I know some of you are interested by Special Forces (SF) and Special Operations Forces (SOF), so here's their history and their organization.

Note : the term "special forces" is more restrictive (only for soldiers who passed the "Q-course" and who won their Special Forces tab). Special Operations Forces is a general term for all branch (by example the Navy Seal of the US Navy,...) and for all special operations : psychological operations, rangers, civil affairs, special forces,...

Organizational structure of Special Operations community :



History after the second World War

The older origin of the 1st SFG began on 1st April 1956 with the activation of the 14th Special Forces Operational Detachment (SFOD) at Fort Bragg (NC). The members of this 14th SFOD are selected from the 77th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and trained for the Asian-Pacific theater. The 14th SFOD, under the cover of the 8251st Army Service Unit, was transferred to Fort Shafter (Hawaii) in June 1956 and shortly thereafter to Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The activation of the 14th SFOD was shortly followed by three additional operational detachments (12th, 13th and 16th SFODs) also selected and trained for Asia and Pacific theater. Shortly afterwards, the 12th SFOD, 13th SFOD , and 16th SFOD moved to Camp Drake (Japan) and were soon combined into the 8231st Army Special Operations Detachmnent. On June 17, 1957, the 14th SFOD and the 8231st Army Special Operations Detachmnent joined to form the 1st Special Forces Group, stationed in Okinawa (Japan) and responsible for the Far Eastern theater.

The 1st Special Forces Group was activated on 24 June 1957 at Camp Drake, Japan. It was among the first group of the Special Forces to be officially formed. The group is responsible for operations in the Pacific : the members of this group were selected and trained for the purpose of establishing a special operations capability in the Asian-Pacific theater.

Group activation ceremonies were conducted 14 July 1957 at Fort Buckner, Okinawa, following arrival of the operational detachments and the 248th Quartermaster Detachment (Rigger). A staff officer from US Armed Forces Far East was initially assigned as Group Commander, but broke both his legs on his first parachute jump and was evacuated. Command of the Group was then assumed by LTC A. Scott Madding of the 14th SFOD, a highly decorated veteran who had served with Merrill's Marauders and OSS in World War II and with Ranger and partisan units in Korea.


By 1958, the basic operational units had emerged as a 12 men's team known as the "Detachment-A" (2 officers, 2 operations and intelligence sergeants, 2 weapon sergeants, 2 communication sergeants, 2 medics and 2 engineers). Men are trained in unconventional warfare, were crossed-trained in each others specialities and spoke at least one foreign language. At this time, the 1st SF group was composed of 5 detachments (16 officers and 99 enlisted operators). The five A-detachments are :

- 12th Special Forces Detachment
- 13th Special Forces Detachment
- 14th Special Forces Detachment
- 15th Special Forces Detachment (activated on June 24, 1958)
- 16th Special Forces Detachment

The period 1957-1960 was a time of intensive training for 1st Special Forces. A large contingent of Republic of Korea Special Forces troops were trained in Okinawa, while 1st Group sent mobile training teams to conduct missions in Thailand, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and South Vietnam. Simultaneously, 1st Group also conducted internal training operations to qualify Special Forces volunteers who had not been through training at Fort Bragg, as well as to cross-train qualified personnel in additional team skills (Airborne, jungle operations, Scuba, waterborne infiltration techniques, HALO,...).

During the same period, the Group grew in strength from 55 personnel in July 1957 to 364 personnel by October 1960. On november 1, 1959, the SFODs were deactivated as A-Detachments and reactivated as "C-Detachments":

- 12th Special Forces Detachment became C-101
- 13th Special Forces Detachment became C-202
- 14th Special Forces Detachment became C-303
- 15th Special Forces Detachment became ?????
- 16th Special Forces Detachment became C-404

Each C-Team (C-Detachment / ODC) had several B-Teams (B-Detachment / ODB). Each B-Teams had several A-Teams (A-Detachment / ODA) assigned.

On 30 October 1960, all Special Forces groups were reorganized under the combat arms regimental system (under the Kennedy Administration). 1st Special Forces Group was re-designated 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), First Special Forces Regiment. The most visible change occurring at this time was the restructuring of the Group's organization.

