Infantry: August 13, 2002

Archives

In 1990, a fifth Special Forces Group was established (the 3rd), giving the Special Forces sufficient manpower to cover potential hot sports throughout the world. 

The Five Special Forces Groups and their Regional Orientations are;

1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) is at Fort Lewis, Wash. (with one battalion in Okinawa, Japan). Specializes in East Asia and the Pacific. If something happened in Korea or China, the 1st would be involved. Works for the Pacific Command 

3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) is at Fort Bragg, N.C. and specializes in the Caribbean and West Africa. Works for the European Command. 

5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is based at Fort Campbell, Ky. and specializes in the Middle East and South Asia (Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example.) Works for Central Command. 

7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is at Fort Bragg, N.C. (with one company in Puerto Rico) and specializes in Latin America. Works for Southern Command. 

10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is at Fort Carson, Colo. (with one battalion in Stuttgart, Germany) and specializes in Europe. Works for European Command. 

19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is a reserve unit based in Salt Lake City, Utah and covers the same territory as the 1st and 5th SF Groups. 

20th Special Forces Group (Airborne) is a reserve unit based in Birmingham, Ala. And covers the same territory as the 7th SF Group.

Each special forces group has a small headquarters unit and three Special Forces battalions. Each Special Forces battalion has a small headquarters (known as a C detachment), three operational companies and one support company. Each operational company has six "A Teams" (officially known as ODAs, or Operational Detachment Alpha) of twelve men. Total strength of a Special Forces company is 83 men. The company headquarters is called a B Team. Total strength of a Special Forces Group is about 1200 troops. 


 

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