US Army Special Forces – Happy 60th Birthday!
It was US Army, Major General Robert A. McClure’s vision to create the Special Forces which resurected the WW II organization the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) that with their behind the scenes work helped to win the war. Lietenant Colonel Russell W. Volckmann built the plan for the Special Forces and Colonel Aaron Bank executed it.
The first Special Forces unit in the Army was formed on 11 June 1952, when the 10th Special Forces Group was activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. A major expansion of Special Forces occurred during the 1960s, with a total of eighteen groups organized in the Regular Army, Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. As a result of renewed emphasis on special operations in the 1980s, the Special Forces Branch was established as a basic branch of the Army effective 9 April 1987, by General Orders No 35 dated 19 June 1987.
Known to many as “The Silent Professionals,” over the years the Special Forces evolved to becoming the premier force of the US military
GHTime Code(s): nc nc nc
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Tags: 10th Group, Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Fort Bragg, Robert Alexis McClure, Russell W. Volckmann, Special Forces, US Army, Wiliam P Yarborough
