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The Cold War: The Iranian Hostage Crisis

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America had a vision, a way of fighting wars. The first and second World Wars followed this vision. Massive amounts of young men were conscripted by the draft to enter compulsory service, trained, and shipped off to the warzones. Upon winning both Wars these fighting men were demobilized and sent on their way. The United States historically had a certain disdain for a standing Army. From the very humble beginnings in the Revolutionary War men were only signed to a one-year campaign in the Continental Army. The remainder of troops were brought in from local and state Militias. Something changed after the second World War. The Cold War started in earnest in 1947 and the American fighting force now occupied bases in countries in Europe …show more content…

They were held captive for 444 days in the Embassy as a game of political chess played out between the radical Ayatollahs of Iran and President Jimmy Carter. America needed a strong response and Carter gave the go ahead to allow the newly minted Delta Force to mount a rescue operation. Extensive training took place by the raiders for the execution phase of the operation. Shooting, close quarters battle, breaching, and mobility training was all undertaken countless times until the men felt they had it down. There was one issue that seemed minor at the time, Delta Force did not own any airframes or means of transport to the target area. Introducing other military services into the operation proved disastrous. Having Marine and Navy pilots for fixed and rotary wing aircraft on loan to the raiding force proved to be a landmark undertaking in inter-service operations. The pilots did not have to go through the strenuous selection and vetting the Delta operators did as well, the pilots were not used to operating at that high of a tempo. This all came to a head in the middle of a desert landing and staging area inside Iran. Three helicopter pilots and crews did not even make the initial infiltration into country because of their inability to fly in the dusty environment and mechanical issues. Being short of assaulters the Delta ground force commander canceled the operation and on the exfiltration a EC-130 Cargo plane collided with an RH53 Sea Stallion killing eight servicemen. Having been publicly embarrassed and vowing to never allow such a failure to happen again military planners pushed for a new command structure that made permanent special operations units outside of the normal military chain of command. Thus, the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) was born on 1987 out of the Desert One failed hostage

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