How Delta Force Works

I think this sixteenth September sixteenth, feel like a heel now, but don't feel too bad. Um. For some reason, any bombing that happens in Yemen doesn't make you know, the biggest news. I don't know why, because this is an al Kada bombing. Uh. And actually it could have been a lot lot worse. Um. There was a group of

guys who were loaded down with explosives. Their car was just laid down with explosives and they were making they were going to go through the first check point, blow up the gate after the first check and then the second car was going to come through and kill anybody and everybody. Well, the guards at the checkpoint didn't buy the first car's story, so they opened fire and that they blew up. So these guards were killed, but it

alerted everybody what was going on. There's a firefight between the Yemeni security around the American embassy and the second car and UH. Eventually all the terrorists were killed, but I think sixteen sixteen people total died and most of those were UM American. Well no, there's one American, but most of them were working at the embassy. It was it was a big deal. It was the first major terrorist attack on a US target since September eleventh, two

thousand one. But we haven't heard anything about it because Sarah Palin's eye eyeglasses are her up due is capturing. Um SO. I was reading an article in Time and they were saying, like, this is like the most recent clear indicator that we have a real problem with Alkada in Yemen. It's a hotbed like that. It's very you know, friendly to the West, and actually this attack was supposedly a retaliation for your many UH security forces staging like

counter terrorist activities. Now Kada's like, what do you think you're doing. Um So, it is friendly to the United States, but at the same time it's still kind of a hotbed of Alkada activity. The thing is, we're pretty fairly entrenched in a rock right now. I don't know if you've heard. Yeah, we invaded in two thousand and three, haven't left yet. Doesn't look like we're going to anytime soon. Um, and now Afghanistan's boiling over again. The last thing we

need is another front. And Yemen doesn't sound like the kind of country we're just going to walk into and you know, invade basically, So what do you do? What do you? What do you do when you have a hotbed of alcade activity and you need surgical precision take out as much of the guy's possible. You know what? Two words Delta Force. Oh, I've heard of these guys. Actually I haven't heard of them. You know why, because they don't officially exist. That's kind of creepy, but kind

of cool, it is. Yeah, there's We should probably warn the listeners right now. Chuck and I will most likely devolve into some sort of weird boyhood admiration of all the sick, sick stuff Delta Forces done over the years. So just before warn if we start tittering or get really excited or one of US takes our shirt off. Don't be offended. Okay, I know I did find myself when I was reading an article because I'm I would say, classify as anti war. I'm yeah, not not for this stuff.

But when I was reading this stuff about the Delta Force, I just thought it was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Well, I think that's what's so cool about Delta Force is you send them in. You don't need to go to war. They take care of business. Sure, maybe that's why I like about. It's clean and and precise and quick and a little that's kind of how it should be. So we should probably give some background here. Delta four is essentially,

as we said, unrecognized officially by the US government. UM. I had a lot of trouble in writing an article on them because you really have to piece everything together. There's lots of hearsay, there's no concrete evidence, like there's no depressional exactly. Uh, there is, but it was sadly disappointing and was run by some guy no no, which, by the way, the Chuck Norris movie Delta Force highly inaccurate,

wildly inaccurate. Sure, there was another movie he made called Invasion USA, which in that movie he was much more resembled a Delta Force operator. He didn't wear a uniform, he had a newsy. I think both of those movies. Lee Marvin was in both of them, right, great great late great Lee Marvin. Right, well, specifically in Delta Force, Lee Marvin's character, but also in Invasion USA as well. Lee Marvin's character was very much based on this guy

named Colonel Beckwith. I don't remember colonel with the first name, do you, uh, Colonel, Yeah, we'll just call him colonel. He's like, he's like a murderous version of share colonel. Right. So, Colonel Beckwith was this guy who basically had been over in Great Britain to train with the s A. Yes, right, the British Special Forces. Right. So he's over there, he's really impressed with this group. Um, we have our own version of the Special Forces. It's a I can't remember,

