The Special Forces Operation Detachment - Alpha (A Team)

The Building Block of Special Forces Groups

The Special Forces Operational Detachment-A, or A-Team, is the fundamental building block for all Special Forces Groups. There are six A detachment in each Special Forces company. A captain leads the 12-man team. Second in command is a warrant officer. Two noncommissioned officers, or NCO's, are trained in each of five SF functional areas: weapons, engineering and demolition, medical, communications, and operations and intelligence, and comprise the reminder of the team. All team members are SF qualified and cross-trained in different skills as well as being multi-lingual.

Capabilities of the highly-versatile A-team include:

plan and conduct SF operations separately or as part of a larger force;

infiltrate and exfiltrate specified operational areas by air, land, or sea;

conduct operations in remote areas and hostile environments for extended periods of time with a minimum of external direction and support;

develop, organize, equip, train and advise or direct indigenous forces up to battalion size in special operations;

train, advise and assist other U.S. and allied forces and agencies;

plan other special operations as directed by higher wuthority.
In the SF company, one of the six A-teams is trained in combat diving and one is trained in military free-fall parachuting. Both are used as methods of infiltration.
The detachment can serve as a manpower pool from which SF commanders organize tailored SF teams to perform special missions. In general, A-teams are equipped with high-powered communications systems such as tactical satellite communications, burst transmission devices, high-frequency radios, and global positioning systems. Medical kits include, among other things, field surgical kits, laboratory and dental instruments and supplies, sterilizers, resuscitator-aspirators, water-testing kits, and venterinary equipment. Other key equipment includes individual and perimeter defense weapons as well as night-vision devices, and electric and non-electric demolitions. Equipment distribution is geared to conform to specific missions.
For underwater or waterborne infiltration, SCUGA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) teams are equipped with open-circut twin-80s SCUBA tanks, closed-circut Dragger (rebreather) Lar-V, Zobiac boat and Klepper kayaks. Military free-fall parachuting teams use ram-air parachutes and oxygen systems.

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