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re: If Delta Force is so much better than Seal Team Six, why didn't they go after Bin Laden?
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:22 am to Junky
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:22 am to Junky
quote:'
I always thought it was blend of devgru, delta, with both operating under CIA since it was in Pakistan. Just happened that the majority were with devgru.
The cia has their own deal that pulls from both devgru and delta that is more intel and single man operations. Not everyone wants to do that, devgru/delta are both top tier teams as mentioned earlier.
Shawn Ryan's Chris Van Sant interview is really interesting in talking about CIA task forces (or whatever we're calling them) and the more solo/even more clandestine sides of Delta/Dev.
Of course I have no idea how it actually works...but I've always thought it was interesting how Norm Hooten at the beginning of BHD is operating solo, and various SFOD-D based movies/books over the years have portrayed similar, but most of the Delta interviews/books are pretty limited to operations as teams, so to the extent that's a reality you don't hear nearly as much about how it works.
It's also probably the best overall interview Shawn Ryan's ever done.
3
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:24 am to Barbenheimer
Different primary mission objectives and as I understand it that type of mission is one of 6's specialties.
This post was edited on 5/22/25 at 8:26 am
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:27 am to Barbenheimer
From a DevGru guy at the time - it was pretty simple. 2 other devgru platoons were already deployed(one in afghanistan - along with 2 delta squads. Had they vanished to go train for that raid it would have been very noticeable. The remaining stateside seal platoons and delta groups Red(the tribe) best fit the mission profile.
A guy from NO area was a jr officer in the SEAL platoon already on station when the bin laden raid happened. Catholic league dude.
A guy from NO area was a jr officer in the SEAL platoon already on station when the bin laden raid happened. Catholic league dude.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:28 am to Barbenheimer
I watched Interviews with former Delta force operatives that talk about them going on in Bin Laden raids all the time.
I can’t accurately speak for the numbers, but I’m sure both the course of the war they were hundreds of potential sightings and subsequent operations occurred without success over the years.
Seal team six was probably just at the right place at the right time to be the team that got to go ahead.
Also remember that Delta force is much more secretive and stays out of the spotlight than seal team six. The level of confidence was probably so high that he was actually there that they didn’t want to risk bringing too much media attention with Delta force being the ones to catch and kill him.
Again, this is just a guess
I can’t accurately speak for the numbers, but I’m sure both the course of the war they were hundreds of potential sightings and subsequent operations occurred without success over the years.
Seal team six was probably just at the right place at the right time to be the team that got to go ahead.
Also remember that Delta force is much more secretive and stays out of the spotlight than seal team six. The level of confidence was probably so high that he was actually there that they didn’t want to risk bringing too much media attention with Delta force being the ones to catch and kill him.
Again, this is just a guess
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:31 am to Kafka
quote:
when did the Green Berets get dropped from the Badass List?
Different mission type. I read somewhere original Green Beret core mission was focused on local government/municipal takeover and training. Green Berets are expected to speak at least two languages and three are preferred. If you dont and they want you, you will be fluent in another language before you complete training. I think they tend to be more the silent professionals in the background. Different mission but highly trained badasses none the less.
This post was edited on 5/22/25 at 8:34 am
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:32 am to Barbenheimer
Red Squadron had just got back from a deployment to Afghanistan and was stateside. It was available for the workups and rehearsals needed for a successful op. There was another squadron already deployed in Afghanistan which could be used as a QRF to support the Red Squadron raid.
Also, Devgru operated primarily in Afghanistan, D-Boys in Iraq. Regional knowledge played a part.
Also, Devgru operated primarily in Afghanistan, D-Boys in Iraq. Regional knowledge played a part.
This post was edited on 5/22/25 at 8:34 am
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:33 am to Pettifogger
quote:
the more solo/even more clandestine sides of Delta/Dev.
AFO…advanced force operations.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:33 am to msap9020
quote:For red, gold and blue yes. But black and silver maybe not.
