What is "special forces"

The United States Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force tasked with five primary missions: unconventional warfare (the original and most important mission of Special Forces), foreign internal defense, special reconnaissance, direct action, and counter-terrorism. The first two emphasize language, cultural, and training skills in working with foreign troops. Other duties include combat search and rescue (CSAR), counter-narcotics, counter-proliferation, hostage rescue, humanitarian assistance, humanitarian demining, information operations, peacekeeping, psychological operations, security assistance, and manhunts; other components of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) or other U.S. government activities may also specialize in these secondary areas. Many of their operational techniques are classified, but some nonfiction works and doctrinal manuals are available.

As special operations units, Special Forces are not necessarily under the command authority of the ground commanders in those countries. Instead, while in theater, SF units may report directly to a geographic combatant command, USSOCOM, or other command authorities. The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD) and more specifically its Special Operations Group (SOG) recruits from the Army's Special Forces. Joint CIA–Army Special Forces operations go back to the MACV-SOG branch during the Vietnam War. The cooperation still exists today and is seen in the War in Afghanistan.

Special Forces is the fifth studio album by southern rock band 38 Special, released in 1982. The band embarked on the Special Forces Tour to support the album.

Special Forces is the 13th studio album by Alice Cooper, released in 1981, and was produced by Richard Podolor, most famous as the producer for Three Dog Night. Singles included “You Want It, You Got It”, “Who Do You Think We Are” and “ Seven and Seven Is”. Flo and Eddie, former members of The Turtles, performers, and radio personalities, performed on this album.

Alice Cooper appeared on The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder to promote the album, being interviewed and looking very gaunt in full military- drag make-up, after which he played live versions of “Who Do You Think We Are” and “ Seven and Seven Is”. Cooper toured Special Forces through USA, Canada, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, but other than the aforementioned songs he played no further Special Forces songs live, except for snippets of “Vicious Rumours” at a few shows in the US and Scotland. With the exception of “Who Do You Think We Are”, which was a regular part of setlists during the Eyes of Alice Cooper tour in 2004, none of the songs from Special Forces has been performed live since 1982.

French television special Alice Cooper a Paris was recorded in January 1982, before the start of the Special Forces European tour - Cooper's first tour of Europe since 1975. The tour was a major success.

Special Forces is the first of three albums which Alice refers to as his "blackout" albums, followed by Zipper Catches Skin, and DaDa, as he has no recollection of recording them, due to substance abuse. Cooper stated “I wrote them, recorded them and toured them and I don’t remember much of any of that”, though in fact he toured only Special Forces. It's possible that after causing a riot in Toronto, Canada due to being late and in the end, completely cancelling the show -- as well as sagging sales -- the record company decided to not have him tour and had him just finish up the rest of his contract. At the time, his lateness to the Toronto show was explained as being a result of Cooper getting held up by customs, and also having asthma problems.

The Special Forces tour, ending in February 1982, would be Cooper's last for over four years, as he succumbed to the abuse of freebase cocaine and a subsequent relapse of alcoholism, until his return to the road in October 1986 with " The Nightmare Returns" tour.

Special Forces is a video game released in 1991 by MicroProse. In the game, a team of special operatives are to infiltrate enemy territory to complete various objectives. The game is a sequel to Airborne Ranger.

Special Forces is an album by Julian Fane, released in 2004.

The Special Forces , nicknamed Maroon Berets because of their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations unit of the Turkish Armed Forces made up of volunteer Turkish Army officers after graduating a roughly 4-year training period. The Special Forces is not aligned to any of the three Turkish branches of TAF, receiving its orders directly from the General Staff of the Republic of Turkey. Its forerunner was the Special Warfare Department

Although the Special Forces is considered a division-level formation, this includes non-combatant units and administrative duties personnel as well.

Special forces can refer to:

• Special forces, elite military units trained for unconventional warfare and covert operations
  • United States Special Operations Forces, general special operation forces in the US armed forces
    • United States Army Special Forces (also known as the "Green Berets"), the largest unit within US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC)
  • Special Services Group, the primary elite special operations force of the Pakistan Army.
  • Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, the Special Operations Forces of the Canadian Forces
  • Special Air Service, a famed British special forces division formed during World War II for work behind enemy lines
  • Special forces of Australia

• Young men (Lebanon), an armed group of the Lebanese Civil War also known as Special Force

In film:

• Special Forces (2003 film), a 2003 American film
• Forces spéciales, a 2011 French film

In games:

• Mortal Kombat: Special Forces, an adventure game, spin-off from the Mortal Kombat series
• Battlefield 2: Special Forces, an expansion for the video game Battlefield 2
• Special Force (Hezbollah), a first-person shooter military video game, published by the group Hezbollah
• Special Force (online game), an online free-to-play first-person shooter developed by the South Korean game developer Dragonfly
• Special Forces (video game), the 1991 sequel to Airborne Ranger by MicroProse

In music:

• Special Forces (.38 Special album), an album by .38 Special
• Special Forces (Alice Cooper album), an album by Alice Cooper
• Special Forces (Big Ed album), an album by Big Ed
• Special Forces (Julian Fane album), an album by Julian Fane

In printed media:

• Special Forces (comics), a comic book by Kyle Baker

Special Forces is a creator-owned comic book limited series written and drawn by Kyle Baker, and published by Image Comics. The series details the lives and deaths of a platoon of misfit soldiers who are for one reason or another unsuitable for service, but who have nonetheless been recruited to fight in the Iraq War; the protagonist is autistic. It was inspired by a 2006 incident in which the US Army recruited an autistic teenager.

The New York Times reviewed the 2009 trade-paperback collection of the first four issues, calling it "the harshest, most serrated satire of the Iraq War yet published."

The title is a pun on " special needs".

The Special Forces Team is the elite Special Forces and Airborne unit of the Maldives National Defence Force capable of planning and conducting a broad range of special operations across the operational continuum. They are specialized in carrying unconventional warfare, counter-terrorism, counter insurgency, hostage rescues operations.

Special Forces is the second studio album released by American rapper, Big Ed the Assassin. It was released under his new stage name Big Ed the Assassin on May 9, 2000, and it was the very first release through Big Ed's label, Special Forces Records. The album made to #27 on the Billboard 200 and #25 on Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums.

Special forces and special operations forces are military units trained to perform unconventional missions. Special forces emerged in the early 20th century, with a significant growth in the field during the Second World War, when "every major army involved in the fighting" created formations devoted to special operations behind enemy lines.

Depending on the country, special forces may perform some of the following functions: airborne operations, counter-insurgency, " counter-terrorism", foreign internal defense, covert ops, direct action, hostage rescue, high-value targets/ manhunting, intelligence operations, mobility operations, and unconventional warfare. The term special forces in the United States refers to the U.S. Army's forces while the term special operation forces refers to all units. In Russian-speaking countries special forces are typically called , an acronym for "special purpose". Likewise, Russian speakers refer to special forces of other nations as ; for example, U.S. Special Forces would be referred to as in Russian.

Special Forces is a 2003 American war film directed by Isaac Florentine and written by David N. White. The film stars Marshall R. Teague, Tim Abell and Danny Lee Clark.