Do special-forces commandos recieve aviation training?

Factual Questions
1

First off: I know absolutely nothing about actual real-life special-forces commandos. All I know about them comes from movies and video games, and I suspect this is true for most young people with no military experience.

I don’t really know anything about the differences between the different kinds - Delta Force (is this even a real group?) or Spec-Ops or whatever…it’s all just a vague blur of stuff I’ve seen in video games, movies, and in those Soldier of Fortune type magazines that we used to read when we were kids. I don’t know who actually has the best special forces. The British say their guys are the best, the Israelis insist that their guys are better, the Russian Spetsnaz is supposed to be top-notch, etc etc. All I know is that I wouldn’t want to fuck with any of them.

In any case, I was wondering, do these guys receive training in how to fly planes or helicopters, in addition to ground combat tactics? I was thinking that a scenario might arise where the commandos might need to take control of a captured enemy plane or chopper out of necessity - would a Green Beret, Delta Force, or other special-forces guy be able to do this if needed? Or do the different special forces have separate branches of infantry, aviation, etc, so that there would be Delta Force pilots and Delta Force ground troops and they would not overlap at all?

This question probably sounds really stupid to anyone who actually knows anything about all of this. But still, I’ve gotta ask.

2

What inspired me to ask this question was: the restaurant I work at is owned by an Israeli man who was out of the country for some reason in Korea when I began working there. I went for months without ever having met him, and everyone always talked about what a hardass he was and how we would all have to work a lot harder when he got back. I joked, “I bet he was in a special forces unit and killed 75 guys with his bare hands.” (Someone started a thread about Israeli stereotypes yesterday - the only one I know is that everyone seems to think that all Israeli males are special forces commandos who have killed at least 30 men.) The cook, who had been working there for a long time and knew the owner, said that he actually was in some kind of special forces unit. I thought, uh oh. Well, today I finally met him, and he was even scarier than I thought he would be. He was like 6’3 and 275 pounds of solid muscle, built like a pro wrestler or something, with a shaved head and an earring. He looked kind of like that evil guy near the end of The Sopranos who sees Meadow at that restaurant and tells her she has “cream” on her face, and then later gets his teeth knocked out by Tony. When he shook my hand it was like being crushed in a vice. So I thought - yeah, this guy looks like a commando. Which got me thinking about this. So there’s the backstory.

3

Well, to give a fairly brief answer - and preface it by saying that no, I’m not Special Forces, nor was I ever (and, anyone that says they are, you can bet they likely weren’t…the real pros don’t brag about it) so my knowledge is mainly gathered from biographies and books like “Black Hawk Down.”

First, the simple answer is no, the average member of Delta (yes, it’s real) or the SEALs, Air Force PJ’s, SAS, etc. is not trained to fly, though some of them might be private pilots or whatnot. It’s generally not in the mission profile for them to do so. There are special units like the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment that take care of the flying for the Special Forces. The 160th, the “Night Stalkers” is perhaps the best known, as they were the ones who inserted and supported the Rangers and D-boys during the firefight in Mogadishu.

Now, from what I understand, the video game view of a SEAL, D-boy, or what have you is only part of the story. Yes, some of them look like The Rock, but not as many as you’d think. A lot of their job description is fitting in wherever they may be, and a big musclehead would likely stand out.

And, being that they have to fit in, they generally will have longer-than-average hair, beards, etc. You probably wouldn’t know one if you met him.

Yes, they’re incredibly strong, but a lot of that strength (most of it, actually) is going to be mental. Lots and lots of these guys have at least a Master’s degree, are fluent in several languages, etc. They’ll also have passed through some of the most torturous training you can imagine. Things are done to these guys that we don’t do to our captives at G’itmo. As an example, I believe in Durant’s book, it talks about how someone he knew told him about a particular training exercise wherein the Special Forces guy had to put on full battle gear and walk on the bottom of a dirty, dark swimming pool - on the bottom - to the other side. That in and of itself is scary, but he also had his DI’s down there, literally beating the shit out of him and trying their best to push him back. If he came up for air, it’s a do-over from the beginning.

Pilots get a little taste of it with their SERE training.

Anyway, my understanding is that if you were going into battle, you couldn’t ask for a braver or more capable bunch of guys than the D-boys, SEALs, etc. Had it not been for them during the Mogadishu firefight, there’s really no telling what would have happened.

Pick up “Black Hawk Down” and Durant’s “In the Company of Heroes” and you’ll be amazed, believe me.

4

Shit, I forgot to mention:

“Ranking” the Special Forces is tough, and, IMHO, insulting to them. I personally have an affinity for the SEALs, but I honestly can’t say that they’re “better” than Delta, or the SAS or what have you…

Likewise, I don’t think it’s fair to say that American SF guys are somehow “better” than another nation’s. I hear the Brits are hellagood; same for the Israelis, etc. The American guys might be better trained and equipped, but even that’s a stretch. I believe they (well, at least the nations on friendly terms) cross train with each other quite a bit. My brother, who was just your average grunt in the Army (19D - Cavalry Scout) did quite a bit of training with the Canadians, and I’d bet my bippy that the Special Forces guys do it even more.