To accommodate the growth in size and to streamline control and administration, the detachments were reorganized on 15 December 1961 into companies A, B, C, and D. Each Company consisted of an Operational Detachment C, functioning as the company headquarters, and a varying number of subordinate ODB's and ODA's.

- Company A was the largest of the four companies, with a strength of 47 officers and 165 enlisted men.
- Company B was activated with 36 officers and 114 men;
- Company C with 40 officers and 120 enlisted.
- Company D was organized with only a cadre of five personnel. In 1967 the D Company was detached and permanently stationed and operated in Thailand. It was re-designated the 46th Special Forces Company.
(- Company E (Signal), a fifth company, was activated on 19 February 1964 to provide communications support to deployed detachments).

Group strength continued to increase, reaching a peak in 1963 of 232 officers, four warrant officers, and 1, 026 enlisted men.

During the Vietnam war... The Group was formed to provide mobile training teams in the Pacific and took on an increasing role in Vietnam through the late 50's and early 60's before the beginning of the Vietnam War. Special Forces soldiers from the 1st SFG began to deploy into Vietnam in 1957 as training cadres for Vietnamese commando groups. By 1959 the Special Forces mission in Indo-China had expanded to Laos where they trained local fighters and the soldiers of the Laotian goverment in counter-insurgency tactics so as to more effectivly combat the communist Pathet Lao fighters that were threatening the pro-Western goverment of King Savang Vatthana. From 1957 until July of 1962 Special Forces operations in Indo-China were under the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 1972, just prior to the Philippines Disaster Relief Operation, 1st Special Forces Group was again reorganized. Companies A, B, and C were consolidated and re-designated as 1st and 2nd Battalions, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne). The change was, for the most part, nominal:

- Operational Detachments "C" remained the command and control element, with a lieutenant colonel in command;
- Operational Detachments "B" were now designated as lettered companies of the battalions;
- the name and role of the Operational Detachments "A" remained unchanged.

After the Vietnam war...and the withdrawal of American military forces in Southeast Asia, the emphasis on military actions shifted away from the Pacific theater and focused more on Europe and the NATO allies. Special Forces faced severe cuts in the peacetime army. As a result, 1st Group was de-activated 28 June 1974 at Ft. Bragg, NC.

After a 10-year hiatus the need for an Asian unconventional warfare force was recognized and Alpha Company, 1st Battalion was reactivated at Fort Bragg (NC) on 15 March 1984. Activation of the rest of 1st Special Forces Group (Headquarters Company, 2nd and 3rd Battalions, Service Company, Signal Company, and 1st Military Intelligence Company) officially commenced on 4 March 1984 at Fort Lewis. This company and the remainder of 1st Battalion were assembled and deployed to Torii Station, Okinawa during the spring and summer of 1984. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 1st SFG along with Headquarters and Service Company were officially Re-Activated 4 September 1984 at Fort Lewis, Washington.

During the 80's and 90's the Group participated in training and combat missions around the world including operations in Bosina, Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. Operational Detachments “Alphas” deployed to Haiti to conduct Coalition Support Team missions in 1993–94 in support of US Joint Task Force 190 and Multi-National Force operations supporting Operation Uphold Democracy. Additional ODAs conducted Humanitarian Demining Operations in Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Elements from the 1st SFG (A) conducted training with military units from newly created states from the former Soviet Union that supported development of the Central Asian Battalion, a regional peace keeping force in the mid-1990’s. By the end of the millennium, 1st SFG (A) soldiers had deployed in support of Operation Joint Guard.

Since 2001 they have participated to the Global War on Terrorism, in both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following the terrorist attacks of 9–11, members of the 1st SFG were quick to answer President Bush’s call to action deploying individual soldiers to support Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and deploying back-to-back battalion rotations to the Republic of the Philippines.

Starting in February 2002, elements of the 1st SFG (A) deployed to conduct unconventional warfare in the Southern Philippines by and with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in order to assist the Government of the Philippines (GOP) in the destruction of terrorist organizations and the separation of the population from the terrorist organizations.

