combat question
 

Do most special forces operators see combat in their SF career?

I do not intend this question to come across as immature. This is simply a question that has been on my mind for a while now and I have been unable to find an answer anywhere.

DTOM:

We generally advise new members and guests to search and read for a while before starting new threads. Idle curiosity is a dangerous reason for posting a question.

I believe that is mentioned in the stickies.

Word to the wise.

TR

Will do TR, Thank you. My curiosity got the better of me, I apologize.

Combat...?1
 

Wasn't that a TV show with Vic Marrow?
I've seen it.

The New Guy
 

And we all knew what happened to the New Guy.

About the same result as being a Red Shirt on the landing party.

We are known as soldiers, not "operators". Mall security guards are also known as "operators", but they are not soldiers. Contractors call themselves "operators" and many are former mall security guards, and many were never, soldiers. Paintball players also call themselves "operators", but they are never referred to as Special Forces soldiers.

To answer your question, if you are currently in the Special Forces, (Special Forces is not a generic term as it refers to one and only one unit) I would say your chances of seeing combat are very high.

The term “Operator” is not new and does refer to SF ODA guys. It started here in 10th Group when we picked up the CIF, most likely a bleed over from working with the varsity boys. Seldom in my 22 active years in SF with 16 of it on a team did we refer to ourselves as Soldiers.

Hey Blitzzz,that was the only war series my dad would watch after he served in WW2.....:) He liked it!..........:cool:

Big Teddy :munchin

I know exactly where the term came from, the Rangers that were not SF but working in a SF unit, well it used to be. It's bled way too much and morphed into any air-breather that can carry a weapon. I never heard it used outside of that special place......;)

Right you are. It's used too much now, but I still like to refer to our Brothers as SFers or "the boys".

Never say never
 

Very, very, very few times did I ever hear SF guys refer to themselves as "operators" while I was in the 5th Gp in the 70s 80s and early 90s.

The usual user was one who liked to showboat around and usually had a team sergeant wondering where he run off to.

Operators? Jeeeze, this harkins back to the Beeper Boys and Bennigans for Happy Hour.

Operators, Soldiers and combat...
 

Operators and Soldiers:

The term "operator" is rarely used inside of the US Army Special Forces (SF) community. At least, not in a formal sense. In passing, a team member may be referred to as a "true operator", and that may imply that his professionalism is at its peak in every respect, but that is about the extent of where I've heard the term used by other SF Soldiers.

At times, when working with organizations outside of the US Army SF community - like in a joint environment - other service representatives may use the term "operator" (again, informally) as a way to distinguish a Special Forces Soldier from others within the context of an operation. For instance, a US Navy Surface Warfare, or Special Warfare officer may say, "So, you can infil a couple of your operators here, while this squad from the infantry platoon secures this access to the objective ..."

The term, as I have experienced it, has become a sort of verbal short hand for referring to SF Soldiers by some outside of the community. Again, it's not a term that I've seen used by us, referring to ourselves. More commonly I've heard "team guy", or "team mate" used than the term "operator". I've seen the term "operator" more commonly accepted and used within the Naval Special Warfare community than anywhere else. But, it makes sense to me as they are not technically Soldiers - in the Army sense - and the term "commando" is not used much outside of Europe when referring to SOF.

Combat:

Looking at the common operating picture at the macro level, most of SOF is heavily involved in current operations in either offensive or shaping operations designed to fulfill some operational or strategic goal. Both offensive and shaping operations involve a degree of risk relative to the mission, enemy, terrain ,troops available, time available and civilian considerations (METT-TC) influencing the situation.

Let us not forget also the second and third order effects that can result at the diplomatic/political level when operating at the operational, and more commonly for SOF, at the strategic level. As these latter risks increase, they typically tend to increase the restrictiveness of the rules of engagement, and other operational constraints and limitations that, while safeguarding the over-arching goals of the mission, may also place the SOF personnel in situations of increased risk.

As of late 2009, US Army SF shared nearly 78% of all combat losses for all of SOF; not including any losses to special mission units. US Navy SEALs, by comparison, had the remaining 22% share of that tragic statistic. Direct combat employment is relative to the SF Group involved because of assigned areas of responsibilities, but I will not make that analysis here. Because of this, some SF Groups are more at the tip of the "direct combat" spear than others. But, all are involved in the overall effort of current combat operations, whether that'd be offensive or shaping operations.

In the end, if a person is assigned to a US Army Special Forces unit as a qualified SF Soldier, the chances of being involved in direct combat is, in my personal estimation, probably about 80%.

I don't know,when I was in I never heard the term "operator" ever being used......:confused:

Big Teddy :munchin

I've heard the use "operator" in the TV show, the UNIT,...

god's honest truth!

Boy, Pete! does that bring back memories.
I was in Bennigans so much I had the pay option "Check to Bennigans".
At the end of the month they just gave me whatever was left (after tips).