What If #10

What if Delta Force actually existed? Haha, it's funny because they are real. The 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta (1st SFOD-D) has been around since 1977. The group was started when Charles Beckwith became impressed by the British Special Air Service (SAS) after serving as an exchange officer in the 60's. Top military and government figures were also impressed by the idea of a direct action force. The United States government, to this day, denies their existence. They are mainly involved in counter-terrorist or hostage rescue operations. Being an integral part of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), they are under the direct control of the Department of Defense. They have taken part in many operations including: Operation Urgent Fury (invasion of Grenada), Operation Just Cause (invasion of Panama), Operation Heavy Shadow (possible scenario for killing of Pablo Escobar), Operation Desert Storm/Shield (protection of General Schwarzkopf / SCUD missile hunts), Operation Gothic Serpent (capture of Mohammed Farah Aidid / Blackhawk Down), Operation Enduring Freedom (hunting high value targets), Operation Iraqi Freedom (involved in capture/killing of Saddam, Uday, and Qusay Hussein(pic at top w/delta wearing protech helmets at front, house where Qusay was getting hit with TOW missile), and Al-Zarqawi / inserted into Baghdad before invasion) This short list is just a few major operations they took part in. There are many more, some that may even still be active or classified. The most famous of the operations would have to be, in my opinion, Operation Gothic Serpent. It took place in Mogadishu, Somalia, in August - October, 1993. The force was named Task Force Ranger and consisted of 75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force operators, 160th SOAR(Special Operations Aviation Regiment), Navy SEALs(DEVGRU), Air Force Pararescuemen, and combat controllers from the 24th Speical Tactics Squadron. This operation was made famous by the downing of two UH-60 Blackhawks in downtown Mogadishu in the event that came to be known as The Battle of Mogadishu. This battle is portrayed in the movie Black Hawk Down. Most of the events in the movie are real, except for certain characters who were changed for a more dramatic effect. The Rangers and Delta operators fought through an area of the city known for housing rebels, trying to capture a warlord who had the area under military siege. Two blackhawks were shot down by RPG's that hit the counter torque blades of the helicopters, making them spin out of control. The operation then turned from capturing high value targets to rescuing downed pilots and soldiers. Paul Howe, a delta operator portrayed by Eric Bana in Blackhawk Down, lead a team to rescue the pilot of the second helicopter, but did not make it in time. Two Delta snipers, Randall Shughart and Gary Gordon, who were providing sniper cover from a Blackhawk, volunteered to land and provide assistance to the downed helicopter. The team was allowed to land and fought off crowds of rebels that eventually overwhelmed and killed them both. Their actions saved the life of the pilot Mike Durant. Both Delta operators were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. The pilot was captured but later released by the rebels. Overall, the operation was considered a failure with 18 U.S. soldiers dead, 73 wounded. The Somalian casualties are unknown but believed to be around 1,000 dead, 3,000 injured. The part that pisses me off is the fact that the ground forces requested an AC-130 and APCs to help with the operation, but the Clinton administration deemed the assets to be unnecessary and too high profile. The APCs would have allowed the rescue forces to break through the enemy gunfire to rescue the downed choppers faster and under much greater protection than the HUMVEEs. Clinton's Secretary of Defense, Les Aspin, resigned in late 1993 after he was specifically blamed for denying the US Army permission to use the armor units in place in Somalia, units which might have been able to break through to the trapped soldiers earlier in the battle. US political leaders felt it would be bad for the peacekeeping image of the mission if tanks were in country. Osama bin Laden, who was then in Sudan, cited this operation, in particular the US withdrawal from Somalia, as an example of American weakness and vulnerability to an attack. Mark Bowden, who wrote the book(way better than the movie) about Blackhawk Down before it was a movie, had this to say about the gruesome battle, "The parallel with Mogadishu is that gunmen in that battle hid behind walls of civilians and were aware of the restraint of the (Army) Rangers. These gunmen literally shot over the heads of civilians, or between their legs. They used women and children for this. It's mind-boggling, when a ten-year-old is running at your vehicle with an AK-47, do you shoot the kid? Yes, you shoot the kid. You have to survive."