The rucksack’s weight and the distance of the courses are increased and the time standards to complete the task are shortened with every march.
Delta Force Team at an undisclosed location (Photo: Pinterest)
The candidates are then put through a series of land navigation courses to include an 18-mile (29 km) all-night land navigation course while carrying a 40-pound (18 kg) rucksack. SelectionĪccording to Haynes, the selection course consists of standard tests including push-ups, sit-ups, and a 2-mile (3.2 km) run, an inverted crawl, and a 100-meter swim fully dressed. Haney, author of the book “Inside Delta Force”.
All candidates must be eligible for a security clearance level of “Secret” and have not been convicted by court-martial or have disciplinary action noted in their official military personnel file under the provisions of Article 15 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.Īll publicly available information regarding the training and selection is coming from the former operators of the unit, most notably from Eric L. Officer candidates need to be O-3 or O-4. The recruitment notice from the same source stated that applicants must be male, in the grade of E-4 through E-8, have at least two and a half years of service remaining in their enlistment, be 21 years or older, and score high enough on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to attend a briefing to be considered for admission.Ĭandidates must be airborne qualified or volunteer for airborne training. Army’s special operations unit organized for the conduct of missions requiring rapid response with surgical application of a wide variety of unique special operations skills…”. The only official statement referring to the Delta Force was the mention in the Fort Bragg’s newspaper, Paraglide, The author referred to Delta Force by name, and label it as “…the U.S. The Army has never released an official fact sheet for the 1st SFOD-D. Selection and training Recruitment in 1st SFOD-D Project Delta had the objective to carry out covert operations against the Vietcong.
Delta Force was certified as full mission capable in Fall 1979 right before the Iran hostage crisis. The name Delta comes probably from the Beckwith’s previous engagement in the Project Delta during the Vietnam War. The first 1st SFOD-D training course lasted from April to September 1978. The purpose was to test candidates’ endurance, stamina, willingness to endure, and mental resolve. The next phases involved a series of land navigation problems in mountainous terrain while carrying increasing weight. Army, no problem disciplinary applicant and no condemnation to court-martial. The first phase requirements were a minimum age of twenty-two years, four years and two months of active service, a minimum grade of Staff Sergeant, having scored a minimum of 100 points in the aptitude test of the U.S. Army Special Forces were put through a four-phased specialized selection/assessment process dubbed as the “Robert Redford Paper.” In early 1978, the volunteers from the U.S. The HQ was set to the former prison of Fort Bragg (North Carolina). Watts had made it clear to Beckwith that it would take eighteen months to build a squadron but advised him to tell the Army leadership that it would take two years, and not to “let anyone talk (him) out of this.”ġst SFOD-D was then established on 19 November 1977, by Colonel Charles Beckwith and Colonel Thomas Henry. The Beckwith’s estimated time for a new unit to be mission-ready was 24 months. Beckwith’s estimate came from a conversation he had had earlier with Brigadier John Watts while in England in 1976. In the mid-1970s, Beckwith got the green light from the Pentagon and Army senior leadership. He wanted such unit and men as tough or tougher than the members of Delta’s inspiration, the British Special Air Service. He briefed military and government figures, who were resistant to creating a new unit outside of Special Forces or changing existing methods.īut, Beckwith keeps pushing it. It was crucial when Charlie Beckwith recognized and pointed out the need for “not only teachers but doers.” He envisioned highly adaptable and completely autonomous small teams with a broad array of special skills for direct action (DA) and counter-terrorism (CT) missions who can strike without warning and with maximum efficiency. Army Special Forces were up-to-date with world trends but on the focus on unconventional warfare.
Norman Schwarzkopf’s protective detail during the Persian Gulf War. A Delta Force operator wielding a CAR-15 while serving on Gen.