HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

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Major Operations: 1987 to 2001 Since 1987, SOF have participated in a wide range of military operations—from peacetime engagement, to a major theater war, contingencies, and a global war on terrorism. USSOCOM has worked steadily to enhance SOF support to theater Commanders and American Ambassadors. Providing this support was not always easy, as it involved doing military operations in different ways. In some cases, the GCC commanders had to be convinced that SOF offered specialized capabilities. USSOCOM had just been established when SOF faced an operational challenge in the Persian Gulf, what the Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command (CINCCENT) called “guerrilla warfare on the high seas.” Persian Gulf Operation EARNEST WILL 1987-1989 During Operation EARNEST WILL, the United States ensured that neutral oil tankers and other merchant ships could safely transit the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War. Iranian attacks on tankers prompted Kuwait to ask the United States in December 1986 to register 11 Kuwaiti tankers as American ships so that they could be escorted by the U.S. Navy (USN). President Reagan agreed to the Kuwaiti request on 10 March 1987, hoping it would deter Iranian attacks. Operation EARNEST WILL was planned by CENTCOM under General George B. Crist. The protection offered by U.S. naval vessels, however, did not stop Iran, which used mines and small boats to harass the convoys steaming to and from Kuwait. To stop these attacks, the U.S. needed surveillance and patrol forces in the northern Persian Gulf and bases for these patrol forces. SOF, including Army helicopters and Navy SEALs and Special Boat Units, had the best trained personnel and most capable equipment for monitoring hostile activity, particularly at night when the Iranians conducted their missions. The Army’s special operations helicopter crews trained to fly and fight at night. These helicopters were difficult to spot on radar and relatively quiet, allowing them to get close to a target. Shallow-draft NSW patrol boats could ply waters that had not been swept for mines. In late July 1987, Rear Admiral Harold J. Bernsen, commander of the Middle East Force, requested NSW assets. Six Mark III patrol boats, other special boat assets, and two SEAL platoons deployed in August. At the same time, two MH-6 and four AH-6 Army special operations helicopters and 39 men received orders to the region in a deployment called Operation PRIME CHANCE I. The Middle East Force decided to convert two oil servicing barges, Hercules and Wimbrown VII, into mobile sea bases. Besides obviating the need to ask for land bases, the mobile sea bases allowed SOF in the northern Persian Gulf to thwart clandestine Iranian mining and small boat attacks. Each mobile sea base housed ten small boats, 3 helicopters, fuel, ammunition, equipment, and workshops to support operations, and more than 150 men. In October, the mobile sea bases became operational. In the interim, SOF operated from various surface vessels. On 8 August, the helicopters, designated SEABATs, escorted the third Army and Navy SOF used the oil servicing barge Hercules as an operating base. 33
Iran Ajr, caught laying mines, was disabled by Army Special Operations helicopters and boarded by SEALs. EARNEST WILL convoy and looked for signs of Iranian mine laying. The patrol boats began escort missions on 9 September. Soon SOF showed what they could do. On the evening of 21 September, one MH-6 and two AH-6 helicopters took off from the frigate Jarrett (FFG-33) to track an Iranian ship, the Iran Ajr. The helicopters observed the Iran Ajr extinguish its lights and begin laying mines. Receiving permission to attack, the helicopters fired guns and rockets, stopping the ship. As the Iran Ajr’s crew began to push mines over the side, the helicopters resumed firing until the crew abandoned ship. Rear Admiral Bernsen then ordered the SEAL platoon from the Guadalcanal to board the Iran Ajr. Two patrol boats provided security. Shortly after first light, the SEALs boarded the ship and found nine mines and various arming mechanisms. The patrol boats rescued ten Iranians in a lifeboat and 13 in life vests floating nearby. Documents found aboard the ship showed where the Iranians had laid mines, implicating Iran in mining international waters. The Iran Ajr was sunk in deep water on 26 September. The mobile sea bases entered service in early October in the northern Persian Gulf. From these bases, U.S. patrol craft and helicopters could monitor Iranian patrol craft in the northern gulf and deter their attacks. Within a few days, patrol boat and AH/MH-6 helicopter personnel had determined the Iranian pattern of 34 activity—the Iranians hid during the day near oil and gas separation platforms in Iranian waters and at night they headed toward the Middle Shoals Buoy, a navigation aid for the tankers. With this knowledge, SOF sent three helicopters and two patrol craft toward the buoy on the night of 8 October. The AH/MH-6 helicopters arrived first and were fired upon by three Iranian boats anchored near the buoy. After a short but intense firefight, the helicopters sank all three boats. The U.S. patrol boats moved in and picked up five Iranian survivors who were subsequently repatriated to Iran. SOF next saw action in mid-October, three days after an Iranian Silkworm missile hit the reflagged tanker Sea Isle City near the oil terminal outside Kuwait City. Seventeen crewmen and the American captain were injured in the missile attack. In Operation NIMBLE ARCHER, four destroyers shelled two oil platforms in the Rostam oil field on 19 October. After the shelling, a SEAL platoon and a demolition unit planted explosive charges on one of the platforms to destroy it. The SEALs next boarded and searched a third platform two miles away. Documents and radios were taken for intelligence purposes. After NIMBLE ARCHER, Hercules and Wimbrown VII continued to operate near Karan Mines found aboard the Iran Ajr.
