Special Forces A Teams

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In this eBook, which is a portion of the author’s memoir, The Most Fun I Ever Had With My Clothes On: A March from Private to Colonel, COL Tom “The Squid” Davis recounts his experiences serving as commander of four Special Forces A Detachments during the 1970's. These teams specialize in Underwater Operations , Mountaineering, Small Atomic Demolitions Munitions , and High Altitude Low Opening Parachuting. In addition to serving in the United States, he and his team of Green Berets tromped the lands of Germany, France, England, and Denmark. The narrative with the accompanying photos gives incite into the type of training missions carried out by the various specialized Operational A Detachments belonging to a US Army Special Forces Group.

Excerpts
ODA 232 SCUBA Team Fort Devens, MA

My main problem was blisters. As always, the first place that blisters appeared was between my toes. I would pop them with the needle I always carried, but within an hour the blisters would fill back up and hurt like hell. Years later, a member of the Danish Special Forces would show me a trick to address this problem. But that would be later, and this was now. I rubbed Vaseline between my toes, but that only helped a little bit. Eventually, the blisters started to bleed. This caused concern with infection. Others were having similar problems.

Testing Dry Suits Under Extreme Conditions

After a few swims, we discovered we had to wear ¼-inch neoprene mittens rather than five-finger gloves. When the water hit our faces, it immediately froze. So, for protection, we coated our faces with gobs of Vaseline. This way the ice freezing on our face didn’t touch the skin. Of course, our eyebrows caked with ice. Although we wore heavy woolen socks, the cold was so numbing that when we completed a couple of hours swimming with fins, we weren’t able to stand, much less walk, for several minutes. Swimming under these severe conditions proved a challenge, to say the least.

ODA 223 Mountain Team Fort Devens, MA

We trained in class one through five climbs. Our training included not only repelling off cliffs but also from helicopters. We trained not only in free climbing, where we always maintained three points of contact with the wall and climbed without a rope, but also in technical climbing, which involved the use of rope, belays, pitons, and metal spikes that we hammered into a crack or seam in the rock. Our mission was not only to become proficient in the art but also to teach basic mountaineering to other Teams as needed.

ODA 3 High Altitude Low Opening Parachute Team

The next day we drove out to a French Army Airfield. The fog hung like a blanket, blocking out everything that was more than ten meters away. Surely the French pilot wouldn’t take off in this pea soup, but he did. We flew low, following the telephone and power lines. It was a matter of face. The French couldn’t let us see that they were afraid to fly.