force.

Life of delta force