How many Special Forces Green Berets are there?

[@ctoretto177]

Straight facts!!! When I wasn’t deployed in Afghanistan I was home prepping to reemployed

[@christopherpearson3511]

Except, in the beginning years. 5th group spearheaded both Afghanistan and Iraq and stayed engaged for a while. Guys from 5th group were going from one to another because both fell within 5th group's area of operation. I remember how fatigued guys became due to that op tempo. So, the other groups pulled off their AO's to help out. Even the reserve SF units were activated. I couldn't believe it when Bush wanted us to invade Iraq in March of 2003. Guys weren't even allowed to retire at the time because of a stop loss applied to all SF soldiers. Divorce rates climbed to an all-time high. I was one of those stats...lol.

[@ValhallaVFT]

Yup. 1st group here, 100% accurate.

[@EvanT1995]

I saw 3rd group roll out of green ramp on a deployment when we were there for a jump. One of the operators walked by me and I told him to take care of business and stay safe. Just looked at me and smirked. They were like gods among men.

[@denniscronin7689]

Yes we owe these men a whole lot more than just respect.

[@roninkraut6873]

This was probably the most important interview of the decade

[@AK47HEAVYMETAL83]

Notice he said “for example” after saying the number out loud as he’s not supposed to tell how many operators there are 😂😂😂 oops 🙊

[@DJTheMetalheadMercenary]

My cousin was 5th Group, and we had the CIF operating out of our base in IRQ, great dudes.

[@BlueAZ520]

My dad was in 5th group SF I have his bera I hate I lost my dad but I did. Meet two others from group an when he passed away they came an others did as well

[@daledaniken4330]

That was life for the military for a solid decade.

[@grahamshelton3448]

Thanks for everyone's service. Vets are the shit. Especially the ones that are soldiers

[@paulhuck3406]

When I was in Special Forces , we had troops dispersd over 64 countries in ONE group at any time. He did mentuon small. It does not take a battalion to doe the work Green Berets do the work SF does. He only addresses actine duty. There are two more groups 19th & 20th he ignores. Both are National Guard. 19 hq in Utah, battalions & companies in 8 states. 20th has 7 battalions scattered across 5 states.

[@scottmalone5378]

Delete this comment. If you were the real deal, You don’t have anything to prove.

[@nicholascecil6733]

"Inventory" is all you'll ever be to those people. Once the cost of maintaining you outweighs your value, say goodby to your benefits!!!

[@donstrassburg4050]

I'm 58..born at Womack on Bragg my dad was 5th group Vietnam Era. I was surprised at the number also... as a kid I thought everyone on base was a green beret....he was stationed there for his entire career...except for tdy.. he retired after 32yrs in and spent another 10 or so in the same job as a civil servant. he's in his 80s now and lives in a small town outside Fayettenam.... I left there in 79. we lived on base in anzio acres... got to do and see alot of things I took for granted until I told stories later and it kind of surprised people... seeing the 82nd jump at sicely dz...getting to go to the range and shoot up "extra"ammo...watching the students run the Mata mile course....going to the rigger shed and seeing them pack chutes..sitting in on different small arms courses....going to gobblers woods and watching them run Robin sage. lots of memories miss spent youth some might say. iron Mike at the gates...the jfk special warfare center... hotdogs carts outside the px. Rick's lounge... the bootlegger... the paratrooper... bar b que hut.... eutaw village... hamont grill... watching Santa clause parachute into the parking lot at tallywood shopping center... pope park... spring lake... Bragg blvd.... hay st... the house of zonk.... man....hadn't taken the time to think about the things for years. that green beret col. they said killed his wife and daughters....that was just 3 or 4 blocks away from where our house was. a literal lifetime ago..... de opresso Libre. hearing that Barry Sadler song ... about a million times lol. WFLB radio. weird place back then too ... probably still that way now. thanks to all the veterans for your service and sacrifice.

[@Dan-rw7ze]

Anzio acres is gone my man.

[@aidangk]

Happy my dad was a green beret captain. Although, now hes active again and a LT Col.

[@martintrammell6481]

19th and 20th grps were there to bro!!

[@genehanna3977]

I legit thought this was the actor Jeff Daniel's. I was wondering when he ever served in specops?!?!

[@jessray4527]

I have learned so much! Thank you.

[@kylervoie]

Let go of fear, and loss cannot harm you.

