We all know Delta Force exists, but its inner workings are shrouded in mystery. And that's not the only way the unit's unique. Some of their strict rules and regulations even surprise new operators when they join up.
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00:00We all know Delta Force exists, but its inner workings are shrouded in mystery. And that's
00:05not the only way the unit's unique. Some of their strict rules and regulations even surprise
00:09new operators when they join up.
00:11As you might expect of one of the most elite U.S. military groups, the requirements to
00:16be part of Delta Force are incredibly strict. Just to be considered, recruits need to have
00:20been in the military for two and a half years, have reached the specific rank, be in good
00:24disciplinary standing, and be over 21 years of age.
00:28What you're doing is you're taking elite soldiers out of special forces and rangers and you're
00:32training them to ridiculously high levels.
00:35Assuming those basic requirements are met, recruits face grueling training. The first
00:39stage is largely physical, with tests of endurance, strength, and combat all part of the deal.
00:44The most notorious of those tests is also a navigational challenge, where recruits travel
00:4918 miles over rough, unfamiliar terrain carrying 40 pounds on their back, all in the dead of
00:54night.
00:55My two classes of 120 people each, probably 12 to 14 made it.
01:00If you make it through that four-week ordeal, it's off to stage two, the operator qualification
01:05course. There, they learn tradecraft, which is basically a how-to-spy school, and intelligence
01:10gathering, counterterrorism, protection tactics, and tests of mental fortitude.
01:15Each of them has been trained in a variety of skills, which in more conventional organizations
01:20would be distributed among two or more individuals.
01:23A Delta Force operator needs to be able to perform at their peak and work with their
01:26team in any and all situations. Generally speaking, Delta Force operators are expected
01:31to say nothing about their work. Retired Army Colonel Ken Allard told The Washington Times,
01:36"...silence is security. Ever since Delta Force was created, they have been the quintessential
01:41shadow forces."
01:42"...the Delta Force doesn't talk much about itself. Indeed, if you talk to the Army, they'll
01:48tell you the thing doesn't exist in the first place."
01:50In his book Inside Delta Force, former Special Forces operator Eric Haney wrote,
01:55"...upon assignment to Delta Force, we cease to exist in the regular Army."
01:59"...members of this crack unit exist outside the usual U.S. Special Forces command structure."
02:05And that's precisely true. Operators' names and records are wiped from the Army's systems,
02:11as is the existence of Delta Force itself, which utilizes a completely separate system.
02:16Delta Force's work is highly secretive, high-stakes, and often bloody. An anonymous source who
02:21was once stationed at the same base as a Delta Force unit put it even more bluntly to Rolling
02:26Stone, saying,
02:27"...on deployment, they literally go around blasting people's brains out. They have zero
02:32remorse."
02:33"...all the kinds of things that scare ordinary people to death, these are the kinds of things
02:39Delta Force loves to do."
02:41Just so we're clear, these aren't merciless killing sprees conducted under rules of engagement
02:45only for Delta Force. On the contrary, they're expected to follow the same rules as any other
02:50U.S. soldier on the battlefield or in hostile territory. The difference is it's all about
02:54the assessment of risk. If an operator is directly threatened, such as an enemy holding
02:59a weapon in their face, they're allowed to fight back. And if they perceive a potential
03:03threat — say, thinking that an apparently unarmed individual might be about to carry
03:07out an act of violence — they're allowed to act, preemptively eliminating the threat.
03:11So as long as they perceive the threat, it's fire away.
03:16Many of the skills that Delta Force operators bring from the Army are vital to success in
03:19the Special Forces, but not everything applies to life in their unit. Even during peacetime,
03:25soldiers are given explicit schedules detailing where they're supposed to be, what they're
03:28expected to do, who they'll be training with, and even what they'll be eating on any one
03:33day. In a war zone, this remains pretty much the same. Soldiers know how they're expected
03:37to act in given situations. And for many enlistees, the order and regulation provides comfort.
03:43But that's not how it is for Delta Force, something that's made very clear very early
03:47in the recruitment process.
03:48It's not always the best guy that makes it. It's the right guy. That's the key.
03:54Trainees generally aren't told how they're doing compared to their peers, and are often
03:57not told where they're headed, even as they're loaded onto trucks and driven to a particular
04:01location. And while some welcome the unknown, others are uncomfortable remaining in the
04:05dark about what's happening in the coming hours or even days.
04:09Given that Delta Force handles dangerous, high-priority missions, its operators are
04:13taught very early on that they need to be able to improvise and adapt on the fly no
04:17matter what. And above all else, they should keep Murphy's Law in mind. This is drilled
04:22into Delta Force operators throughout their training.
04:24There's a good example of this in Eric Haney's Inside Delta Force. Recruits were given a
04:29training mission — protect a U.S. ambassador to a foreign country, called the Principal.
04:34It sounds easy in theory, but there's far more to the job than a civilian could imagine.
04:39"- Ambo have any tactical experience? No. He has us."
04:44The best way forward is to avoid risky situations. But even in circumstances that seem safe on
04:49the surface, anything can happen. On the less life-threatening end, a flat tire could mess
04:54with the Principal's schedule. On the other hand, the Principal could be having a private
04:58dinner with friends when rockets land on the house and set it on fire. Or someone could
05:02attack the Principal in a public space. You get the picture. All of these were real scenarios
05:07recruits were faced with. The lesson was, always expect something bad to happen and
05:12be ready to act.
