From before there was even a United States, Special Operations was active on the continent. Then through the Revolution, to the Civil War, and into the 20th Century. There are the soldiers and units we base our current SOF upon.

1. The Lineage of US
Special Operations
Forces

2. Current U.S. Special Operations Forces have a
unique lineage, dating back to before the
founding of the country.

3. Rogers Rules of Rangering
Major Robert Rogers in 1759 wrote Standing
Orders, Rogers Rangers, from lessons learned in
the first 3 years the Rangers were formed during the
French and Indian Wars.

4. Rogers petitioned the King to fund
exploration to the West Coast, but was
denied.
Rogers actually fought for the Crown against
the rebels during the Revolutionary War but
many of his Rangers fought for the Colonies.
Some historians say he was the one who
betrayed Nathan Hale. I cover that as one of
the missions in Equinox (Time Patrol).

5. Francis Marion was a South Carolina
farmer who took up arms against the
British. He became known as the
‘Swamp Fox’.
He was known for his hit and run tactics
and willingness to break the ‘rules’ of
war.

6. The Lineage of US Special
Operations Forces

7. During the Civil War, a Southerner, John
Mosby, tied down large number of Union
forces in western Virginia with his partisan
tactics.
Mosby was a lawyer who started the war as a
private. He eventually raised a band of
guerrilla fighters. His forces actually
penetrated Washington DC’s defenses.

8. In 1863 with just 19
men Mosby captured
General Stoughton. He
almost captured
General Grant on a
train he was on.

9. Mosby’s irregulars so frustrated the Union,
that General Custer executed six of his men
that he captured. Mosby retaliated by
shooting 7 of Custer’s men who were
prisoners. A note was left on one of the
bodies saying all captured would be treated
as POWs as long as Custer followed suit.
Irregular warfare tends to be brutal.

10. Mosby’s force showed one of the tenets of
Special Operations: a small, highly trained
unit, can tie down large numbers of enemy
forces.
As a child, George S. Patton met Mosby
and listened to his stories.

11. The British InfluenceEarly in World
War I, the British
formed the
SOE— Special
Operations
Executive and
the SAS—
Special Air
Service.
Forerunners of
the OSS/CIA
and Special
Forces/Delta

12. The First Special Service Force was
a joint US-Canadian unit. Their initial,
highly classified mission, was to
destroy German heavy water plants
in Norway. When this was scrapped
and they deployed to fight the
Japanese in the Aleutians and then
to Italy.

13. Other Special Forces units in World War II:
Merrills Marauders.
Darby’s Rangers.
The Alamo Scouts.
Marine Raiders.
The Raider assault on Makin Island early in the war
is backstory in
Walk on the Wild Side.

14. However, the unit modern Special Forces
looks back to as the true birth point was the
OSS: the Office of Strategic Services.

15. Founded by ‘Wild Bill’ Donavan, the OSS was
the American equivalent of the British SOE.
Donavan is still the only person to have been
awarded the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished
Service Medal, the Distinguished Service Cross
and the National Security Medal.

16. The OSS was organized
to operate behind enemy
lines in small groups and
link up with Resistance
units.
In France these units
were called Jedburgh
Teams.
I write about one of those
missions in D-Day.

17. OSS Detachment 101 was
organized in Burma. It
recruited Kachin tribesmen
into a force that killed over
10,000 Japanese troops while
losing only 206.
This is a copy of a novel I
have written by a former
member of Detachment 101.

18. An excellent book on covert operations
during World War II is Bodyguard of Lies by
John Cavet Brown.

19. After the brutal landing at Tarawa, the Navy saw
the need for elite sailors who could perform
hydrographic surveys and underwater demolition
duties. The UDT— Underwater Demolition
Teams— were formed. The forerunner of today’s
Navy SEALs.

20. At the end of World War II, the
OSS officially morphed into the
CIA in 1947.
In 1952, Colonel Aaron Banks,
a former OSS operative,
convinced the Army to form a
unit called Special Forces. The
first SF unit was 10 men,
formed on Smoke Bomb Hill at
Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
When I attended the Special
Forces Qualification Course,
our classroom portion was held
in some of those old WWII
Buildings.

21. The first SF unit was called the 10th
Special Forces. Banks labeled it 10th to
make the Soviets believe there were at
least 9 other like it.
It was the SF unit I was assigned to where
I commanded an A-Team.

22. My team, ODA 055, attending the Royal Danish
Navy Fromandkorpset Combat Swim School.

23. This is the current organization of Special
Operations Command.

25. Print
Book
Free downloadable Powerpoint
slideshows on survival, history
writing, and interesting information
are available HERE

26. The latest and rated one of the
top five new series launched in 2019.
New York City. 1970s.
Former Green Beret Will Kane is the lone wolf
who must take down the bad wolves preying
on the innocent.
“Fans of Jack Reacher have a new hero.”
http://bobmayer.com/fiction/

27. New York Times bestselling author is a graduate of West Point
and former Green Beret. He’s had over 80 books published,
including the #1 bestselling series Green Berets, Time Patrol,
Area 51, and Atlantis. He’s sold over 5 million books. He was
born in the Bronx and has traveled the world. He’s lived on an
island off the east coast, an island off the west coast, in the Rocky
Mountains, the Smoky Mountains and other places, including
time in East Asia studying martial arts.
He served as an Infantry platoon leader, a battalion scout platoon
leader and a brigade recon platoon leader in the First Cavalry
Division. Then commanded a Special Forces A-Team and as a
Battalion Operations Officer besides other assignments. He was
an instructor and course developer/writer for years at the JFK
Special Warfare Center and School which trains Green Berets and
also runs the SERE school: Survival, Evasion, Resistance and
Escape.
www.bobmayer.com