Special Forces (SF) Groups, Operational Detachment Teams (ODT) & 5th Special Forces Vietnam patches.

Medals, Badges and Insignia of the U.S. Army Vietnam is available at moapress.com/ . It is a unique book designed for over one and a half million United States Army veterans of the Vietnam War, their families, historians, collectors, and students of the United States Army. This video looks at the 5 Active Duty and 2 Army National Guard Special Forces Groups and their unique ODA Team Patches. For replacement medals, ribbons, insignia, shadow boxes and more, shop our on line catalog: www.medalsofamerica.com/onlin...
To purchase official United States medals, ribbons, badges and insignia plus shadow boxes and more, go to www.medalsofamerica.com/
The Operational Detachment Teams (ODA teams) are the key 12 man Special Forces elements and have some of the most unique and off the wall patches in the US Army. The Video also show some of the most special 5th Special Forces Group Vietnam patches ever used.
MOA Press: All this information is available in United States Military Patch Guide by Major Peter Morgan available at: moapress.com/
For replacement medals, ribbons, shadow boxes, patches and more, visit www.medalsofamerica.com/

[@Marka2401]

The 5th Group reverted back to the Vietnam era Flash with the diagonal yellow and red stripes. The change took place at Ft Campbell July 2015. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was present Gen Mark Milley. During the ceremony he took off his cover with then four stars and tossed it into the reviewing stand; he then pulled his old Green Beret from his side pocket and placed it on his head.he was in the 5th Special Forces Group as a Captain. So there stood General (4 stars) Milley with his old beret with a 5th Group Flash and Captain bars. Xi asked a young Captain if they resented the change he responded, “not at all, we are now linked with you old guys and what you accomplished in Vietnam. One point, Special Forces were created in July 1952 and so far 24 Medals of Honor have been awarded to the men of Special Forces.

[@sigspearthumb3249]

FYI The plain Black (with white borders) 5th SFG(A) beret flash was used from 1961 to 1964/1970* and 1985 to 2016. In 2016 we went back to the Vietnam-era beret flash to the Vietnam-era flash. *1964/1970 - The RVN flag colors were added by 5th SFG(A) personnel serving in Vietnam, and adopted by the entirety of the Group in 1970 (until 1985).

[@Marka2401]

You should have dug deeper. Every Group has a nickname. 7th Group with a solid Red Flash is called the Red Empire, during the Vietnam years we would say Better Dead Then Red (at that time the 7th was stationed at Ft Bragg and they had a lot of down time which meant the SF NCO’s did a lot of grass cutting, raking pine needles or painting rocks white. The 3rd Group with the multi colors on their Flash were called PURINA CHECKERBOARD SQUARE’. The 5th Group (where I served) was called The Legion. The 1st Group were called the Asian Boys. The 10th Group were given Europe as their AO but have the distinction of being the very first Group with the number 77th, they were called The Originals.

[@veteransmedalsworkshop-moa4376]

That’s really cool information. I think you had to have been there to know that. Thank you for sharing

[@Marka2401]