[@michaelkay3565]

I'm glad he's here to tell the story it boggles my mind

[@on2wheels378]

Green Berets mission is to live, train and fight with indigenous troops. He makes it sounds like they're overwhelmed. They weren't. 6500 times say 100 indigenous troops. Who then train their own people. SOF did a great job.

[@jmackinjersey1]

Yeah, I'd wager that they did a bit more than just train local Hajis.

[@on2wheels378]

@@jmackinjersey1I never write they didn't do more. I wrote they never were overwhelmed. To add, they train all over the world. Not just hajis...

[@tillmen4444]

​@@on2wheels378He was clearly there and as most SF guys of the time will say.. they were over booked

[@gilzavala9739]

We weren't overwhelmed, we just had a high OpTempo. If we were deployed for 6 months, we returned home and inside the next 6 months till the next deployment (1/1 dwell time), we were training, going to schools, having some leave, and pre-deployment training. Just as the guy was saying, you deploy, redeploy home, train, then deploy; a revolving door for the first few years until the deployment were extended to 9 months.

[@Nach0s187]

My grandfather was a green beret with the 1st SF in Vietnam and rarely told stories but would show me his medals and give me books because I was interested, he gave me his beret and uniform and equipment when he passed, he was always insanely tough which is something you kinda have to be to be SF

[@vza7938]

man what a precious gift u got..how would u say your grandpa was tough, like as in physicality or spirit..id like to understand what sets these men apart from normal folks like us

[@gmac9987]

We all lived that life. Especially if you were on a rapid redeployment base. I was on Lewis where 1st grippy group is. After a year deployment we'd train for a year to a year and a half and then go back to either iraq or afghanistan. S.O.F. had more deployments but when you really compare the time spent is not much different. Inever spent time with my family because we were either in the field for weeks at a time or at NTC until deployment. They have shorter deployments because they have more specialized missions. We did plenty of ops with the oda's. Those guys were awesome.

[@kevinzhang6623]

And there are only 189 PJ's. 2500 SEALs. Surprised to hear there's that many Green Berets

[@Sukiroofficial]

Green berets have a much broader mission than navy seals so a lot of those guys are intel and logistics

[@EchoP7596]

Numbers don’t really matter that much. Two SFAS classes will have more candidates than BUD/s will get in a year.

[@markrowland1366]

The most deadly and effective at Normandy, WW2, were groups of three US paratroopers, scattered when landing. No where to run, and they had objectives. Close to all of which were achieved.

[@stevenlaxton3618]

Not on the roster.....in the inventory..shows you how politicians truly think about the war games they play

[@currentfaves65]

We only have 6,500 Green Berets but need 85,000 IRS / SS Agents ?

[@shawnbrown7909]

You dummies don't know what an IRS agent is. They aren't talking about a person with a gun. Conservatives are so slow.

[@jmackinjersey1]

What else was there for them to do at that time? We all sign up to go somewhere.

[@-Homelander.]

I feel like 6,500 is a lot for special forces units I would have thought the number was smaller

[@davidwagner9644]

Every SFG has a primary area of operations plus they had Iraq or Afghanistan. So 1/3 are deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. 1/3 are deployed to their primary area operation ans 1/3 were training ans getting ready to deploy. They deploy for 6 months at a time. A typical deployment schedule was 6 month deployed. 6 months home. 6 months deployed. 1 year home. The divorce rate for Army SF, Delta Operator's, Navy SEALs and Army Rangers is 88% That said, the divorce rate for regular infantry is 77%. If you look in the SOCOM and JSOC you will see guys getting married later in life or on their 2nd marriage.

[@davidwagner9644]

They used to have 10,000 but budget cuts and they would rather do with less then comprise their standards

[@berserker6818]

@@davidwagner9644 its alot Polish grom has not more then 400 operators even less something like 350

[@davidwagner9644]

@@berserker6818 There are 2,500 to 3,000 Navy SEALs on active duty. Combat Applications Group is roughly 1,500 Army Rangers around 2,500. Also, Army Special Forces has 2 reserve Groups each with about a 1,000 spread out over 25 states. So there is about 4,500 active duty ASF to cover the world.

[@berserker6818]

@@davidwagner9644 so they are trained worse then Polish GROM or SAS SBS for example.

[@dalehenry4694]

Scott is a badass..

