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The Shadow Warriors

America's Special Operations Forces rely on a dedicated breed of soldierwarrior with the heart of a lion, tongue of Berlitz, sleight of Houdini and eyes and strength of Superman.

TAMPA - They can turn virtually anything into a military weapon - words, animals, and on at least one occasion during the U.S. invasion of Panama, a pair of red silk bikini underwear for men.

Operating in small groups behind enemy lines, they can navigate by the stars, burrow into the ground to hide, fight in extreme hot or cold weather, and eat grass and rats to survive.

America's shadow warriors, the 46,000 elite commandos formally known as the U.S. Special Operations Forces, are at the forefront of the war on terror - and have played crucial roles in the U.S. invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Their headquarters, the U.S. Special Operations Command, or SoCom, is at MacDill Air Force Base.

Rather than relying on large armies, the Bush administration thinks unconventional forces are best prepared to fight terrorists. As a result, the SoCom mission is shifting, with more responsibility, more people, more weapons and a lot more money.

Announcing the changes earlier in the year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said, "The global nature of the war, the nature of the enemy and the need for fast, efficient operations in hunting down and rooting out terrorist networks around the world have all contributed to the need for an expanded role for the Special Operations Forces."

Last year, Special Ops units operated in more than 150 countries.

Often in concert with the CIA, special operators are chasing terrorists, weapons of mass destruction and drug runners. Through psychological operations, they're trying to influence the way people think, in a way that favors the United States.

"I am so thankful that our nation has these kinds of forces," said retired Army Gen. Carl Stiner, SoCom commander during the Gulf War. "If we didn't, we would be up the creek on the war on terrorism."

Immediately following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush sketched a plan for the war on terror. There are things that will be seen, he said, and there are things that will not be seen.

The mission seemed tailored for Special Operations Forces - "soldiers," as the SOF literature puts it, "fighting outside the lines."

In Afghanistan and in Iraq, SOF won wide praise for helping to pave the way for quick U.S. military victories. They went into those countries before fighting started to prepare the battlefield for conventional forces.

"The role of Special Ops in both of these wars was remarkable," said defense analyst Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.

In Afghanistan, they were the "primary instruments" on the ground, O'Hanlon said, compared with the number of conventional forces. In preparation for the air war, between 200 and 300 Special Ops Forces hit the ground first.

Their work with the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan was among their most celebrated feats. Special operators working with CIA teams organized offensive operations by the Afghan resistance, famously taking the fight to the Taliban on horseback.

In Iraq, where Special Ops Forces totaled about 9,000, they weren't the primary force on the ground, but their role was no less crucial, O'Hanlon said.

Operating in units of 12 or fewer, they took the pulse of indigenous peoples to see how they would react to invading U.S. forces. They identified tribal leaders willing to pledge allegiance to the United States. Using laser technology, they exposed enemy military targets for U.S. warplanes.

They seized oil infrastructure, took control of airfields and other key sites in southwestern Iraq, prevented dams from being blown, worked with the Kurds up north and helped target Iraqi leadership in key cities.

They rescued Pfc. Jessica Lynch, nabbed the terrorist Abu Abbas, and at the start of the war, helped clear the way for the largest military parachute landing since World War II.

"To me, along with the urban fight of the last couple weeks conducted by regular ground forces," O'Hanlon said, "the performance of Special Ops was among the most impressive aspects of a campaign that was excellent in general."

The concept of special operations is not new.

The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote: "When all troops are encamped together, the general selects from every camp its high-spirited and valiant officers who are distinguished by agility and strength and whose martial accomplishments are above the ordinary."

In the United States, special operations date to the Revolutionary War, and played vital roles in World War II and Vietnam.

Special operators come from the Army, Navy and Air Force. They include the super-secret Delta Force, the Green Berets and Rangers, the SEALS and the air commandos. SOF have monikers like the "quiet warriors" and "snake eaters."

SOF recruits, generally men in their 30s with at least 10 years in the military, undergo an intense physical and mental regimen over as long as two years. To join the Green Berets, you need an IQ of at least 120.

The recruits have to be mentally fit.

They are required to learn foreign languages. They study the countries of the world, their history, culture and politics.

They're a different breed, and sometimes that rubs conventional forces the wrong way.

