Charles R. and I both belong to an exclusive club in the Delta Force — the Jump Hater’s Club. There was a small number of members in that club. Some members held their membership secret from the rest of the men of the Force. Some were in the club and didn’t even really know that […]
Why does America need Delta Force? An operator’s perspective
ArmyEditor’s Note: The following piece on the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, also known as Delta Force, was penned by legendary Delta operator, Master Sergeant George E. Hand IV (retired). The Delta Force, like so many other organizations, is the answer to a problem. If you can consider that our country’s civic police force is […]
Grunt life before Delta Force: Destroying tanks and sleeping floors
LifestyleI remember the night because I remember the day that preceded it so well in my grunt life. It was a day of practicing anti-tank techniques during my army infantry basic training. On that day we gathered at what was termed the Anti-Tank Maneuvers. It looked innocuous enough; nothing out there really, save a few […]
Delta Force Parachuting: Clark the air god
HistoryAnd then came Clark. He was what we called a Sky God. He was a master high altitude parachutist and was always under a canopy or pacing a parachute canopy for the next jump. He was a Sky God… and he would be the first to tell you all about his superiority. Me, I was […]
Grunt’s Life: There was a snap in the air
LifestyleThere was a snap in the air that morning; I say, it was deep winter in the foothill region of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. I stood there outside the field mess tent waiting for some hot anything to be served up. I was quite positive that I had donned every stitch of cold weather gear […]
Night jumps and cracking ice: A true story of Green Berets in Alaska
Military AffairsI was in the First Group of the Green Berets (Airborne) in Ft. Lewis, Washington. We were stationed there together with another battalion of our same group, just the two of us on an army base. The other battalion had a mission that took it to the Philippines, Thailand — Southeast Asian countries where the […]
The Equality of men in Special Forces (and crashing cars in Panama)
Lifestyle“We all put our pants on one leg at a time.” Or if you prefer the army’s version of that aphorism: “If there is a man here now who can shit with his pants on, let him stand and show it.” What in the name of theology does it all mean?? It is amazing to […]
The Pinnacles of Pride for a special operations man
LifestyleThe pinnacle of pride… We have all been there–whether for a friend or even just for ourselves–we have all felt the warmth and the dignity of some well-earned pride. Since I started writing, I have felt that peak of pride often, and I wish I could write about all of those who brought me to […]
That time Special Forces trained in the New Orleans Super Dome
LifestyleAt least every 18 months or so, our operational support team was tasked to find a new city for us to practice urban warfare and building climbing. I truly admire some of the choices they made and processed into realistic training for us all — like the Louisiana Super Dome! Yes, we got the Super Dome […]
Special Forces Antics: The plunge of the mighty cable spool
LifestyleSpool? How many words do we know by this name — spool? There can be only one and this tale is about a mighty spool. The below image depicts a representative spool whose image we are going to need to get us through this next chapter of SF Antics. Though pallid of title, the plunge of […]