it's Special Forces Operational Detachment A I believe, um. And that's that's our regular Special Forces, who in and of themselves are just complete and total. Just they're rough. I I don't think there's any way to get a night. Let's just get it out of the way right now. Delta Force is bad ass. Yes, they are most decidedly UM. And the special Forces in and of themselves each are

the thinking man's arm of the army. UM. They are based clee inserted into enemy territory and they identify um dissenting groups against the whatever government we want to topple. And one or two Special forces guys assemble guerilla armies out of these descending forces and creatingsurgencies from within. It's been done before. That's just special forces. Delta Force actually

draws from special forces. They're not even army. They don't even know, they don't identify with any particular branch, right, because they draw the toughest dudes out of all the branches, right, yeah, yeah, And UM, have you have you read Black Hawk Down or Killing Pablo And now I saw the movie. Okay, there's saw a great documentary and I saw that one too,

is excellent and excellent on an unnamed channel. UM. The the the author of that book, Mark Bowden, is apparently just loved by the Delta Force because he's actually interviewed Delta Force operators, which is what they're called. They're not soldiers, they're operating. I kind of like that Um, and they don't wear you know, uniforms or fatigues. They shoot anything they like, um, which we'll get into later. That gets a certain private companies who hired Delta Force operators in trouble. Um.

But they Mark Bowden put it pretty pretty clearly. He said, they are professional soldiers who hate the army, which actually, really think about it, that's the definition of a mercenary basically. But they're they're under control, They're they're ostensibly under the control of the U. S. Military, Right. Yeah, but apparently and this, like we say, all this is kind of it's all conjecture, conjecture, but only answer to the president. That's kind of my favorite part. Yeah. Well, the that

whole thing came out of their second mission. Their first mission was to guard the Pan American Games I think in ninety eight, and um, that went smoothly, nothing noteworthy happened, maybe because the Delta Forces there, I don't know. Um. Their second mission was Operation Eagle Claw. Uh, this is the hostage takeover in Iran in nineteen eighty nine, seventy nine,

two years after Delta Force had been assembled. And this was back when Colonel Beckwith was real hands on and he was in there and and basically like the Lee Marvin characters leading the charge and shooting commies and all that kind of thing. Um, So this is Operation Eagle Clause. They're flying in to do a strike on the American embassy that's been taken over by Iranian extremists, flying in and what playing black helicopters. Yes, it's not like a

TC's rainbow colored island hopper on Magna Pa. It doesn't do, to tell you the truth, It would probably more resemble TCS helicopter than your normal HUEI. Yeah. Um, they they have their own aviation platoon that that can get them from place to place and actually creates plausible deniability. It could just as easily be a bunch of crazed, wealthy American businessmen's bent on you know, patriotism, as it could

be Delta Force. But eagle Claw, I distracted you. So eagle Claw they're going in, there's a helicopter crash, and they never get to actually carry out the mission. Um. The problem was his Delta Forces being commanded by traditional Special Forces um AT commanders at the time. After that they were taken out of command. As I saying the article, no one has any idea whose command they were put under.

And you kind of get the impression the more you find out about Delta Force that they're not under anyone's command. Like I said, they answer to the President. I think that's probably about it, right, and no one knows where their funding comes from. It's got I think he called

it a black fund. It is a black fund. Yes, there's there's um there's some sort of appropriations that I'm sure Congress deals with every year, two years whatever, uh, and then gives X number of millions and millions of dollars to this Delta Force black fund and they do whatever they like with it. And actually in nineve that was a banner year for getting, you know, actual documented

evidence that there is a Delta Force. Some Delta Force operators were being investigated for basically misappropriating money from that black funds. They have been deployed to I think Sicily too for counter terrorism activity, and before they could leave the country, they had to be cleared by the Justice Department because they were all under investigation because they've been basically pilfering money from black fund. I mean, what do you what do you do? How do you pill for