[@generalkaffenberger8675]

Old School "91B4S" and "11B3S / 11C3S"

[@generalkaffenberger8675]

5 Years on "11th SFG(A) 234", then reassigned to "12th SFG(A) 234", then after LOD Parachute Accident ( 7 Fractures & 9 Herniated Disks in Back & Neck ), did 2 Years "Flight Medic" in "343rd Medical Detachment, Helicopter Ambulance" [ "DUST OFF" for "3rd Bn, 12th SFG(A) ]". Then Recall to Active Duty 2003-2006 for OIF & OEF Service". Chapter 23, General Member # M-10164, , SPECIAL FORCES ASSOCIATION. The "Green Berets" are the BEST MEN that I have ever known.

[@acegarage4837]

Ranger Regiment - Wait there are green berets here?

[@jamessylvestri5392]

I was in a green beret reserve unit and never knew that back then there probably weren't many more than 5 or 6000 probably less back in early 80,s

[@andruemcgriddles4580]

That was any combat unit during the global war on terror. You literally deployed for a year redeployed trained for a year and went straight back. I would take a 4 month deployment than a 12 month deployment any time 😂

[@jeff2572]

True, but there wasn't a lot of combat units conducting 4 to 5 hits a week while operating out of a team house in Baghdad, Hilla, Najaf etc.... It takes a toll.

[@joshstiltner]

5th GRP deployments were planned-out way in advance so we would go back to the same FOB with the same ISOF or SWAT PF. I had the same CHU three deployments in a row.

[@agpra1568]

They must have a decent amount of shulker boxes for such a big inventory

[@nathanammon4021]

Does that mean they drop what they are doing in other parts of the world I thought the group numbers of seals and sf had to do with parts of the world they were active in I thought I read somewhere they do a lot in South America and Africa

[@jargero8203]

"Inventory".... pay attention

[@berserker6818]

damn thats alot then in Polih GROM for example theres not more then 400 operators more like 350

[@asce9182]

There's not that many Polish Soldiers in general... It only makes sense that GROM is tiny.

[@renatolaranja52]

GROM is more comparable to SAS/CAG

[@backwoodsbaby9729]

Honestly expected a lower # than 6500

[@Sukiroofficial]

Most of that number is made up of intel and logistic guys

[@zzbudzz]

In the inventory ...🙄

[@alexinnes402]

And then they piss it up the wall. Cheers for your service. Hears a medal.. here's a nightmare for the rest of your life. Then they just leave with no resolve. And Taliban take over... wow. Why did I loose my friends for.

[@TheRealRusDaddy]

For israel thats what for

[@iwontbethedestroyerofyouro8650]

hey don’t make enough groups when GOD and CHRIST says enough is enough then we will be gathered together.

[@CP281]

6,500 that we know of

[@BassNinja]

Yup basically what the Marines did just getting ready for Iraq or Afghanistan. Did both plus a couple other deployments

[@michaelkunz4991]

And we 🫡🫡🫡🫡🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🫡🫡🫡 you....

[@joshuabrown2543]

I understand the concept of small groups, but to a point though wouldn't you think you'd wanna be working on the next generation and growing your numbers especially when you see how effective these spec groups are. I mean I get now the military is only worried about people's feelings getting hurt, but you would think though. Not just relying on technology for everything. People can laugh or whatever make fun of people, but that should be on the list somewhere.

[@kevinzhang6623]

Infantry and conventional forces hold and push the line and win battles. Special operations is the tip of the spear, and just the tip, hitting specific targets of known value, with considerably more intelligence and resources behind them. That's not the reality of war as a whole, it's extremely limited and really is meant to enable conventional forces to do their job better in pushing forward.

[@BirdDawg1]

Don't we want to keep information like that secret?

[@davidwagner9644]

You can find on Wikipedia all the information you want on ASF

[@fightforaglobalfirstamendm5617]

😂 6500? The British Army barely has 8,000 infantry

[@linkhewitt36]

And another one without a link to the original video

[@jamescaliendo1030]

I know!!!! I'm dying to see this video in its entirety

[@user-nj1zu2nf1x]

A three hours are going to be released in 180 1 minute shorts

[@LXIIIPendragonLXIII]

Green Berets still be using foreign translators just like everybody else. They'll have 200 guys in a foreign country, and nobody will speak the language. Because the ARMY will train you in Korean and then send you to Niger. I need a fully capable fluent spoken advanced indiginous-like Warrior and those they train. The ARMY has missed the mark here. But the foreign language Is more for the Soldiers own psychological and philosophical development and less about the mission.

