Importance of SOF

     The special operations force has been around since the mid 40's, but didn't gain public support until the late 80's. Special ops were originally formed as an assistance to the military. Most notably, frogmen created during WWII were designated to going in before the conventional army to destroy enemy obstacles. Since then, some special ops have developed into their own branch known as the Joint Special Operations Command. Under JSOC is SEAL team 6 and Delta Force, representing some of the strongest, fastest, and deadliest people in the world. 

    JSOC has come a long way since it's original missions back in the 1970's-1980's. Instances of Operation Eagle Claw reflected a massive failure for the Delta Force, resulting in multiple mechanical malfunctions and 8 service member casualties. Following Eagle Claw in 1983 was the 3 day failure of the Grenada mission. Before even attempting the rescue of political prisoners at Richmond Hill Prison, multiple aircraft batteries caught fire and a crossfire attack resulted in 3 helicopter crashed and 13 special operator deaths. At this point the funding and support of government officials felt pointless and a death sentence to the top 99% of America's military. 

    The Delta Force received a surge of support after the influx of terrorist threats in the early 2000's. The attacks on 9/11 to the world trade center developed into a Special Operations mission to execute the leader of this terrorism. Massive improvements were shown after Delta Force took down al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden in 2011 with 0 U.S casualties. Years later in 2019, Special Ops completed a similar task of taking down then ISIS leader Baghdadi. A reflection of more success shown through as current ISIS leader Qurayshi was also taken down just last week, February 3rd. All three instances totalling in 0 U.S casualties. The switch from helicopter malfunctions and multiple operator deaths to near perfect executions of missions created massive support of the government and the public. Hundreds of special forces movies can be found in every search, and the support for SOF is now almost unanimous. 

    The failures of these previously mentioned missions were necessary to reflect the improvements needed amongst the Military and its special forces. The rise and presence of terrorism isn't going away any time soon and neither is the support for SOF. The funding and support for these commands its limitless and the constant adaptation of branches will reflect the continued success of operations.