Syed Asif Bukhari
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First of all, thank you for your question. I am a retired soldier from the United States Army.
Interesting hypothetical question, and of course my true preference would be to utilize Special Operations Warriors from my home country to conduct any real world mission.
You have asked me to build an Operational Detachment-Alpha (ODA), or A-Team. This is the smallest detachment structure of the US Special Operations Forces, and it is comprised of 12 men. The ODA is led by a Detachment Commander, a Captain, and an Assistant Detachment Commander, who is his second in command, usually a Warrant Officer One or Chief Warrant Officer Two. The team also includes the following enlisted men: one Operations Sergeant (known as the "Team Sergeant"), usually a Master Sergeant, one Assistant Operations and Intelligence Sergeant, usually a Sergeant First Class, and two each Weapons Sergeants, Engineer Sergeants, Medical Sergeants, and Communications Sergeants, usually Sergeants First Class, Staff Sergeants or Sergeants.
**This is a real life US Special Forces Captain at work. Let's call him "Rob". Here, he is in Afghanistan directing two of his men to follow a shady looking character into a suspected Taliban hideout, or maybe he's just telling me to get out of his face, I'm not sure. I'm going to make him the leader of our A-Team. "Rob" is pretty badass.
Rob would love to have as his Assistant Detachment Commander a member of the British Special Air Service, or SAS. SAS commandos are right up their with our Delta Operators and SEALs in terms of training and mission capability. US Special Forces have worked well with SAS commandos for many years.
**An SAS soldier stands at the ready in Iraq.
Now that we have our leaders accounted for, it's time to look at some of the best special operations warriors in the world to fill out the rest of our team. I would next look to the Israeli Defense Force for their Sayeret Matkal. The unit is modeled after the British Army's Special Air Service, and is tasked with counter-terrorism and hostage rescue beyond Israel's borders, in addition to it's function as an intelligence gathering agency.
**In 2003, Israeli taxi driver Eliyahu Gurel was kidnapped after transporting four Palestinians to Jerusalem in his cab. But the Sayeret Matkal unit located and rescued him from a 10-meter-deep pit in an abandoned factory in a suburb of Ramallah.
Next I'd look to the Russian Special Forces Alpha Group. They are an elite, stand alone sub-unit of the Russian Special Forces. Alpha was primarily created as a counter-terrorism unit, although another important mission for Alpha was to provide security for the Soviet leadership against enemy special forces in times of crisis or war. Over the years, Alpha has taken on a number of missions of various types.
In 1979, the Alpha Group shot a young Soviet Ukrainian, named Yuri Vlasenko, who was occupying a room in the Consular Section of the Embassy of the United States in Moscow, demanding he be granted asylum in the United States. He was either killed by gunfire, or by the detonation of his home-made bomb, which also slightly damaged the building. They have also been used to foil numerous hijacking attempts and even to begin the initiation of regime change in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan under the orders of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
**Russian Alpha Group in action
Without a doubt we have to have a couple members of the Special Service Group (SSG) on our team. They are the primary special forces group of the Pakistani Army and are also known by their nickname "The Black Storks" due to their unique headgear. The SSG is no small unit. They are an entire Regiment divided into 10 battalions of 700 men each. They are quite adept at counter terrorism in addition to more traditional military operations. They are particularly good at hunting down terrorists. On 6 December 2014, a special team of Pakistani Special Service Group and Light Commandos tracked down and killed the Global Operations Chief of al-Qaeda Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah along with five other al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan's South Waziristan region during the counter terrorist operation, Operation Zarb-e-Azb. He was the highest ranking al-Qaeda commander to be killed after the killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
**It looks as if the SSG might have borrowed their motto from the Marines. They'll have to take it up with them.
Rounding out our list for our A Team is the Canadian JTF2 -Canada. Joint Task Force 2 is Canada's elite counter-terrorism and special operations unit. They were created in 1993 and expanded to several hundred members following the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. Their covert operations have included rescuing hostages in Iraq and hunting down Serbian snipers in Bosnia. The force’s time in Afghanistan is largely guarded, but it is known they were involved before most ground forces arrived and worked beside other special forces, like the US Navy SEALs.
**JTF2 in their winter cammo because, you know, it's Canada.
These units all have soldiers who are extremely well trained and capable of providing members who are able to fill any of the available positions necessary to complete our A-Team.
Right now there are some people reading this wondering if I know what the hell I am talking about. "What about GIGN of France?", they are wondering. "What about EKO Cobra from Austria or the German GSG 9?". Those, and other extremely capable special forces units are federal police entities and not military assets. We can't be mixing cops and soldiers together, that is why I chose who I did.
Once we got through a bit of a language barrier I bet our newly assembled team would work together like a well oiled machine. The warrior mindset is universal. Once everyone had all the hand and arm signals down, they'd be ready to go and make the world safe for democracy.