@@veteransmedalsworkshop-moa4376 yes, 5th Group Sep 17, 1969 to Sep 16, 1 970. I was assigned top A-401, B-40, C-4, 5th Special Forces Group. Our Team was part of the IV CTZ Mobile Strike Force. B-40 was tasked with the mission to organize it’s 5 A-Teams into a Mike Force. The idea was first created by MACV-SOG to create a quick reaction force that would come to the aid of an A-Team in trouble. The project was called ‘Eagle Flight’ it was so successful that MAC V wanted one in all four CTZ’s. While the conventional units were assigned a specific area the 5th Group had the entire country as well as Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam. It was said that each CCN Team would measure the size of their balls by7 taking a Hanoi street sign as close as possible to the city center. At A-401 we had 362 Cambodians, 26 Chinese Nungs and a team of LLDB Vietnamese Special Forces (we used there LLDB as ‘Lousy Little Dirty Bastards’) we never worked with them because they were inept and constantly shake down our Cambodian troops. We were told not to fly the American Flag in our site. As one teammate said, “keep our flag up, I’m not going to fight that POS Vietnamese flag. Our camps were so isolated that no one from higher command would venture out to visit our camp; it was surrounded by VC and the NVA. We were mortared on a regular basis as the Team’s commo guy once a month I had to climb the tower to replace the antenna. We only used SSB radios with IMC (International Morse Code) the antenna had to be cut to the size for the frequency. In other words I would divide the frequency by 246 (which would yield a half wave antenna. Once hooked up I would then tune the radio with the antenna. Once up I had to contact our HQ B-40. I would be a juicy target for a VC sniper, one time I tried to bribe one of my teammates to climb the tower for me. All declined saying, “and become a target of opportunity for a VC sniper.” In our area we were used like Infantry and would run combat missions against the NVA. SSG Greg and I had command of the 43rd Company with 112 Cambodians. Each mission would last 30 days. We wore one set box Tiger Stripes the entire time, never shave in the field; if nicked shaving infection would start immediately, no underclothing, we were sterile no patches or name tag, we carved our Army serial number into the sheath of our knife so our bones could be identified, nowhere else would two NCO’s command a company. I was in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M but during the Spring semester of my sophomore year I simply packed, told my roommate to turn in my uniforms and drove to San Antonio, TX to enlist. Then I went home and mom was like, “what are you doing here aren’t you supposed to be in class?” Dad was in the background cheering; dad served 30 years in the Army and during WWII he served in the OSS in the CBI (China Burma India). I was convinced that the war in the Nam would be over before I received a commission in May 1970. I’ll stop here as to not bore you any longer. After I returned I enrolled at the University of Texas, graduating May 5, 1974 with honors.

[@daddyuhnchiha5658]

Mark Stinson

[@formerparatrooper]

Our next door neighbor was in the 77th on Okinawa back in the late 50s. I was on Okinawa as a Navy Sea Bee on Okinawa 59-60.

[@carlcolvin8320]

​@@Marka2401thank you for the info. My bother was in 5th Group went to Nam in Nov 67-69 . He was based up in Bien Hoa . He talked to me about it only once when I was on leave from West Germany over a bottle of Jack Daniels. He gave my dad a book titled letters from Nam and wrote in the front LZ Sally. He died in Nov 92 when I was at Ft Campbell. He gave me his K Bar for good luck. I then passed it on to his son and told him what I knew about what he did Nam .

[@thepaulhenderson]

At 09:44, the 10th SF SFODA-7 patch (in the middle) is known as the "SAD-UM" patch. The SADM (Special Atomic Demolition Munitions) was basically a small backpack nuclear bomb. "Operation GreenLight" saw the men of 10th Special Forces (SFODA-7) trained to parachute with SADM to destroy installations, infrastructure, and/or enemy troops (yeah, the Russians) or to strategically force attacking troops (who are avoiding the already detonated SADM blast/fallout) to bottleneck them into a chokepoint where they could be more destroyed en masse with one larger nuke. The symbology of the patch is as follows: The patch itself is SADM warhead-shaped. The knife is an SS dagger with the atomic symbol on the handle because the 10th occupied the former SS Junkerschule at Bad Tölz in Bavaria. The letters represent the Greek letters Alpha-Beta-Gamma which are for the three types of radiation released from an atomic nuclear explosion. And the diagonal black, red, and yellow bar sinister represents the colors of the West German flag. The three lightning bolts are the traditional SF "Air, Land, and Sea" strike zones. The SADM were timed to allow the men to escape the relatively small blast zone, but let's face it if something goes wrong and there's no detonation you don't want the enemy to recover one of your most secret weapons... So, yes, America once had highly-trained Cold Warriors (Green Beret & Navy SEALs) who were basically "Nuclear Kamikaze," and this patch is a testament to their bravery and unparalleled badassery.

[@Marka2401]

One more point about the 10th Group Green Flash. The 10th Group Berlin Battalion. Every SF member wore civilian clothing purchased in Germany, they had long hair plus a mustache and a stash with a beard. They had civilian jobs in West Berlin and were German speaking individuals with English as a second language. They would slip into East Berlin and/or East Germany to obtain information. Extremely dangerous duty if caught they would be kept until the West German government would negotiate with the East German government to get one of their citizens released. One more point about the 10th Group the Group was the first Group activated and why the 10th to fool the Russians into thinking there were 9 more Groups.

[@realdreamerschangetheworld7470]

good trivia!

[@formerparatrooper]

My language qualification in the 11th was German to support the 10th and gather intel in eastern Europe. Some great memories in all of this.