money from black fund. You just put in your pocket and walk away. I guess. So. I mean there's gotta be a money trail somehow, but nothing that you know it was public. Also, I mean, what are you gonna do. It's Delta Force, like, hey, give us some money back. No, okay, sure, we'll come in there with a submachine guns, right, Yeah, to talk about it and their their their weaponry actually

isn't is the stuff of legends as well. Apparently they favor Heckler and Coach tremendously MP MP fives and four yeah, which are pretty pretty cool submachine guns. Looked him up on the internet. Yeah, and I don't even like guns, no, but then these things are off exactly. This is this is the heart of Delta Force. Okay, this, what Chuck just said is exactly the hard Delve Force. He is against war, and yet he is awed by Delta Force. He doesn't even like guns, and yet he's awed by

the guns that Delta Force uses. This is quintessential Delta Force. Yeah, and well, part of it has to do with the fact that you know their operations. They have some of the names Eagle Claw and Operation Urgent Fury was one of my favorites. What was that Granada or UM that was? Now that was Granada, and then Panama was Operation just Cause. Operation just Cause was the operation where the United States including Special Forces, I think the Army Rangers were there.

Basically we sent a contingent of our best of the best down there to get rid of Manuel Noriega and CIA guy. Yeah, there's a CIA guy who'd been operating in Panama basically doing a radio free broadcast UM and he had been captured, and so Delta Force went in and I believe rescued him, rescued him, and they also captured Noriega. If it wasn't Delta Force, somebody captured in Noriega, because as far as I know, he's still in a prison in Miami right now. Well, I think they helped

capture him. Okay, So it might have been one of those things where I have a feeling Delta Force a lot of times said and get the public credit for some of these things because they don't exist, Yeah, exactly. And the other impression I have is that Delta Force really doesn't care about the public credit. I think they

just like to be deployed. Whenever I think of Delta Force they're they're supposedly they're headquartered at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I suppose, which is the home of the Army Special Forces as well. Um, and apparently just very well funded, great training center. But when I think about Delta Force training, I just see a bunch of guys who are either bored or frustrated right that they want to be around the world in Yemen, for example, illegally hunting down El

Kada operatives and shooting them while they're unarmed. Well, you know the other thing that you'll find if you were to see a Delta Force training operation is some excellent marksman. Yeah, this is this is really thing. You want to tell them what the requirements are as far as we know, Again, this is conjecture, but we got this from my think VFW magazine. Uh you want me to tell them now? Uh?

So this is reputed of course, um that Delta Force recruits must show one hundred percent accuracy from six hundred yards away. Okay, so that's six football field six football fields. You have to be able to hit some target in the heart from six football fields. Right where where's the accuracy? It a thousand yards? So they'll give you a little bit of leeway if you're shooting from a thousand yards

away a ten football fields, ten football films. Now they also, Um, we were talking about the armaments that the weapons they like. There's a Browning fifty caliber sniper rifle that's a very large shelf. It's enormous. It is enormous, um and apparently they use that for targets up to fifty yards. Right. I mean that's the kind of thing that can go through a wall, then through another wall, and through a brick wall and then into someone's uh you know probably

and then through somebody's helmet and head. Right, that's what will do, and then go out the back and wrap a Christmas present on the way, right. Yeah, it's it's differently so, um, I'll tell you what though, Man if I was capp, if I was stuck in Granada, if I was a journalist and I was blindfolded and potentially going to be beheaded, you know who I would want coming to visit me? Oh no, I realized Delta Force. Sure of course, nobody else. No. And they have had

some sterling operations that have made it into the media. Um, there was a hijacked airliner and I think four and um, what what country was it, Chuck four? Was that Yemen? If it was, then wow, okay, well let's just say, okay, we'll go with the airliner hijacking. These guys, I believe. Um, I don't know how many members were on the team. They stormed the airliner. Now there's four hijackers in there, Indonesia, in Indonesia, right, okay, Um, they they stormed the airliner