Throughout 2003–2004, the 1st SFG deployed many soldiers in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. By November 2004 the unit deployed an entire battalion to Afghanistan as part of the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force- Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A).

The unit was redesignated on 1 October 2005 as the 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces Regiment.

Currently, the 1st Battalion is stationed at Okinawa while the 2nd and 3rd Battalions are stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChort. The US Army announced on 17 December 2009, the planned activation of the 4th Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group. This force structure action represented a net increase of 432 military authorizations and 4 civilian authorizations at Fort Lewis, Washington, and 2 civilian authorizations at Yakima Training Center, Washington. Implementation of these changes was expected to be completed in August 2011.

Current Order of Battle :



Sources:

http://www.groups.sfahq.com/1st/history_jake_jacobson.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Special_Forces_Group_%28United_States%29
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/34563090/The-History-of-1st-Special-Forces-Group-_Airborne__-First-Special
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:NeoFreak/sandbox/1st_Special_Forces_Group
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/arsoc-history3.htm



The 3rd Special Forces Group was first activated on 5 December 1963 at Fort Bragg (NC). The four colors of the quadrants of 3rd SFG's distinctive unit flash derive from the flashes of the pre-existing SF units from which members were initially drawn. These colors are :

- yellow from the 1st SFG ;
- red from the 7th SFG ;
- black from the 5th SFG ;
- and white from the Special Forces Training Group.

The 3rd Special Forces Group had a Mideast and Africa orientation during the 1960s. The unit trained the armed forces of Mali, Iraq, Ethiopia, the Congo and Jordan. It also supported 5th Special Forces Group operations in Vietnam, losing the 403rd Army Security Agency Special Operations Detachment and the 19th PSYOP Company to 5th SFG in 1966. With the "vietnamization" of the conflict in Southeast Asia, 3rd Group was deactivated on December 1, 1969 at Fort Bragg and members transferred back to various other SF groups.

The 3rd SFG was reactivated in 1990 and, until the mid '90s, was given responsibility for the Caribbean as well as the western part of Africa. At the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War (August 1990), 3rd Group had only one functioning battalion : the 1st Battalion. This battalion deployed to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, for three months, during which time it sent detachments forward into denied areas of Iraq and Kuwait for reconnaissance and sabotage missions. Ultimately, in late February 1991, it was given the mission of securing and occupying the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City.

The 2nd Battalion and 3rd Battalion of 3rd Special Forces Group were reactivated in 1991 and 1992, respectively. 3rd Special Forces Group took part in the restoration of democracy in Haiti in 1994.

In Januari 1998, approximately 70 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group headquartered at Ft. Bragg (NC). Along with other support troops are scheduled to deploy between February 1 and February 5, to begin training a battalion in Mali.

Four soldiers from the Army's 3rd Special Forces Group headquartered at Ft. Bragg (NC) scheduled to arrive in Namibia on Jan. 8, 1998, with a Demining Berm Processor Vehicle. The soldiers will train Namibian demining teams on the use of this new equipment, as a part of the United States' continuing humanitarian demining program designed to assist host countries in relieving human suffering by developing an indigenous demining capability.

In March 1998, approximately 70 soldiers from the U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group headquartered at Ft. Bragg (NC). Accompanied by a Belgian military training element, along with U.S. support troops are scheduled to deploy on or about April 1, 1998 to begin training a battalion-size unit in Ghana.

In April, 1998 the 3rd SFG forces Deployed to Ghana and for the first time joined forces with their counterparts from Belgium to conduct ACRI training. Sixty men's teams from 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C., have been spending about 60 days at a time training African military forces to handle peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations. The African Crisis Response Initiative aims to Equip and Train 10 to 12 Infantry Battalions and four to six Special Companies that can work together during contingencies. Logistics experts, military police and others from U.S. Army Europe and other units support the effort known as the African Crisis Response Initiative.

