my understanding is there are at least 3 tier one military units in the us made of special forces who do the most dangerous or complex missions. seal team six, delta force and the air forces 24th sts. there is also a group tied to the cia called the special activities division, supposedly made up of the best operatives in the previous three units.
but whenever some high end special forces unit does anything lately, the media and government claim it was seal team six. the pirates issue, killing bin Laden, rescuing Americans like Jessica Buchanan, etc.
does the government just not admit the other units exist, and gives all the credit to st6 or does that unit get preferential roles in major missions nowadays? if the former reason, why would the government admit this unit exists but not the others?
Aren’t you a four-star General? You should know this stuff.
Seal Team 6 doesn’t exist - it was renamed Naval Special Warfare Development Group in 1987.
I’m aware, but I don’t think as many people would know what I was talking about if I said DEVGRU.
The first band of Special Forces soldiers were called the “10th Special Forces Group” so the Soviets would think there were at least 10 groups of them. Not to mention the “What the hell is a group anyway? Is it bigger or smaller than a regiment?” effect. Confusion to one’s enemies is generally a good idea.
So, there probably was a Seal Team 6 among many other Seal Teams. I just figure if any team did anything that got any press, they were identified as ST 6.
There are 10 SEAL teams - United States Navy SEALs - Wikipedia. They each have their own history.
What used to be SEAL Team 6 was redesignated.
when st6 was formed there were only 2 seal Teams, the name st6 was to make the seals seem larger and more numerous. the fact that the president uses the term st6 makes it still relevant.
Heh, same reason the SAS is called what it is: to make the Germans in North Africa in WW2 assume there was some elite paratroop regiment flying around, as opposed to the Land Rover based force that the early SAS really was.
And then, of course, there’s SEAL Team 666!