Different primary mission objectives and as I understand it that type of mission is one of 6's specialties.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:33 am to SundayFunday
quote:
Also remember that Delta force is much more secretive and stays out of the spotlight than seal team six. The level of confidence was probably so high that he was actually there that they didn’t want to risk bringing too much media attention with Delta force being the ones to catch and kill him.
Guys on Dev, including at least one who is widely believed to be on that op, have spoken publicly about how he expects it to impact them getting high profile stuff in the future.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:34 am to terd ferguson
quote:
It was ST6 area of operations and the JSOC commander was a SEAL
And some, not all of that team was working out of Jalalabad at the time. Important because the local TOC had the lead on the operation. Remember this was a military operation not only in a country we were not at war with but also ally #1 in the war with Afghanistan. So if it was a frick up the grown ups could pin the rose on the local Command.
It would have been weird to bring in a group not familiar with that AO, operating procedures all that.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:38 am to Lakeboy7
quote:Different platoon was already there and operating. Red was ALL stateside.
And some, not all of that team was working out of Jalalabad
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:47 am to Flick007
quote:
WE’ve never been more divided and the cracks in the foundation began after 9/11.
Never been more divided?
Sir have you ever studied what happened from 1860-1865?
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:51 am to ExtraGravy
Hijacking this thread to say I really enjoyed that documentary on Netflix. Assuming that’s what prompted this thought.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 8:55 am to Barbenheimer
Obama played osama bin Laden on tv until the deep state made him president and they decided to kill that character off
It was kind of like Yellowstone where they didn’t even let us see Kevin Costner when they did it
Posted on 5/22/25 at 9:25 am to msap9020
quote:
when did the Green Berets get dropped from the Badass List?
I think it was on a Shawn Ryan episode but it is said that if you want to overthrow a government, get the Green Berets. A friend of mine is a retired Singasl Intel Officer (pretty sure thats what he was) that did some deployments with SF in Africa. He couldn't tell me where he was because technically, we dont have boots on the ground there, but he did say they did a lot of intel collecting from locals and guerilla fighter training. He did mentioned one of the stranger things he saw over there was dropping propaganda pamphlets out of a helicopter.
This post was edited on 5/22/25 at 9:26 am
Posted on 5/22/25 at 9:47 am to Pettifogger
quote:
Shawn Ryan's Chris Van Sant interview
Shawn Ryan has faults but some of those interviews are very interesting listens, Vansant in particular. This story is absolutely awesome
Posted on 5/22/25 at 10:49 am to magildachunks
quote:
Because Seals are basically the military SWAT team.
Delta Force plays a different role.
Delta is most famously known for its room clearing skill.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 10:52 am to Hookah
quote:
SF Groups - where most all Green Beret serve - isn’t Tier 1.
Aren't they considered tier 2 with a whole host of other groups, like force recon, marsoc, rangers, air force pararescue, etc?
Posted on 5/22/25 at 11:05 am to PikesPeak
quote:
Red Squadron had just got back from a deployment to Afghanistan and was stateside. It was available for the workups and rehearsals needed for a successful op. There was another squadron already deployed in Afghanistan which could be used as a QRF to support the Red Squadron raid. Also, Devgru operated primarily in Afghanistan, D-Boys in Iraq. Regional knowledge played a part.
This (and other posts) conform with my understanding. I read the "Mark Owen" and Mark Bowden books as well as some of the contemporary reports. It was a combination of (a) availability (DevGru Red Squadron was stateside) and (b) a high-level of confidence in both Red Squadron and their commanding officer. The same Red Squadron guys pulled off the Capt Phillips operation so the White House and JSOC had a high comfort level.
Also, keep in mind that the compound assault itself was pretty straightforward. The biggest issue was infil/exfil. Those stealth blackhawks had reportedly never been used in combat. Per "Owen," the aircrew was basically a 160th SOAR Hall of Fame. Also, there were reports that Air Force / CIA utilized some new radar-spoofing technology mounted on a RQ-170 Sentinel (which was still unacknowledged at the time) to trick the Paki's. In my mind, that was the real moonshot here.
Posted on 5/22/25 at 11:06 am to Barbenheimer
The commander of US special operations command at the time was a Navy Seal Admiral.
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