Page 1 and 2: HISTORY 6th Edition
Page 3 and 4: 1968 - The future home of U.S. Stri
Page 5 and 6: General James J. Lindsay accepting
Page 7 and 8: Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) Senator Wil
Page 9 and 10: USSOCOM Commanders There have been
Page 11 and 12: the impact on its people, the comma
Page 13 and 14: Mission and Organization USSOCOM’
Page 15 and 16: Logistics (SOAL). Finally, the Chie
Page 17 and 18: During the review process for the 2
Page 19 and 20: HQ USSOCOM Organization Chart 2006
Page 21 and 22: greatly improved the command’s ab
Page 23 and 24: (7) JMISC continued to provide PSYO
Page 25 and 26: USSOCOM’s MFP-11. By FY 2006, the
Page 27 and 28: forming its acquisition functions a
Page 29 and 30: nature were key goals in addition t
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Page 33: President George W. Bush signed the
Page 37 and 38: The invasion of Panama, known as Op
Page 39 and 40: Capturing Torrijos/Tocumen was cruc
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Page 43 and 44: second pass, one pilot saw movement
Page 45 and 46: Harbor by having SEALs place demoli
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Page 49 and 50: Noriega’s Surrender: After his ap
Page 51 and 52: joint training with NSWTG small boa
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Page 57 and 58: SCUD hunting patrol in western Iraq
Page 59 and 60: In January 1981, the FMLN (Farabund
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Page 63 and 64: missions into Mogadishu, all of whi
Page 65 and 66: Haiti had endured unremitting polit
Page 67 and 68: of Haiti. These themes stressed nat
Page 69 and 70: In the early 1990s, rival ethnic st
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Page 73 and 74: Kosovo Operation ALLIED FORCE NATO
Page 75 and 76: Peace Operations and Crisis Respons
Page 77 and 78: In conjunction with the UN, the Org
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Page 81 and 82: Operation SILVER ANVIL Noncombatant
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Operation FIRM RESPONSE, ESAT vehic
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In Phase II, the relief phase, CA s
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No other international donor has ma
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flooded and damaged areas, signific
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government, so the “lead agency
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Objective Rhino, a desert landing s
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ather than target coordinates into
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would prove adequate to both assaul
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100 Despite what, in retrospect, ma
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coalition forces continued to searc
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the valley. Takur Ghar was a perfec
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inside the helicopter and began tre
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not designed to form a JSOTF. DAGGE
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Special Forces began training the A
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During 2003, however, Afghanistan s
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east of the city of Khowst. While b
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Operation RED WINGS LT Michael P. M
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their combat operations in southern
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Force (SOTF) 71 was CJSOTF’s batt
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Civil Affairs (CA) augmentation. Th
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line demarcating the KAZ, SOF and P
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TEXACO) and metering and manifold s
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accordance with his importance, Sad
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Saddam’s regime, terrorists, and
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with Iraqi police units. SOF have c
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increasing security in Iraq. The ER
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“extra-judicial killings” condu
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Operation ENDURING FREEDOM Trans-Sa
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Training in Yemen In December 2005,
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esulting operation known as Balikat
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that template, SOCPAC deployed one
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CTJTF..Counterterrorist Joint Task
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Command, Central SOCEUR....Special
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AQIZ: 134, 135 Al Qaim: 127, 136 Al
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Guatemala: 75 H Haditha: 127, 129 H
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47, 48 Northern Alliance: 91, 92, 9
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United Arab Emirates: 73, 118, 119,
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HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

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