Written Mon • View Upvotes • Answer requested by Rita Bogdanova-Shapkina
Interesting hypothetical question, and of course my true preference would be to utilize Special Operations Warriors from my home country to conduct any real world mission.
You have asked me to build an Operational Detachment-Alpha (ODA), or A-Team. This is the smallest detachment structure of the US Special Operations Forces, and it is comprised of 12 men. The ODA is led by a Detachment Commander, a Captain, and an Assistant Detachment Commander, who is his second in command, usually a Warrant Officer One or Chief Warrant Officer Two. The team also includes the following enlisted men: one Operations Sergeant (known as the "Team Sergeant"), usually a Master Sergeant, one Assistant Operations and Intelligence Sergeant, usually a Sergeant First Class, and two each Weapons Sergeants, Engineer Sergeants, Medical Sergeants, and Communications Sergeants, usually Sergeants First Class, Staff Sergeants or Sergeants.
**This is a real life US Special Forces Captain at work. Let's call him "Rob". Here, he is in Afghanistan directing two of his men to follow a shady looking character into a suspected Taliban hideout, or maybe he's just telling me to get out of his face, I'm not sure. I'm going to make him the leader of our A-Team. "Rob" is pretty badass.
Rob would love to have as his Assistant Detachment Commander a member of the British Special Air Service, or SAS. SAS commandos are right up their with our Delta Operators and SEALs in terms of training and mission capability. US Special Forces have worked well with SAS commandos for many years.
**An SAS soldier stands at the ready in Iraq.
Now that we have our leaders accounted for, it's time to look at some of the best special operations warriors in the world to fill out the rest of our team. I would next look to the Israeli Defense Force for their Sayeret Matkal. The unit is modeled after the British Army's Special Air Service, and is tasked with counter-terrorism and hostage rescue beyond Israel's borders, in addition to it's function as an intelligence gathering agency.
**In 2003, Israeli taxi driver Eliyahu Gurel was kidnapped after transporting four Palestinians to Jerusalem in his cab. But the Sayeret Matkal unit located and rescued him from a 10-meter-deep pit in an abandoned factory in a suburb of Ramallah.
Next I'd look to the Russian Special Forces Alpha Group. They are an elite, stand alone sub-unit of the Russian Special Forces. Alpha was primarily created as a counter-terrorism unit, although another important mission for Alpha was to provide security for the Soviet leadership against enemy special forces in times of crisis or war. Over the years, Alpha has taken on a number of missions of various types.
In 1979, the Alpha Group shot a young Soviet Ukrainian, named Yuri Vlasenko, who was occupying a room in the Consular Section of the Embassy of the United States in Moscow, demanding he be granted asylum in the United States. He was either killed by gunfire, or by the detonation of his home-made bomb, which also slightly damaged the building. They have also been used to foil numerous hijacking attempts and even to begin the initiation of regime change in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan under the orders of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
**Russian Alpha Group in action
Without a doubt we have to have a couple members of the Special Service Group (SSG) on our team. They are the primary special forces group of the Pakistani Army and are also known by their nickname "The Black Storks" due to their unique headgear. The SSG is no small unit. They are an entire Regiment divided into 10 battalions of 700 men each. They are quite adept at counter terrorism in addition to more traditional military operations. They are particularly good at hunting down terrorists. On 6 December 2014, a special team of Pakistani Special Service Group and Light Commandos tracked down and killed the Global Operations Chief of al-Qaeda Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah along with five other al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan's South Waziristan region during the counter terrorist operation, Operation Zarb-e-Azb. He was the highest ranking al-Qaeda commander to be killed after the killing of Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
**It looks as if the SSG might have borrowed their motto from the Marines. They'll have to take it up with them.
Rounding out our list for our A Team is the Canadian JTF2 -Canada. Joint Task Force 2 is Canada's elite counter-terrorism and special operations unit. They were created in 1993 and expanded to several hundred members following the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks. Their covert operations have included rescuing hostages in Iraq and hunting down Serbian snipers in Bosnia. The force’s time in Afghanistan is largely guarded, but it is known they were involved before most ground forces arrived and worked beside other special forces, like the US Navy SEALs.
**JTF2 in their winter cammo because, you know, it's Canada.
These units all have soldiers who are extremely well trained and capable of providing members who are able to fill any of the available positions necessary to complete our A-Team.
Right now there are some people reading this wondering if I know what the hell I am talking about. "What about GIGN of France?", they are wondering. "What about EKO Cobra from Austria or the German GSG 9?". Those, and other extremely capable special forces units are federal police entities and not military assets. We can't be mixing cops and soldiers together, that is why I chose who I did.
Once we got through a bit of a language barrier I bet our newly assembled team would work together like a well oiled machine. The warrior mindset is universal. Once everyone had all the hand and arm signals down, they'd be ready to go and make the world safe for democracy.
Written Mon • View Upvotes • Answer requested by Rita Bogdanova-Shapkina