Pros:Excellent book concerning Delta Force and how it was formed.
Cons:None
The Bottom Line: I recommend Colonel Beckwith's Delta Force book to anyone serving in, or has served with any elite unit. An excellent book on the Delta Force.
Delta Force, The Army’s Elite Counter-Terrorist Unit

Delta Force was written by retired Colonel Charlie A. Beckwith. Colonel Beckwith was the founder and commander of the United States elite Delta Force. Charlie Beckwith started his military career around 1955 and served three years with the 82nd Airborne Division. A few years later he would join the 7th Special Forces Group that was stationed in Fort Bragg , North Carolina. In 1962 Beckwith was sent to England to train with England’s elite SAS (Special Air Service) unit. At the time England and the United States had an exchange program in place. They would send over one of their SAS soldiers and we would send over one of our Special Forces soldiers. The exchange would offer the our two countries the opportunity to see each others training techniques, styles, tactics and so forth. Charlie Beckwith liked what he had saw and been through with the British SAS and decided to take his newly acquired training and knowledge to the limit.

After sever months of training and a covert mission on the Thai- Malaysian border and sometime in a hospital Beckwith was returned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was very enthusiastic about the training he had done with the British SAS. During his trip home he had already begun to write up his report. He could see a large void in the US military that the British had covered. The void was simple but the fix would turn out to be a very long and rough road for the young officer. The United States did not have a counter-terrorist team. The British had their 22 SAS Regiment, the Germans had their Grenzschutzgruppe 9 GSG-9 unit , The French had their GIGN Unit. The Israeli’s had theirs and so on, but the United States did not have a counter-terrorism unit at all.

Over the next year Captain Beckwith would try to make his point to many major players in the Special Forces community the pentagon and the DOD (Department Of The Army). While some of the brass opposed the idea others saw the void and the need for such a unit. The problem was that the right generals had to like the idea, on top of that starting a new unit in the Army is nearly impossible, you needed all kinds of support with stars on their shoulder. In addition to that each branch of the service have their own elite units so each department head believes that they should be the outfit in charge of a new counter-terrorist unit. There are The Navy Seals with Seal Teams- Team Six, The Marine Recon, The Army Special Forces and Army Rangers. So even if the idea was approved each branch would want to take the task for their elite unit to undertake. While dealing with these issues and doing his regular army job in the 7th Special Forces, the police action in Vietnam had begun.

Beckwith had orders to go to Vietnam as a sector advisor. He was not thrilled about this assignment at all. He wrote some letters to have his assignment changed so he could serve with the 5th Special Forces Group that was serving in Vietnam. Soon there after Beckwith was reassigned to 5th group. When he arrived in Nam he was informed that he would be in charge of “Project Delta - Detachment B-52” After firing 22 of the 30 soldiers that were in Project Delta Beckwith began recruiting for his Delta project. He had a very short flyer made and passed it around the camps.

WANTED: Volunteers for project Delta. Will guarantee you a medal, a body bag, or both.
Requirements: have to be a volunteer. Had to be in country for at least six months. Had to have a CIB (Combat Infantry Badge). Had to be at least the rank of Sergeant---- otherwise don’t even come and talk to me.

Major Beckwith had as many volunteers as he needed and then some. All of the best soldiers volunteered to try out for this new elite unit. The unit would conduct long range reconnaissance in Vietnam. Delta also was tasked for bomb assessment missions, hunter-killer missions and other special purpose missions. The information gathered by Delta went to the MACV (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam). Bechwith’s Delta teams worked with Lt. Colonel Hal Moore’s 1st Cavalry Division in the An Loa Valley. His teams went in ahead of the Cavalry units to test the water and recon the area. His teams were immediately engaged. When Beckwith was heading in with his Sergeant Major and an RTO he was shot through the stomach. After Major Beckwith healed up he was assigned to a Ranger training battalion in Fort Benning , Georgia.


After the Tet Offensive in 1968 Lt. Colonel Beckwith was assigned to the 101st Infantry. He was the Commander of the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry. His battalion spent a lot of time in the A Shau Valley and his casualties were very high. After his tour in Nam he was assigned to CINCPAC (Commander In Chief Pacific) in Hawaii. Here Beckwith monitored MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group) as well as other special operations going on at the time in the Pacific theater.

Then in 1973 Lt. Col. Beckwith was a part of a team put together to find MIA’S and POW’s in South-East Asia. This organization was called JCRC (Joint Casualty Resolution Center). After his tour was up Beckwith was promoted to Full Colonel and sent back to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Around 1976 the Army started to realize that they needed a unit with counter-terrorist capabilities. Colonel Beckwith was called upon to help. Colonel Beckwith had been trying to make this point for many years and was very happy to help. He soon ran into the same opposing and problems as before. This time he had more brass on his side. Col Beckwith was so busy trying to deal with forming a counter-terrorism team that eventually he was reassigned to do just that job. Trying to do your regular job and form a new outfit was a bear.

While the ARMY was playing around with red tape and it’s bureaucracy terrorist starting showing up in different parts of the world. As soon as terrorism started showing up people started jumping through their asses! Do we have a counter-terrorism unit? Lets get it going right now! Needless to say Colonel Beckwith was given the task to form this new elite counter terrorism unit that he had been trying to get going for 15 years. They not only wanted one , they wanted one yesterday, right now. The problem is you don’t just throw a unit like this together. Beckwith said he could put the unit together and have it ready to operate in two years. They gave him 18 months but wanted it sooner.

He was given some funds and the old stockade at Fort Bragg to work from. He was also given the authority to use volunteers from any branch of the army including Special Forces and Rangers. After 18 months and many trials and tribulations his teams were up and running. These are the same teams that would respond to incidents such as the Iranian hostage crisis. The Delta Force has worked with many organizations during many national and international crisis’s. Of course the Delta Force does not exist.

My thoughts on Colonel Beckwith’s Book

While serving in the 20th Combat Engineer Brigade (Airborne) in Fort Bragg from 1988 -1990, I remember driving by the Delta Force complex that doesn’t exist. I also recall a couple of soldiers trying out for this outfit. At Bragg there are certain levels that a soldiers serves in. Most soldiers are always trying to get to that next higher level of proficiency and training. If you are stationed at Fort Bragg you are at the first level, you are an airborne paratrooper serving with an airborne unit. While in these units you can go to a Varity of schools. You should attend Airborne, Air Assault, Expert Infantry Badge, Ranger School, SEERS course, Pathfinder school, SCUBA school and try out for the Special Forces. Once you attend the majority of these schools and you complete the special forces Q-Course. (Qualification course) you would be assigned to a group and a team. Once you do some time in a group and if you excel you could, in theory try out for the Delta selection. As far as I know that is as high as one can go in the military training. There are other units such as the FBI’s HRT (Hostage Rescue Team) and possibly the NSA or CIA have a higher-level (TOP-SECRET, former military) elite commando type unit. But in Bragg, Delta was as high as a soldier could go on the ladder.

I learned a lot about the Delta Force in Colonel Beckwith’s book. I had no idea that one man had put so much into getting this organization going. The issues that Colonel beck with had to deal with were nightmarish! The bureaucracy was horrific! His career in the military was really something to read, his career was amazing. As a soldier sitting here healing up in Fort Lewis Washington after being injured in Operation Iraqi Freedom the story was uplifting. As far as Colonel Beckwith’s writing style it was just great. I had a hard time putting his book down. One chapter just flowed right into the next and it was very easy reading with regard to the flow. I have read many military memoirs and stories of elite units and this one is among the best.

Thanks for the read.

~Mac
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