[@Graderman3587]

Oscar David Alpha

[@iancatt5915]

Imagine a real war afgan/Iraq was fire crackers compared too fighting super powers

[@fash6353]

Poor Afghanistan…

[@Dj-sd1xq]

Just ask anyone out that hasn’t actually done much. Myself as an infantryman paratrooper who is Ranger qualified, I’ve heard so many people say oh I’m SF, SEAL, CAG, SAS…. Millions of those men around

[@MW-fz3zg]

If the SF guys are suppose to be able to train indigenous people to fight effectively the why can't they train US troops to be better warriors? The SF unit can do deployment work ups with Army and Marine infantry companies so they can have better skills to fight insurgents.

[@cesarcoronel9135]

The whole point of training others is so Americans don’t do all the heavy lifting and limit our casualties.

[@davidwagner9644]

They do. At Fort Bragg Home to 82nd they teach an advanced weapons technique/tactics. It is a 40 hour course. They also teach advanced recon class. They teach close quarters combat. They have a sniper course where 82nd Airborne snipers got advanced training. At Fort Campbell SF teach the 101st Airborne. At Joint airbase McHord/Lewis 7th SF trains Army Rangers as they share the base. It is not uncommon for 1st and 3rd Ranger to train at Bragg or Campbell. I was on a Long Range Recon team as a Paratrooper in 82nd. I attended multiple SF courses. It is how they recruit into SF. I did not move into SF though. I took the Army Ranger route.

[@dmr123kkla]

I don't understand this guy's whining. He acts as if the special forces were the only military personnel deployed to those Wars. FACTS: Since 2001, between 1.9 and 3 million service members have served in post-9/11 war operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and over half of them have deployed more than once. DON'T THESE SOLDIERS, AIRMAN AND AIR WOMEN, MARINES AND SAILORS DESERVE CREDIT. After all, they were on the front lines. Not sneaking around in the middle of the night.

[@macthemec]

6500 SF is a lot, for the RMC about 1 in 100 make it and less than that would make SAS

[@Sukiroofficial]

Green berets have a much broader mission than SAS which mean s most of those guys are probably intel and logistics and they’re a tier 2 unit. We also have a larger number of soldiers in the u.s

[@petarvanj4343]

I was part of 3rd Group, 2nd Marine Battalion we fought in Pakistan 🇵🇰

[@gman21266]

Green Berets = 5 to 7 thousand. SEAL's = 6 to 8 thousand. Rangers = 3 thousand. And yet he Rangers killed or captured MORE high value targets than any other Spec Ops units in Iraq and Afghanistan -- while rotating. RLTW.

[@drewschumann1]

Fifth was focused on date rape and domestic abuse

[@DevilDogDen1775]

3 deployments with 1st. Marine Raiders......

[@fenrirrising131]

Warriors from the sky!

[@Michael-bs5lm]

What a Shame that we send our very best all over the middle east.... when the teal battle for our country is taking place right here... 😞

[@coewhat]

“Only 6,500” sounds a lot for an elite “special” ops group

[@jeff2572]

There's 485,000 soldiers in the army.

[@Russellsagecline]

But, the quality of green berets has gone WAY down since Vietnam. Way too reliant upon technology and standards for certification are much lower.

[@emerymyers7748]

Marine Force Recon has about 850

[@ZESAUCEBOSS]

Hey, 90% washout rate will do that to ya

[@heribertopabon7366]

Fraud...one operator can do the work of 50 regular troops..that's 350,000 Green Beret operators

[@BigBalledBastard]

6500? That’s ok, The Marines got your 6.

[@MobiusCoin]

The funniest story I remember was from Shrek McPhee, Delta operator, who said the most dangerous thing to do was trying to crossing back into friendly territory. He's been outside the wire for months, looks and smells like a local, how does he approach this Marine FOB without being lit up by some 19 year old on fire watch?

[@MM-qt8gz]

There are more Green Berets than Rangers and SEALs. SEALs and 75th Rangers are equivalent in size.

[@dannysullivan8929]

Who is this guy?

[@jessray4527]

I have learned so much! Thank you.