On july 24, 1998, nine members of Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 364, C Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) deployed to Trinidad and Tobago in July to instruct 24 Trinidadian Special Operations Group soldiers. Captain Dennis Harrison is the ODA commander. The 30-day training program began and ended with a physical fitness test. In between, the host-nation soldiers learned about laws of war, operations orders, weapons marksmanship, basic medical procedures and movement in urban terrain. And when the Special Operations Group soldiers were through, they took what they learned and went into the jungle for a three-day field training exercise. The ODA deployed as part of the Joint Combined Exchange Training program. Under a JCET, Special Forces travel to foreign countries to train host-nation forces. Their training objectives include developing their own language skills, learning the area, cultural immersion, and improving both their training skills and their proficiency in the Special Forces Mission Essential Task List. The hard work will pay off when it comes time to deploy to real-world conflicts.

Approximately 60 soldiers for the U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group, headquartered at Fort Bragg, N.C., along with other support troops, began deploying to Benin Saturday, Oct. 24, 1998. Since the ACRI training program began in July 1997, the 3rd Special Forces Group has trained forces in Senegal, Uganda, Malawi, Mali and Ghana.

Eight members of the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne), Fort Bragg (NC) assisted by two surveyors assigned to the U.S. European Command, will train Zimbabwe soldiers in August and September 99 on techniques for minefield survey, mine clearance, and advanced medical training. Zimbabwe has established a National Demining Organization, and has already completed one round of demining taught by Special Forces soldiers.

Joint Commission Observers, who served for 4-5 years as liaisons between Bosnian civilians and NATO commanders, ended their mission with a ceremony May 2, 2001. Maj. Richard Rhyne, the Special Operations Command and Control Element commander and his four 10-man teams from 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, made up the last of the Joint Commission Observers. Originally, Bosnia and Herzegovina were divided into sectors for U.S. Army JCO teams. By August 1998, the responsibilities for observation in Multi-National Division-Southeast and-Southwest had been passed along to other NATO nations. Only MND-North remained under the watchful eye of American soldiers culled from detachments of Special Forces.

Prior to the war in Afghanistan, 3rd Group was responsible for operations in sub-Saharan Africa excepting the Horn of Africa. However, since the mid 2000s 3rd Group's area of responsibility has primarily been Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia. Two of 3rd Group's battalions spend roughly six months out of every twelve deployed to Afghanistan as part of a Combined Joint Task Force. In 2008 an ODA from the 3rd Group was cited for ten Silver Stars in the Battle of Shok Valley, the largest set of citations for a single battle since the Vietnam War.

The 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) activated a fourth line battalion on Aug. 18, 2009 which marks the continued growth of U.S. Army Special Forces. The ceremony took place on the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) parade field Lieutenant Colonel Fleming T. Sullivan will assume command at this time. The development and activation of additional Special Forces battalions allows for greater support of current missions and flexibility around the globe. Additionally, it provides relief to our soldiers who have been continuously deployed since 2001. Operational experience over the last several years has validated the Special Forces mission sets, demonstrating their specific relevancy and application in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 3rd Group currently focuses primarily on operations in Afghanistan.

Sources :
http://www.groups.sfahq.com/3rd/
http://www.groups.sfahq.com/3rd/history.htm
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=135239985395
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Special_Forces_Group_%28United_States%29
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/3sfg.htm




AT THIS TIME IT'S LOCKED BECAUSE I'll COMPLETE IT SLOWLY, BASED ON THE ADVANCE OF MY RESEARCHES.

Here're the different ORBAT I made :

http://www.scribd.com/doc/62761143/Special-Forces-Groups-Army-National-Guard-ARNG (National Guard SF groups)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/62710956/Special-Forces-Group-Organization-Before-the-Growing-of-SF-Community

http://www.scribd.com/doc/62345220/Special-Forces-Group-Organization-After-the-growing-of-SF-Community

Now, ODA / ODB nomenclature have no more secret for you !

A mistake is always possible...I'm only a collector, and my main source of information is internet ! As everybody here know, internet is not always the best source and moreover, I received no help to do that...

So if you have any change to do, please tell me !