that was on the tarmac, the jet. There's four hijackers who had this whole planeload of of hostages. Uh, adults. Force goes in there and as far as I know, they used the two tap method, which Colonel Beckwith came up with. The two tap method is where you put two bullets in the head of each target. It's not a love tap, no, So I think I point out

in the article. You know when you see somebody on in a movie or on TV and they have, um, they have let they've spared some enemy that is dying, but he picks up a gun and tries to shoot maybe kill. For instance, this doesn't happen with Delta force. You get two bullets in the in the head from a Delta Force operative, you're you're going down and you're not coming back. It's definitely a shoot first asked and even ask questions question. I think this was a t

W a flight or something. They stormed this flight, two taps to each each hostage taker. Not one casualty, not one incent casualty, as far as I know, only the four hijackers. And't that crazy to think about this, this international incident, these hostages and eight bullets takes care of the whole thing. Yeah, exactly, exactly, that's kind of cool. I agree wholeheartedly. Um, now we are getting a little druly. As I warned, we're pretty excited about Delta Force. We

want to be in Delta Force. That kind of kind of although you wouldn't know if I was, So there's there. There's some plenty of criticism of Delta Force. They were reputedly part of the siege of the Branch Davidians compound and Waco that went horribly awry. And I just didn't get across in the in the article, but some of the sources that I read it sounded very plausible. Yeah, and that's one of the definitely one of the black eyes.

Definitely the Clinton administration and our County Tree as a whole. I think. The other thing from researching this article is Clinton seemed let me put it differently, the Delta Force was operating in within the US borders, which is not what's supposed to be done. The military isn't supposed to operate in the in the borders of the United States unless Marsha law has been declared. UM. As far as police police actor, that happened a lot under Clinton, a

disproportionate amount um. That happened supposedly at Waco. Um Well, Actually, what I love about Waco, though, is they they admitted that there were three Delta Force guys there and one was supposedly an observer, which I just I don't know, he's just standing on their watch. Yea. From what I get from these guys, they're they're not ones to stand around. You're doing a great job, right exactly, you know, padding the backs of the FBI like wait to firestorm that place.

Way to go, buddy. Um. We we know for a fact that they were at the World Trade Organization summit in Seattle in which went horribly arived, and they do a lot of guarding of dignitaries and uh and humming cars. I apparently is being protected by Delta Force right now,

and it's so weird. When I was researching this again, UM, I saw photos of cars I with guys that were identified as Delta Force operators, and you'd start looking and all of a sudden you start to recognize that this guy or that guy, and the same guys but in different different locations. You know. Um, there's a very famous uh, there's a very famous photo of a Special Forces guy out of uniform wearing UM I can't remember what they

call it, but basically that head wrap. It goes around the head and then it's not a turban, but it's somewhat similar. It goes down the back. Uh. He's riding a horse through Afghanistan with like, you know, laden with guns exactly. But he was Special Forces, you know. But

you see that guy around here there. Um. So it's it's really interesting to start to to root through their history and come to the present and start to see the same people over and over, and you're like, I'm pretty sure I'm looking at adulta Force operator, somebody who doesn't exist, somebody who's a shadow, somebody who is basically the closest thing we have to a license to kill like you don't send Delta Force into rough somebody up.

He said, I'm going to completely slaughter everybody. Two. Hopefully Chuck and I will survive the night after recording this podcast, I find out. We just want to say we're glad these guys are out there. I mean, I much preferred Delta Force going in a few guys doing something efficiently and quietly than sending in, you know, ten thousand troops. Sure, yeah, it's it's much less clumsy and it gets the job done. Although you know, I'm quite sure there's several um human

rights activists that would disagree with us on that. Yeah, Josh, I'm sure you're right. That's that's that's a good point. Yeah, well, it's all I'm sure the adults force would disagree with them, and I would not want to be the human rights activist while we're sidestepping an international incident. Uh, don't forget to look up how Delta work works on how stuff works dot com. Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at how stuff works dot com.

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