05:14The Army preaches the idea that it's best to train the way you fight. However, that's
05:18rarely followed in practice. One example given by Haney is marksmanship. Shooting using a
05:23sight is one skill, but shooting while running and looking at a target, rather than directly
05:27through the sight, is another. Most soldiers aren't trained to switch between the two,
05:32and the lack of that kind of training can hurt their ability on the battlefield. Delta
05:35Force works differently. Haney writes,
05:37"...in Delta, the only unit in the entire Army on continual war footing, we didn't have
05:42the luxury of wasted training time."
05:44That means learning to shoot from any position and how to avoid accidental friendly fire.
05:49That kind of mistake would stop the training session and require the operator in question
05:52to explain what they did wrong. Delta Force training is deadly serious.
05:57Hayes describes a surprise lesson where the recruits played the part of confused hostages
06:01while their instructors carried out the exercise themselves, all while using live ammunition.
06:06When we think about soldiers in the modern era, there's a good chance most of us have
06:15a specific, clean-cut image in mind. Although standards have loosened somewhat in recent
06:19years, there are still some fairly specific guidelines that all soldiers have to follow.
06:24Hair has to be pinned in in one of only a few ways, and must be a natural color. Delta
06:29Force has a more relaxed grooming policy that includes longer hair, bushier beards,
06:33and sometimes even civilian clothing instead of military uniforms. In fact, operators are
06:37encouraged to deviate from the traditional military look. After all, if they don't look
06:42military, it's easier for them to go undercover and pass as civilians. In some cases, operators
06:47have even used their long facial hair in order to cross cultural divides and build friendships
06:51with authorities and civilians in foreign countries.
06:54And this goes for women, too. Yes, there are female members of Delta Force. All the
06:59makeup and earring rules for the regular army don't apply to the Delta Force women.
07:04Camaraderie is the kind of thing you hope for, especially for a group dealing with life-and-death
07:07situations. But compatibility can't be forced, and it doesn't seem like something that could
07:12be a rule. Once again, that's not the case for Delta Force. Just like anybody in a workplace
07:17situation, one recruit might just get a bad gut feeling about another one. And anybody
07:22who's watched reality TV knows that being forced to live together in close quarters
07:26is a recipe for conflict. But Delta Force operators need to be a close-knit unit in
07:30order to survive, even if the process isn't always pretty.
07:34That said, there is one specific rule Delta Force members aren't allowed to break under
07:38any circumstances. Never lay an angry hand on a brother operator. Never, no matter how
07:44heated things get. If an operator breaks that rule, repercussions are immediate, and there's
07:49no leniency.
07:50According to Eric Haney, punishment was immediate expulsion from Delta Force, something he knew
07:55had happened only once in the unit's long history.
07:57U.S. Special Operations Forces might seem to exist in a separate world in which they
08:02don't interact much with other branches of the military. SEAL Team 6, for example, typically
08:06goes out on missions alone. But Delta Force doesn't operate like that at all. They were
08:11always designed to work with the rest of the military, rather than apart from it. This
08:15has enabled the unit to take on a large number of missions over the years without drawing
08:18attention to itself. This includes one of Delta Force's best-known missions, 2003 capture
08:24of Saddam Hussein. While it was a Delta Force operation, the actual legwork required both
08:29Special Forces operators and conventional soldiers working side-by-side.
08:32In comparing the two Special Operations Forces units, retired Colonel Ken Allard told The
08:41Washington Post,
08:42"[The SEALs are short-term killers. Delta has a lot of other missions. It shows how
08:47well-integrated the Delta Force guys are with the conventional forces."
08:51On the surface, it might seem like Delta Force operates under a strict code of conduct. But
08:55there are some stories out there that'll leave you wondering whether the truth is something
08:59much darker. And when it comes to the rule about not laying hands on a fellow soldier,
09:03does that apply only to fellow Special Forces operators, or to servicemen and women in general?
09:0822 months ago, a man I had just met raped me in a dark alley area behind a party he
09:15was throwing."
09:16For instance, in 2016, newly appointed Lieutenant Erin Scanlon received a posting at Fort Bragg.
09:23Shortly after her arrival, she was invited to an event hosted by Special Forces operators,
09:27including the highly decorated Cristobal Lopez Vallejo, who flaunted his name and reputation.
09:33Scanlon alleged that Vallejo raped her that night. But when she tried to hold Vallejo
09:37accountable in court, she was blocked at every turn. Her military-appointed lawyers
09:41were continually replaced, and as a result, weren't familiar with her case. Scanlon was
09:46then manipulated into changing venue to a military court-martial, where rape conviction
09:51rates are known to be lower. She was kept away from the proceedings and left uninformed
09:56by her legal team. And the tapes of the court-martial were destroyed.
10:00Despite evidence supporting Scanlon's claims, the defense won by, among other things, ignoring
10:04the lack of credibility of some of their own witnesses and engaging in tactics that were,
10:09if not illegal, still unethical. At the end of it, Vallejo walked free. He died in 2023
10:15as a result of a car accident. Scanlon believes that Vallejo's career with Delta Force was
10:19what saved him from facing justice — not exactly the shining reputation the elite unit
10:24likes to reject.
10:26If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit
10:30the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline
10:36at 1-800-656-HOPE, 4673.