It's an effin' big deal, if it pans out they got him!
@Cyber Liberty If they ever send Delta Force after you,you are history. US Army Special Projects units are as good as it gets. They started operating in VN and adjacent areas in the early 60's and developed it into a branch instead of just a side job. Delta Force is the name they took from the old "Operation Delta" that was based at Nha Trang,but there were other "Special Operations Units" with code names like "Operation Sigma" and "Operation Omega" that I know of,and who knows how many I don't know of?
Delta Force was the biggest,best known,and based basically across the street from the 5th SFG headquarters in Nha Trang,and it was former Delta Force operators who were tasked to put together a special anti-terrorism unit,so it should come as no surprise to anyone they picked Delta as the name for the new unit.
They also had what was said to be the nicest NCO club in VN. I used to go there and drink with friends when I was in Nha Trang on standdown. Special Projects got a LOT of their operators from 1st SF Group members TDY to VN from Okinawa,and I had spent a couple of years in the 1st and knew most of them. If you weren't on one of their teams or the gate guards didn't know you personally and know you had a Top Secret clearance and were in SF and ok,you didn't get in regardless of who you were. They had an A6 Browning manned by a Asian "striker" pointed at the gate entrance to enforce this judgement,and I never heard of anyone foolish enough to test this system. BTW,the gates were always guarded by a Delta operational NCO team member,and the striker with the MG was hired and paid by that team. If the NCO at the gate told him to shoot,you were history.
You can do this in small units were everyone operational knows everyone else that is operational. I suspect Delta is a far larger and more complex force these days,but I am certain that are still the ultimate professional soldiers.
As for the quality of soldier that mans these units,consider that ONLY Special Forces NCO's or officers with combat experience ever become members on teams,and it really doesn't do any good to volunteer because generally speaking they only take people they ask to volunteer. Yeah,you CAN volunteer,but chances are you will be turned down because all the operators there only want to work with people they know they can count on because they know them personally,and have served with them on other teams in the past.
Or at least that is the way it used to be. I have no idea how it operates today because I have no need to know how they operate. I can tell you I would be shocked beyond belief to learn they had lowered their standards for PC reasons,though. Or for any other reasons,AFATG. These people are all dedicated career soldiers and character really does matter in that rarefied air.
Don't get me wrong,they need clerks,meteorologists,supply clerks,personnel clerks,etc,etc,etc just like any other military organization,but the operators live in their own little world and rarely see any of those people except at briefings.
It was Delta Force that raided the Son Tay Prison Camp in North Vietnam
