"A military situation at its worst can inspire fighting men to perform at their best."
- Marguerite Higgins, War in Korea: The Report of a Woman Combat Correspondent
"In Korea the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea....The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war." -President Harry Truman
"East Asia has prospered since the end of the Vietnam War, and Northeast Asia has prospered since the end of the Korean War in a way that seems unimaginable when you think of the history of the first half of the century."
- William C. Kirby
Some positive and negative history here. I guess there is life after being a Green Beret and there is a (small) market for their skills! But most go on to do other things! But I do think anyone has done anything as well as Bull Simons (certainly when compared to the other three examples) His Iran operation was pretty amazing.
4 Times Former Green Berets Took on Extracurricular Work
The green beret-wearing experts at Army
Special Forces are an enterprising bunch, even after they leave the military. In December 2019, prosecutors allege a former
special operations soldier and an accomplice helped ousted ex-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan.
But that almost 60-year-old
Army veteran isn't an anomaly. He's not even unique to the past few months. Another ex-Special Forces operator was
captured allegedly trying to oust Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in a "popular uprising" early in 2020.
That's just what
Green Berets do. Of course, they usually have the backing of the U.S. government. Even when they don't have any backing, former Special Forces troops can be a formidable adversary, doing a lot with just a little bit.
By the nature of their work, they need to be a truly formidable opponent. It takes a lot of time, effort and (often) money to get people in a country to overthrow their own government.
Even as civilians, Army operators are more than capable of offering their unique skills set to some interesting missions -- some the service would never have considered.
1. Billionaires Hire the Best
Electronic Data Systems, a U.S. company, was hired by the Shah of Iran to create a new health care and communications infrastructure for the country. When the Shah was overthrown, American EDS employees were caught in the middle. All but two EDS employees got out. Those two were jailed in Tehran's Qasr Prison, and their captors demanded a $12.75 million ransom.
Unluckily for the revolutionaries holding the EDS employees, it wasn't U.S. President Jimmy Carter they had to answer to. It was Texas billionaire
H. Ross Perot. And Perot decided to put his money elsewhere. He hired former Army Special Forces officer Arthur "Bull" Simons -- leader of the Son Tay raid in Vietnam just a few years prior -- to extract them.
If this is your opponent and he's smiling like this, you already lost. (Photo by Allan Warren)
Simons launched Operation Hotfoot, which began with EDS employees starting a riot outside of the prison. Simons and combat-trained EDS employees then stormed the prison, freeing the two executives, and then drove to Turkey, where Perot was waiting for them.
2. Ending an Armed Anti-Government Standoff
In 1992, the U.S. Marshals Service and FBI were locked in an 11-day siege after a shootout between the family of Randy Weaver and the marshals resulted in deaths on both sides in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Weaver's wife Vicki was killed by an FBI sniper. Through a series of bungled criminal profiles and intelligence reports, law enforcement thought Weaver's property was booby-trapped and heavily defended -- and that the Weavers were heavily armed.
The government called in former Special Forces officer
Col. Bo Gritz to negotiate Weaver's surrender to authorities. Gritz entered the Weaver compound at around 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 28, 1992. The entire family surrendered by mid-morning on the following Monday. Weaver was acquitted on all charges, represented by the legendary defense attorney Gerry Spence.
Bo Gritz informs the media at Ruby Ridge. (Spokane Spokesman-Review)
3. Running a Drug-Smuggling Front (Maybe for the CIA)
The Nugan-Hand Bank was a Sydney, Australia-based merchant bank that was founded in 1973 by Australian lawyer Frank Nugen and former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Michael Hand. The bank had ties to a number of known CIA operatives, some of whom were involved in the Iran-Contra Scandal of the mid-1980s. Money flowing through the
Nugan-Hand Bank was supposedly there to destabilize the Australian government, pay for Laotian mercenaries and maybe even the Contras themselves.
How could we have suspected Michael Hand? Except for the fact that he dresses like a supervillain.
Although nothing was ever proven, authorities allege the bank funneled money for covert operations while bankrolling the sale of billions of dollars worth of heroin through the Pacific "Golden Triangle." Nugan would later commit suicide, forcing many involved with the bank (including Hand) to go underground for the rest of their lives.
4. Bo Gritz Is Determined to Rescue Vietnam POWs
Yes, this is the same Gritz who helped end the siege at Ruby Ridge more than a decade later. In the early 1980s, the specter of the Vietnam War still hung over the United States. Many in America were convinced there were still POW-MIA being held by the Vietnamese. One of these believers was Bo Gritz.
Bo Gritz earned dozens of medals and decorations in Vietnam.
He led several controversial missions into Laos and Cambodia, believing Americans held by their erstwhile enemy were being kept alive in jungle prisons as a bargaining chip to get more American aid. All of Gritz' missions came up empty-handed, and some questioned the wisdom of the moves. A top-secret American expedition was already being planned in the early 1980s, but Gritz was captured and put on trial in Thailand, shining too much light on the former prisoner of war situation (according to some former Special Forces members).
With the world watching, the U.S. could not go through with such a raid. The POWs -- if they were ever there -- were lost to history.
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If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:
"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."
