FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — The 5th Special Forces Group celebrated its 50th anniversary at Fort Campbell, Ky., by reflecting on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that launched the elite unit of Green Berets into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
During a ceremony Wednesday at the installation on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line, a pair of steel beams from the World Trade Center was unveiled on Gabriel Field, where trees are planted in honor of the group's fallen.
Col. Scott Brower, the 5th Group commander, said his soldiers have developed a bond with the first responders to the terrorist attacks, firefighters and police and others, who ran into the burning buildings to rescue people. When 5th Group deployed to Afghanistan in 2001, they took with them pieces of metal recovered from the WTC site and buried them throughout the country, he said.
"It is an understanding and an ability to relate to that mindset that led those first responders to go to the aid of others at risk of their own lives that has kept many of our soldiers in these organizations friends today," he said.
The 5th Special Forces Group was activated on Sept. 21, 1961, at Fort Bragg, N.C., when the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. As one of the Special Forces' primary missions, 5th Group trained and led South Vietnamese forces in reconnaissance and combat missions throughout the war. Eighteen Medals of Honor were presented to soldiers from 5th Group and the group was awarded numerous other unit citations, making it one of the most decorated and well-known Army units.
Brower said throughout the unit's history, the way special forces soldiers operate in foreign countries has remained very similar to Vietnam.
"During the Vietnam War, our soldiers served much as they do today, isolated on small bases, working closely with indigenous forces," Brower said.
But the 2001 terrorist attacks marked another turning point for the 5th Group, whose soldiers now specialize in responding to conflicts all over Middle East and southwest Asia. They were among the first U.S. troops in Afghanistan weeks after the terrorist attacks and worked to dismantle the Taliban regime in a matter of months.
The unit similarly spearheaded the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and has spent years there fighting insurgents and training Iraqi forces.
During a demonstration held Wednesday in a mock city area built on the grounds of Fort Campbell, the 5th Group exhibited how their small 12-man teams use speed and surprise during raids to capture high-profile targets. Half a dozen armed soldiers dropped down out of a Chinook helicopter on a three-story building where a target was holed up. Throwing ropes over the side of the building, the Green Berets rappelled down into the open windows, while simultaneously others charged in gun trucks.
Overhead, two attack helicopters spun tight circles around the building and a sniper watched over from an adjacent building as the soldiers cleared the rooms with flash grenades and heavy automatic fire. Within minutes, they had cleared a three-story building and captured their targets.
Special forces units operate largely without public knowledge. But some of their stories have been made public, such as the soldiers from 5th Group who rode into battle against the Taliban on horseback. Their exploits were recounted in a popular book called "Horse Soldiers." They later joined the Northern Alliance fighters in quelling a bloody uprising of Taliban fighters at a prison where John Walker Lindh, the American who joined the Taliban, was captured.
Col. Anthony Dill, deputy commander of 5th Group, said in an interview with The Associated Press the challenge for the group in the coming years will be sustaining the security forces they have helped to develop in Iraq and Afghanistan over the years.
"We have teams deploying all over the Middle East, which is our area of responsibility, working with partner forces to make sure they are competent and can defeat any tactical threat," he said.
Equally important is being prepared to respond quickly to any type of humanitarian crisis or the next trouble spot, he said. Dill, whose own father served with the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam, said Green Berets in particular have so much impact because they have unequalled access, language and cultural skills.
Every special forces soldier knows a second language to help them in the countries where they operate, such as Arabic, Farsi and Russian. They constantly monitor conditions on the ground and study security threats in their long-range planning, often long before fighting breaks out, he said.
"When you send one or two guys to another place on the planet to do something very sensitive for the U.S. government, to interact with other government leaders, it has to be the right guy," Dill said. "You want a guy that has the right temperament, language skills and is an expert within his own skill set."