[@mikehawkswollen5819]

Awesome video 👍!

[@Spike-qt7tx]

12th Group 1985-1986, we had the prettiest

[@bobsidoodledandy808]

truly informative...

[@seanzha1664]

Thank you

[@mikegerry7123]

Nice to see my teams old 153 patch!!

[@u.s.militia7682]

I remember seeing the 5th SFG in Ft. Campbell when the Vietnam War was still going on in the early 1970’s. It made me wanna be a Soldier. I joined in 1988 and retired in 2006 and there ain’t a day that goes by that I don’t miss it.

[@rcfoley]

Second Gen SF Troop, 18E, ODA-2054, C. Co., 2nd Bn., 20th SFG(A)

[@787310]

great work colonel, salutations from north korea

[@SailfishSoundSystem]

Great history.

[@savvy_southpaw7348]

Great work sir! Is it possible to do a video on National Guard awards during the Korean War?

[@tombakabones274]

I worked on the construction of seven special forces groups complex out there in Eglin

[@formerparatrooper]

I got my beret back in the early 80s with the 11th, 389th MI CO. I got to run with the Army's best in both the 10th and 5th Groups. I made Airborne operations at Knox, Benning, Campbell, Devens, and Bragg along with some other no name places.

[@av5986]

I go to meps tm to ship out, great video by the way :)

[@user-sx1jb8gc6s]

5-19 isn't an ODA number. It's the 5th Bn of the 19th Special Forces Group.

[@shrapmagnet]

5th SFG went back to the VN style flash several years ago. 555 were key players early in afg. The recognition bars were called candy stripes, and were originally for non-SF qualified support soldiers assigned to SF. These were phased out after the SF tab was authorized (early 80's). Your 20th SF flash is OLD (and somewhat collectible). The "newer" ones have a white border. I was in 20th in the mid 80's, and we had the white border back then, so yours is pretty old.

[@veteransmedalsworkshop-moa4376]

great story, I agree with the pilot.

[@Foreign0817]

Fort Carson! I'm in 4th ID. But yeah, the 10th is here.

[@chrismoll6862]

" Its never over Colonel" ..Rambo . R E S P E C T !!!

[@jumpmastermp21]

Recognition Bar?

[@brianbishop595]

does anybody know when the 10th group adopted the flash with the german colors red, black, and yellow stripes. does 1st battalion still use the version, thanks in advance

[@roderickgful]

I have many of my dads patches & flashes, from Project Omega to MACVSOG to Mikeforce to Det-A Berlin. But sadly no way to post photos 🤷‍♂️

[@veteransmedalsworkshop-moa4376]

They are an important part of American history. Take care of them!

[@TheAbukhubaib]

mantab jooooonnn..

[@u.s.militia7682]

Is there not a National Guard SFG in Kentucky anymore? I thought there was one at Standiford Field.

[@formerparatrooper]

Originally they were the 11th in a reserve status and were transferred to Frankfort with the KYNG when the 11th was demobilized and formed into the 20th. A number of the soldiers I ran with folded into the 20th and retired. Many are members of the Special Forces Association chapter 99 in Louisville and some have passed on.

[@roderickgful]

Sir, how can I get a 10th SFG “Trojan horse patch” & or insignia? My Father, served in Det-A Berlin-Bad Tolz as well as the 5th group MACVSOG. Two TDYs Mike Force. I have a few “unofficial” plaques & little “cloak & dagger” statuette, which I treasure. But would love the patches & insignias to honor my dad with a shadow box. I have many original RVN era patches of his, MACVSOG & the “Dragon” Mike force you showed. ANY information would be greatly appreciated!! Thank you, Roderick Patterson Jr.

[@veteransmedalsworkshop-moa4376]

let me work on it. Having his personal patches will make a great shadow box. Do you have his airborne wings?

[@landonduncan9572]

Anyone have 522?

[@paulmay7375]

I served in Vietnam from 1968 -1970 , I was awarded a unit patch known as the undesirable. Can you give me any info on this patch "possible CIA unit". Paul May

[@veteransmedalsworkshop-moa4376]

sorry, never heard of that patch. more clues please.

[@kevinmoore.7426]

Was anybody here in the 12th SFG .?

[@jfarill834]

E G L I N not Elgin. Really?