Medford mail tribune., November 11, 1962, Image 40

Family Weekly J November 11, 1962
President Kennedy's coll for "greater ability to deal
with guerrilla forces, insurrection, and subversion" is
being answered by the Army Special Forces, a ready-for-anything
group of fighting men whose distinctive
emblem is their jaunty green berets. Other outfits par
ticularly the Marines also deal with this problem as one
of their responsibilities. But for the ASF, it is the job:
a special job for very special soldiers.
I'd like you to meet one of these men, Master Sergeant
Paul M. Darcy. He's 32 years old 10 years in the Army,
nine of them in the ASF. He stands six feet, three inches,
weighs 175 pounds, and has the lean, rugged look that is
characteristic of ASF men. He's married, has three
children, and comes from my old home town, Brooklyn.
Sergeant Darcy joined the ASF in Korea and has
served with it in Germany and Southeast Asia. In be
tween, he has been helping train ASF teams at the Army
Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, N.C. That's
where I met him recently and asked him this question:
"Sergeant, what's so special about the Army Special
Forces?" The result was this story.
George Fielding Eliot
Ji
Sgt. Darcy leads crew through muddy water during marching session.
I TRAIN
AMERICA'S
What's special about the men I train for the Army
Special Forces? First and foremost, they are individuals.
Every man who has earned the privilege of wearing our
green beret is a personality in his own right a man who has
been through a hard-grinding mill and proved that he
belongs in an outfit composed of the most self-confident
soldiers in the world.
We who train these men ask ourselves every minute of
every gruelling day: would I be willing to trust my life to this
man's courage and good judgment? If one of us says no
just once good-bye green beret. Where the ASF goes,
there's no margin for error.
Where do the "green berets" go? Anywhere that a free
Guerrillas spring into action on a training mission (left) after parachuting behind enemy lines for surprise attack. Sgt. Darcy
( right) demonstrates the correct judo hold to apply to an enemy captive while simultaneously searching him for hidden weapons.
romilu WffMl, Nowmbfr II, 1961
!i 4 & .4 J
Hand-to-hand combat is an important part of Army Special Forces training.
GUERRILLA
people are in danger from Communist subversion, infiltration,
guerrilla attacks. Our mission is to teach such people how to
defend themselves. We're doing that today in South Vietnam;
we may be doing the same thing tomorrow in Latin America,
Africa, the Middle East, or even Eastern Europe.
Our first task when we arrive in a threatened country is
to win the confidence of the people we've come to help :
people who probably aren't of our race and certainly have
different values and ways of looking at things.
We have to prove to them that, if they'll let us help them,
they can defend themselves and their homes.
The day the village people take gun in hand and start
shooting at guerrillas instead of running away is the day
When a brush-fire war
flares up, the U.S. now can call out
its "green berets" a rugged outfit
that specializes in hit-and-run,
sudden-death fighting
By MSgt. PAUL M. DARCY
Introduction by GEORGE FIELDING ELIOT
the guerrilla is out of business in that neighborhood.
Guerrillas can't operate unless the local people help them,
hide them, feed them, give them information.
Another thing that's very special about the Army Special
Forces is our team organization. Our basic team consists
of two officers and 10 enlisted men. These teams are area
oriented : that is, each is trained to operate in a particular
part of the world and is capable of training and
directing a battalion of local troops of up to 1,200 men.
Of the 10 men, two are specially trained in operations and
intelligence (they must be leaders, have combat experience,
and know the country, language, local customs, and terrain) ;
two are communicators (able to handle any kind of
(Continued on page 6)
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f j, I XSSft' yft' 'sl Bt' arcu (left) sprawls on a railroad bridge while directing men in demolition practice.
2 C'Z-i "71 j ri-" YvT --' ml Tlte group of guerrillas (above) prepare to evacuate a beachhead after simulated attack.
p-- - Family Wfkly. November 11. mt S