"To the orthodox, traditional soldier," Aaron Bank writes in his memoir, From the OSS to Green Berets: The Birth of Special Forces, "(Special Ops) was something slimy, underhanded, illegal, and ungentlemanly. It did not fit in the honor code of their profession of arms."

Of the thousands who try out for Special Operations, about 1 percent qualify.

Here is the story of one.

The Army major joined Special Operations in 1992 because, he said, he wanted to fly low, fast and at night. Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan was the first time he saw real-life battle action.

Because of his job, SoCom asked that he not be identified by name. He also spoke only in general terms about his mission in Afghanistan.

The major, who is 45 and married with children, served as a Special Operations aviation commander, responsible for eight Chinook helicopter crews.

In inclement weather, and in mountains and in desert, he engaged in direct action.

He also helped spy on the enemy by inserting and extracting SOF in hostile territory, and he participated in rescue operations.

"It was a total, professional, adrenaline rush," he said, "to be able to do these things for our country."

He said that to be a special operator, you have to have more than a fleeting desire, else you'll quit. It has to come from the heart, he said.

"You can't pay them enough to do what they do," he said.

In addition to the physical and mental demands, SOF train in every conceivable form of warfare: urban, jungle, desert and treacherous mountain terrain. The major characterized the training as an epiphany.

"It just changes your life," he said.

"You see what you got."

After spectacular special operations failures, particularly the 1980 hostage-rescue debacle in Iran, President Reagan approved the creation of SoCom in 1987. The idea was to bring the Special Operations units of the various services under one umbrella.

MacDill was chosen in part because it had space to house the new command. Under Air Force Gen. Charles R. Holland, the SoCom workforce totals 1,700 people, military and civilian.

Around the world, special operators are assigned to the various U.S. military regional commands.

In January, Rumsfeld unveiled plans to give SoCom greater authority and a bigger budget to pursue al-Qaida and other terrorist networks.

Next year, SoCom is to get $6-billion, up from $4.9-billion. In each of the next five years, it would receive an additional $1-billion.

By comparison, the SoCom budget in 2000, the year before the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, was $3.8-billion.

Starting next year, the number of Special Ops Forces is expected to grow by about 4,000.

They will bolster aviation units and expand the planning staffs at SoCom and at five regional command posts in the Middle East, Europe, Pacific Ocean area, South Korea and Latin America.

SoCom also is heavily vested in research, the stuff of spy thrillers. "We're working on M stuff all the time," says SoCom spokesman Col. Bill Darley, referring to the technology wizard in James Bond stories.

A hemostatic bandage, for example, designed to prevent hemorrhage on the battlefield, stops the bleeding almost as effectively as surgical closure of a wound. Darley also points out a harness or vest worn by special operators that enables them to haul more weight.

To make special operators even stronger, SoCom is working on secret projects to enhance human capabilities, featuring devices capable of "seeing" through walls and underground for buried mines, booby traps and enemy sensors.

During the initial phase of the U.S. invasion of Panama in December 1989, U.S. forces failed to nab Panamanian strongman Gen. Manuel Noriega.

He had managed to seek refuge in the Vatican Embassy in Panama City.

Stiner, the former SoCom commander and an ex-Green Beret, headed the SOF during the invasion. He recounts the following tale in the book Shadow Warriors, which he wrote last year with the author Tom Clancy.

After the invasion, a search of Noriega's residence revealed something unusual: drawers full of red silk bikini underwear for men. An investigation discovered that Noriega was a practitioner of witchcraft, and that he probably believed that the underwear protected him from physical harm.

To rattle him with psychological gamesmanship, special operators fashioned a plan.

Through a source at the embassy, they had discovered the bedroom where Noriega slept.

Before long, they hung a pair of the general's intimates on a clothesline outside his window and shot it full of holes.

SOF also discovered that in Noriega's circles, a goat was a bad omen.

Before long, U.S. forces were under orders to lasso the ugliest goat they could find. SOF took the goat and, via remote control, rigged it so that it appeared to blow smoke out of its nostrils and ears. They tied him outside Noriega's window.

For the mission, the goat sported a pair of red bikini underwear.

Noriega eventually surrendered.

The Americans, Stiner wrote, granted Noriega's request to let him walk out of the embassy wearing his military uniform. No word on what he wore underneath.