The 3rd Special Forces Group was activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1990, bringing the amount of Special Forces Groups to five. They are globally assigned to parts of the Caribbean and the continent of Africa.
Special Forces soldiers are carefully selected, specially trained and capable of extended operations in extremely remote and hostile territory. They speak the local languages and participate in Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) where they help teach and train various African armies. They train to perform five doctrinal missions: Foreign Internal Defense, Unconventional Warfare, Special Reconnaissance, Direct Action and Counterterrorism. While Special Forces soldiers are capable of performing all of these missions, an increasing emphasis is being placed on foreign internal defense, or FID, and coalition warfare/support. FID operations are designed to help friendly developing nations by working with host country military and police forces to improve their technical skills, understanding of human rights issues and to help with humanitarian and civic action projects.
This soldier's weapon is the M82A1 self loading caliber .50 sniper rifle for use against lightly armed vehicles and other "soft targets." The ammunition magazines are carried in two large magazine pouches on his web gear. Around his neck are night vision binoculars to aid in selecting targets. He wears a "do-rag," a bandanna worn over his head and tied at the back, in lieu of regulation headgear. His battledress uniform is the six color desert camouflage pattern more commonly known as "chocolate chips" because of its resemblance to the baked cookies. |
