First Delta Force Members -

Want to go deeper? Read “Delta Force” by Colonel Charlie Beckwith or “Inside Delta Force” by Eric Haney (one of the original operators).

Life in the early days of Delta was defined by a culture of improvisation and intense secrecy. Because the unit was new, there was no manual. The first members had to write the standard operating procedures themselves. They adopted the "Troop" structure from the SAS, dividing the unit into assault troops and sniper troops. They had to invent tactics for clearing airplanes and buildings, often building their own shoot houses and training without the sophisticated simulators available today. This required a high degree of intellectual flexibility; an operator might spend the morning conducting live-fire breaches and the afternoon debating the psychology of terrorist negotiations. first delta force members

: In 1966, Beckwith was shot in the stomach with a .50-caliber bullet in Vietnam. Surgeons initially thought he was "too good to be saved," yet he made a full recovery and continued his mission to build the unit. Want to go deeper

Beckwith got the green light. But building a unit from scratch meant finding men who could think and fight. Because the unit was new, there was no manual

In early 1978, the first screening for volunteers began. The process was designed to break men mentally and physically: